Valerie on the Stairs (29 Dec. 2006)

Taken from a Clive Barker original screen story, tells the tale of a novelist who discovers there are fates worse than literary anonymity in this sexually-charged tale of terror.

Director:

Mick Garris

Writers:

Mick Garris (creator), Mick Garris (teleplay),

Stars:

Tyron Leitso, Nicola Lipman, Jonathan Watton

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Tyron Leitso	...	Rob Hanisey
Nicola Lipman	...	Nancy Bloom
Jonathan Watton	...	Bruce Sweetland
Christopher Lloyd	...	Everett Neely
Christine Barrie	...	Anna
Clare Grant	...	Valerie
Suki Kaiser	...	Patricia Dunbar
Tony Todd	...	The Beast

Storyline

Rob Hanisey is an aspiring author who moves into a large boarding house called Highberger House, a place where struggling writers live until their works become published. While trying to write his first book, a horror thriller, Rob has repeated encounters with a mysterious young woman named Valerie who pleads wit him to save her from a unseen force. But Rob's neighbors, including the elderly and eccentric writer Everett seem to know more than what they are letting on about who (or what) Valerie really is.

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Plot Keywords:

novelist | author | fireplace | throat slitting | corpse | 

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 December 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Starz Productions, Nice Guy Productions, Industry Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Director credited on the movie poster is "Alan Smithee," a fictional alias sometime used when a director has asked that his name be removed from a film he no longer claims.

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Connections

References Twilight Zone (1959)

User Reviews

Running out of Ideas ...

Story-wise, its tough to do a decent horror movie these days because the themes are very well known. This movie is a case in point. It was probably an idea that sounded good, but ended up not being right for a movie.

The story is about a writer who goes to a writing retreat / hotel for unpublished authors. As he begins to write, he starts to encounter the presence of a young lady named "Valerie" reaching out to him. He begins to explore what's happening and the story progresses from there.

Sound familiar? The average horror fan will have seen this setup countless times before. Admittedly, there are some clever ideas behind "what's going on", but it's not enough. The main idea (I won't spoil it) seems too far fetched. Worst, it's just not interesting to watch.

It seems evident that the main actors do a pretty good job at what they were asked to do, but their characters seem to lack depth. Along with the story - they don't get any more interesting as time goes on.

If you're a big Clive Barker fan, you will probably want to see this to see what his thinking is like these days. For everyone else, pass on this one.