Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Image of Fear (1979) User Reviews

Fair but difficult to believe.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 1 May 2014]

A divorced mother awakens to find a prowler in her home. He will not leave and she shoots him. She then calls her old friend, Steve McGarrett, and he and his team investigate. However, oddly, there is no body, no blood nor any real evidence that he ever was there. Later, more inexplicable things occur and folks around the woman begin to wonder if she is losing her mind. However, Steve suspects something evil is afoot--something very malicious.

The idea of taking the plot from "Gas Light" and using it as a basis for a show isn't bad. You know someone is trying to drive the lady bonkers- -but who and why? Unfortunately, the who and why turns out to be a big disappointment. The logistics of this plot are overwhelmingly difficult to believe. Even more tough to believe is that the woman who is the target of all this ALWAYS leaves the house after seeing dead things-- giving conspirators ample time to clean up the evidence!!! A rather sloppy execution of an otherwise decent plot.

By the way, the current summary listed for this particular episode of "Hawaii Five-O" gives one spoiler after another. If you read it before watching the show, you'll know exactly what's going to happen and who is behind this conspiracy! So don't read it!!

Almost Great, Then it Falls Apart Like an Overcooked Souffle

[stephenw-thompson · 6/10 · 8 January 2021]

When you borrow from classic film noir, you take your chances. This one had a really interesting premise taking Gaslight and liberally mixing it in with other films with characters who, at first, seemed the usual pristine secondary characters and towards the middle we as the audience discover an alarming fact about them. When done well, this can produce some rather bold and genre defining stories like the British series Midsomer Murders. When done here, the script lets the young actress down into a mauldlin mash-up of The Bad Seed and a bad soap opera. This could have been great but the script falls apart like an overcooked soufflé. And whomever decided this was the time to start giving McGarrett lectures that sound like second-rate Joe Friday must've been paid to kill the show all by themselves.

Image of deception

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 11 December 2023]

The bulk of the show's final season episodes are derided by fans, but it impresses me how original some of these later episodes are in terms of the writing. Yes, in this case, scriptwriter James Schmerer is borrowing ideas from GASLIGHT and THE BAD SEED but it's still an original combination of ideas. And after 270 episodes, it is impressive that the show can still come up with something so different than what has already been seen.

It takes awhile for the plot to unspool, but gradually we learn that a divorced mom (Linda Marsha) is not really going crazy...that she is being set up to make it look like she's crazy...by her daughter (Katy Kurtzman) of all people! Too bad Joan Crawford wasn't still around when this episode was produced, as it would have been wild to see her and daughter Christina in these roles, even if the characters had to be substantially aged.

What works for me is the amount of suspense and the implied red herring, in the form of the ex-husband (Guy Boyd) whom I was certain was going to turn out to be the guilty party. I would have liked to have seen Sharon Farrell's character Lori Wilson a bit more involved in the action, since I think a female cop would probably have been handled this type of case to investigate...or else, it would have been more plausible if she did.

Also, we are told that Marsh's character had a history of mental illness, but at the end, when the young daughter is unmasked as the mastermind behind the attempts of the stranger (Soon-Tek Oh) to unnerve her mother, it's clear the daughter is the one who may be mentally ill...though she seems to be understood and forgiven by her parents awfully fast.