"Tales from the Darkside" Seymourlama (1987)

Director:

Bruce Dolin

Writers:

Harvey Jacobs (story)
Harvey Jacobs (teleplay)

TV Series:

"Tales from the Darkside" (1984)

Original Air Date:

15 November 1987 (Season 4, Episode 8)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Cult Horror | Cult Favorite | Anthology | Dark Humor

Cast

Divine	...	Chia Fung
J.D. Roth	...	Seymourlama
Kathleen Doyle	...	Ellen
David Gale	...	Henry Strand
Cathy Lipinski	...	Madame Wu

Quotes:

Chia Fung: Allow me to introduce myself, I am Chi-Fun, ambassador without portfolio from the ancient kingdom of Lo-Pu. This is my associate, our minister of the interior, Madame Woo.
Madame Woo: Woo.
Chia Fung: She's overwrought. We spent last night at the Holiday Inn. It was so hot we had to open the windows, but the windows don't open. There was glass everywhere.

Strange Tales from the Darkside episode.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Tales from the Darkside: Seymourlama starts late one cold snowy night as Henry (David Gale) & Ellen Strand (Kathleen Doyle) & their teenage son Seymour (J.D. Roth) are inside their house when there's a knock on the door. The Strand's are confronted by two representatives of a small Tibeten country, Chia Fung (Divine) & Madame Woo who tell Seymour that he is the new Lama & ruler of their country. Seymour quickly learns to love the idea as he is waited upon hand & foot but the whole things seems far too good to be true...

Episode 8 from season 4 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during November 1987 & is the second snow covered episode in a row, directed by Bruce Dolin this is one of those bizarre & seemingly pointless little twenty odd minute episodes that almost defies rational description. The script by Harvey Jacobs & Donald Wollner has a few catchy lines of dialogue & the basic premise is mildly amusing but when all said & done there's nothing here that's going to last in ones memory & it really is rather hard to categorise. I mean I am not really sure who Seymourlama would appeal to, it's not horror, it's not really flat out comedy, it's not a thriller & there's no proper drama in it either. It's just an odd mix of ideas & a very strange story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but does pass twenty odd minutes harmlessly enough. Also how gullible would someone have to be to believe that their son is the new ruler of an entire country with no more proof other than that two complete strangers in weird clothes saying so.

Like most Tales from the Darkside episodes Seymourlama is set in one single location, the Strand's front room. As usual it's well made as far it goes but there's no real ambition here & there's nothing here anyone couldn't do at home with a camcorder to be honest. The acting is alright, drag artist Divine is better know for her/his dog poo eating antics in John Water's cult film Pink Flamingos (1972) while genre fans will probably recognise David Gale from the brilliant Re-Animator (1985).

Seymourlama has a few amusing moments & the story is probably unique but when all said & done it's nothing overly amazing & it really doesn't have much point.