Theatre Macabre

Theatre Macabre

Horror legend Christopher Lee hosts this anthology in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, each half-hour episode adapting a story from a classic author, with tales by Edgar Allen Poe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde.

Genre: Sci-Fi & FantasyMysteryDrama

Director: Ben Kadish

Cast:Christopher LeeZdzisław MaklakiewiczBronisław PawlikAleksandra ZawieruszankaWładysław HańczaPetar SlabakovAndrzej ŁapickiWiesław GołasMagdalena Zawadzka


1Season 1

Season 1, Episode 1

October 1, 1971

Vladimir, the teenage son of a local rich man, falls madly in love with his new neighbor's daughter Zina competing for her affections along with a host of her other suitors.

2Season 1

Season 1, Episode 2

October 8, 1971

A stranger comes to town with a bag full of gold and a test for everyone.

3Season 1

Season 1, Episode 3

October 15, 1971

A man is about to be executed by the Inquisition. Is hope enough to save him?

4Season 1

Season 1, Episode 4

October 22, 1971

A young Corsican boy defies local customs and dishonors his family when he turns in a bandit to police.

5Season 1

Season 1, Episode 5

October 29, 1971

Intertwines multiple stories, including a framing device about a young man named Runevsky, and explores themes of obsession, the supernatural, and the line between reality and imagination.

6Season 1

Season 1, Episode 6

November 5, 1971

A psychological character study revolving around Luchkov, an aggressive, manipulative former military officer who lives for duels and social domination.

7Season 1

Season 1, Episode 7

November 12, 1971

A failed actress wants to go back to her husband, who has fallen into alcoholism.

8Season 1

Season 1, Episode 8

November 19, 1971

A narrator visits a French mental asylum where the 'soothing system' of patient-led care has been overthrown by a new, more severe method, only for the narrator to discover the 'doctors' are actually the patients, and the 'keepers' are those locked away, tarred and feathered.

9Season 1

Season 1, Episode 9

November 26, 1971

Follows the journey of a cursed, valuable diamond as it passes through the hands of various characters, revealing their greed, folly, and the dark allure of wealth. The narrative links these tales through the diamond's movement from London to Paris, exploring themes of crime, deception, and morality.

10Season 1

Season 1, Episode 10

December 3, 1971

A government official's nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own.

11Season 1

Season 1, Episode 11

December 10, 1971

A nameless man insists on his sanity while confessing to murdering an old man because of his 'vulture-like' eye.

12Season 1

Season 1, Episode 12

December 17, 1971

A man murders an antique dealer on Christmas Day to steal from him, only to be tormented by his own conscience, personified by a mysterious visitor who may be the Devil, forcing him to confront his evil and ultimately choose confession over further sin.

13Season 1

Season 1, Episode 13

December 24, 1971

Reclusive, cultured lawyer Mr Tomasz's solitary life is transformed by a blind orphan girl who moves in next door and her barrel organ, which he initially despises but comes to cherish as a source of joy and connection, ultimately leading him to help her.

14Season 1

Season 1, Episode 14

December 31, 1971

A young American couple inherits an English castle, only to find that it is haunted by the spirit of a disgraced ancestor, doomed to stay on the estate because of his cowardice. The only way he can escape is if one of his descendants performs an heroic act, something he intends to get the husband to do.

15Season 1

Season 1, Episode 15

January 7, 1972

From Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron No. 40.'

16Season 1

Season 1, Episode 16

January 14, 1972

From Ambrose Bierce's 'A Matter of Conscience.'

17Season 1

Season 1, Episode 17

January 21, 1972

From Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Another Man's Wife and a Husband Under the Bed.'

18Season 1

Season 1, Episode 18

January 28, 1972

From Stefan Zeromski's 'Pavoncello.'

19Season 1

Season 1, Episode 19

February 4, 1972

From Ivan Turgenev's 'The Song of Triumphant Love.'

20Season 1

Season 1, Episode 20

February 11, 1972

From Alexander Pushkin's 'The Postmaster.'

21Season 1

Season 1, Episode 21

February 18, 1972

From William Wilkie Collins' 'A Terribly Strange Bed.'

22Season 1

Season 1, Episode 22

February 25, 1972

From Mikhail Lermontov's 'The Fatalist.'

23Season 1

Season 1, Episode 23

March 3, 1972

From Alexandre Dumas 'The Resurrection of the Offland.'

24Season 1

Season 1, Episode 24

March 10, 1972

From Ambrose Bierce's 'The Boarded Window.'