Title: CBS Radio Mystery Theater: The Deadly Hour Medium: Radio show Approximate Length: About 50 minutes Where to (Legally) Find It: Many places, including CBS Radio Mystery Theater and YouTube Brief Description: A psychiatrist's new patient, Martin Jerome, claims he hasn't spoken in 25 years... until now. You see, he has a story to tell, of a cheating wife, a cave by the sea, and an unsuspecting young couple that he traps into his own world of madness and “mutilation of the soul.”
What You Love About the Canon and What You Love About Your Ship(s): First off, it's an old school radio drama, so you got all the superb voice acting and sound effects you'd expect, which work to great effect in telling this really disturbing story. Secondly... well, I'm just going to quote the TV Tropes page here because I don't think I could say it better myself:
“Sadist: Martin Jerome in "The Deadly Hour." Let's just say being cuckolded royally screwed him up. When he discovers that two young lovers are inside the remote cave he occupies during his "vacations," and finds himself repulsed as they express love for each other, he seals them inside with rocks and leaves them to die. After more than a week, he comes back just so he can hear them gradually go mad from hunger and desperation. Then he taunts them by leaving them a box of matches simply reading, "I am here." He only lets them out when the young man is on the verge eating his girlfriend. After being released from the hospital, the young man – now completely shattered from the ordeal – is taken in by Martin and enters what sounds like a bizarre co-dependent relationship with him. JEEZUS.”
So that's what I love. I love that they have this weird non-verbal communication where Martin just shows up at the hospital and George just shrugs and thinks, yep, living with this complete stranger now for the rest of my life and goes off with him without a word. I love that there's this weird fluctuating power dynamic between the two where Martin's the one that's looking to get help for George, while George seems perfectly content to just spend the rest of his life being a reminder to Martin of how genuinely fucked-up a person Martin is. I love the one random theory that some commenter I read had where George is the son that Martin's ex-wife, Helen, had and now you could probably just throw some incest into the obsessive horror that this show is.
Kinds of Things You're Planning to Ask For: Anything set after the ending of this show – George sleeps in Martin's bed, Martin cooks all of George's meals, and the two of them listen to music together before bed, so something exploring that weird domesticity would be great. Or, you know, fucked-up lovemaking in the cave with the two of them because everything is just terrible. And I did mention that theory, so if you really wanted to go for broke, I'd be fine with Martin being willing to do anything for his son. Anything.
Content Notes: I don't even know where to begin, but for a start: infidelity, attempted murder, starvation, mental health issues/trauma, attempted cannibalism, and possibly incest if you believe that theory.
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CBS Radio Mystery Theater: The Deadly Hour
Date: 2023-12-24 03:56 am (UTC)Medium: Radio show
Approximate Length: About 50 minutes
Where to (Legally) Find It: Many places, including CBS Radio Mystery Theater and YouTube
Brief Description: A psychiatrist's new patient, Martin Jerome, claims he hasn't spoken in 25 years... until now. You see, he has a story to tell, of a cheating wife, a cave by the sea, and an unsuspecting young couple that he traps into his own world of madness and “mutilation of the soul.”
What You Love About the Canon and What You Love About Your Ship(s):
First off, it's an old school radio drama, so you got all the superb voice acting and sound effects you'd expect, which work to great effect in telling this really disturbing story. Secondly... well, I'm just going to quote the TV Tropes page here because I don't think I could say it better myself:
“Sadist: Martin Jerome in "The Deadly Hour." Let's just say being cuckolded royally screwed him up. When he discovers that two young lovers are inside the remote cave he occupies during his "vacations," and finds himself repulsed as they express love for each other, he seals them inside with rocks and leaves them to die. After more than a week, he comes back just so he can hear them gradually go mad from hunger and desperation. Then he taunts them by leaving them a box of matches simply reading, "I am here." He only lets them out when the young man is on the verge eating his girlfriend. After being released from the hospital, the young man – now completely shattered from the ordeal – is taken in by Martin and enters what sounds like a bizarre co-dependent relationship with him. JEEZUS.”
So that's what I love. I love that they have this weird non-verbal communication where Martin just shows up at the hospital and George just shrugs and thinks, yep, living with this complete stranger now for the rest of my life and goes off with him without a word. I love that there's this weird fluctuating power dynamic between the two where Martin's the one that's looking to get help for George, while George seems perfectly content to just spend the rest of his life being a reminder to Martin of how genuinely fucked-up a person Martin is. I love the one random theory that some commenter I read had where George is the son that Martin's ex-wife, Helen, had and now you could probably just throw some incest into the obsessive horror that this show is.
Kinds of Things You're Planning to Ask For: Anything set after the ending of this show – George sleeps in Martin's bed, Martin cooks all of George's meals, and the two of them listen to music together before bed, so something exploring that weird domesticity would be great. Or, you know, fucked-up lovemaking in the cave with the two of them because everything is just terrible. And I did mention that theory, so if you really wanted to go for broke, I'd be fine with Martin being willing to do anything for his son. Anything.
Content Notes: I don't even know where to begin, but for a start: infidelity, attempted murder, starvation, mental health issues/trauma, attempted cannibalism, and possibly incest if you believe that theory.