Monsters (TV Series) Rouse Him Not (1988) User Reviews

Decent enough Monsters episode featuring a monster.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 9 February 2009]

Monsters: Rouse Him Not starts as painter Linda McGuire (Laraine Newman) is visited by a man named John Thunston (Alex Cord) who is writing an article about local legends & superstitions & Linda's house that she moved into six weeks ago is top of his list of hot spots. While looking for Linda's dog Hardy in the cellar they notice a large hole in the floor which was done by a workman not long previous & that a star shaped pentagram painted on the floor had been destroyed. Then soon after a large slimy monster rises from the hole in search of fresh blood. John decides to stick around & help rid Linda of her unwanted guest using his trusty silver sword...

Episode eleven from season one of Mosters this originally aired in the US during December 1988, directed by special make-up effect's artist Mark Shostrom this is a decent enough way to pass twenty odd minutes but there isn't much to it & it feels like a short promo reel for horror film to attract finance rather than an episodic entry in an anthology series. I mean where's the twist? The script was based on a story by fantasy author Manly Wade Wellman & is a fairly straight forward tale about a monster that is freed from it's tomb after someone moves into a house & releases it by accident. Not that much else happens, there's some religious nonsense about Witchcraft & a silver sword made by an English Saint but the only reason anyone is watching Rouse Him Not is for the monster & it doesn't feature too often & when it does it doesn't have much to do. Rouse Him Not is alright I suppose but there are better Monsters episodes out there & the lack of any twist doesn't help. Oh, one more thing, what happened to Hardy the dog? Everyone seemed to forget about it rather quickly & we never find out it's fate, dog's have feelings as well you know.

Like usual the main point of interest in this Monsters episode is the actual monster itself which in this case is a tall slimy horned demon thing which looks quite impressive & that's where most of the budget went probably. Like most Monsters episodes there's only two sets to it's quite contained & there's only three people in it including veteran TV actor Alex Cord who I best remember from his limping, white suit, eye-patch wearing role in the cheesy TV action series Airwolf (1984 - 1986).

Rouse Him Not is a watchable enough Monsters episode but it's not one of the best & it's more of a short horror film than a anthology style short with a twist ending. Not too bad but not great, fans of the show should like it.

Middling

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 28 June 2019]

Artist Linda McGuire (nicely played by Laraine Newman) resides in an old house located in the country. One day Linda receives a visit from John Thurston (a smooth and ingratiating performance by Alex Cord), who's doing research on a warlock who used to live in said house.

Director Mark Shostrom alas crucially fails to generate much in the way of any essential tension or creepy atmosphere. Moreover, the meandering story for the most part proves to be overly talky and uneventful. The hideous monster in the basement looks pretty gnarly, but isn't in the episode enough. Fortunately, Newman and especially Cord both do commendable work in their roles while Terrance Evans contributes an enjoyably grumpy turn as cranky local Mr. Ritzen. A really blah and forgettable show.

Poorly scripted adaptation of a great author's work

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 19 June 2015]

ROUSE HIM NOT is a generally average episode of the MONSTERS TV show and hardly something to get excited about. It sees a woman moving into an ancestral home only to discover that something very nasty is living within its walls thanks to an old-time warlock who used to get up to all sorts of summoning shenanigans. A mysterious stranger must help her fight against the evil.

The problem with ROUSE HIM NOT is that the script is sloppily written, with lots of inexplicable character behaviour and generally poor decisions. It seems to have been written in a hurry with a minimum of effort. It's a real pity, because this was based on a story by the rarely-filmed Manly Wade Wellman, one of my favourite authors, and it's a real disservice to him. Cult actor Alex Cord makes an appearance and is the most interesting thing here.

Rouse Him Not

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 11 September 2011]

Laraine Newman (Saturday Night Live) is a painter, Linda McGuire, who recently moves into this cottage once owned by a warlock, executed for his murder of a priest. The warlock's "familiar" ( a slimy black creature) is released from a pit in her cellar after Linda had a "damp specialist" come in to check the soil, disturbing the earth which contained a "protective symbol" placed there to keep the demonic evil at bay. An occult researcher, interested in the history of Linda's place of residency, particularly the warlock who owned it centuries before her, John Thunston (Alex Cord), with a cane (that has a silver sword with Latin religious subscript etched into the blade) seems to believe that this beast will return predictably at Midnight for a fresh victim, his sword of silver the weapon to defeat it. A neighbor that had been snooping around, Mr. Ritzen (Terrence Evans), told Thunston about Cret Marrowby, the practitioner of black magic, his confession at the trial, and his sentence to "swing from the rope", in turn informing Linda of this piece of important history. Ritzen isn't prepared for the familiar who swings open the cellar door, snatching him away to his doom. Thunston will get himself ready for battle with Linda maybe having to help him if he is to succeed against the creature. Nothing that spectacular about this "monster in the cellar" 30 minute creature feature with religious overtones. Newman loses her dog to the beast, keeps the cellar locked, remains scared, and depends on Cord to confront what shows up out of a hole of green goo. No real surprises; Cord's character seems to know exactly everything he needs to do to defeat the creature which leaves the climactic duel rather predictable and uninspired, although Newman gets to come to the rescue when it seems he may be in for a world of hurt. Newman doesn't really have a lot to do except add little brush strokes to her paintings and look puzzled and creeped out about what is going on in her cellar. The scene as Cord kisses his sword and chants a spiritual phrase is rather an odd way to finish the episode off.

A muddled story. The monster almost saves this one.

[b_kite · 4/10 · 19 July 2018]

A painter living in an old country house is visited by a stranger researching a warlock who used to live in the house years prior. As events unfold they discover that an evil creature lurks in the houses basement and the two must fight it off to save there lives and finally put an end to the evil.

First of all what a muddled story this is, I mean i'm not sure if it really makes any sense or if I was just to bored to pay attention. I'm not sure why or what the creature is or if it is the warlock or if its ever explained, its looks like Cheller Dweller and it's probably the best thing in this episode. This thing also suffers from being a little to talky and that doesn't help when everyone here is pretty bad at acting we have veteran actor Alex Cord here and his hilariously overacted performance as a sophisticated aristocrat is nothing but straight up goofy, it also doesn't help that our female lead is dull as dishwater to. The end battle with the creature is sadly rushed and the lack of a twist also sucks as well. It gets a extra star over "The Legacy" for actually having a nice looking creature, but, its ruined in a muddled story with bad acting and little to offer, especially after following three episodes of good quality.