On a dark and stormy night Ray Wells pulls into a run-down hotel.  He tells the owner his late father owned the ol’ Wells Place farm outside of town.  She says, “Some folks out there gonna be surprised to see you.”  He replies, “The place burned down 20 years ago. How could there be anyone in it?”  She whispers words of wisdom, “Let it be.”  She has seen lights and heard sounds, but never went near the place, fearing she might also smell smells.

Inexplicably, he decides to go to the property that night.  Or maybe he ate room service and watched an Ancient Aliens marathon all day like no one I know, and went the next night.  Anyhoo, it is the same or second consecutive dark and stormy night.  As he drives, he flashes back to the last time he saw his father.  Dangerously, the flashback is shown in a heads-up display on the windshield where visibility is already limited by rain and wipers.

A hot nurse tells his old father his son is there to see him.  The old man tells him he is leaving the farm to charity.  He says he is doing Ray a favor because the land is cursed.  So, f*** whatever charity he gave it to, I guess.^[3]  Ray is not happy to hear that.  He gets angry, but incredibly, it is not even clear whether he kills his father or gets him so riled up that he has a heart attack.  It is clear that he burns the will, though, so will inherit the farm bought by his father before his father bought the farm.

All this is projected on the windshield through the wipers and rain.  To be fair, it is a very nice composition, but it goes on for almost 4 freakin’ minutes.

Ray arrives at the farm and the house is intact.  He goes inside and finds the world’s dullest party.  There are balloons, but it is very dark.  The people are festively dressed, but morose.  This is the first party I have ever witnessed where I didn’t think the music was too loud.  Ray tells them all to get out.  He says his name is Ray Wells and this seems to wake them up.  The lights come on, the music starts, and people begin dancing.

A hot blonde, who chose not to go into nursing, offers Ray a drink.  While Josie is flirting with with him, Jake Busey asks her to dance.  He is sporting a blonde Rachel hairdo ^[1], which on the Busey family scale of weirdness, barely registers.  They duck away into a dark room and begin making out.  She says she has been waiting a long time for him to inherit this house.  They go upstairs, and we finally see she is dressed as a cheerleader.

They start stripping down.  Rachel Busey gets so worked up thinking about Ray and Josie that he runs upstairs and bursts into the room.  They start fighting, and Ray shoots him.  Josie won’t stop screaming so he suffocates her with a pillow.  He says, “You should have stopped screaming!” which I think even she would agree with if she weren’t dead.

Ray pours kerosyrup kerosene from a lantern over their bodies and down the stairs.  As he pulls out a lighter, Josie and Rachel reappear looking pre-burned.  They tell him about a party his father threw.  He had a similar fight with Rachel Busey and did burn the house down, killing 15 people.  The other guests parade by him, showing their scarred faces.

The crowd begins moaning.  As their volume increases, they menacingly advance on Ray. ^[2]  Finally they set him on fire.  Fine, but it was his father that killed them.  What did Ray do to deserve this?  Kill his father?  Inconclusive, plus they should love that.  Burned the will?  Hardly a hellable offense.  Anyway, they have been waiting for him, so the fire set by his father had to be the reason.  I like a good vengeance tale, but I can’t recall another episode where the sins of the father are avenged on the son.

Despite this glitch, the episode had some fun flourishes that kept it interesting.

Other Stuff:

• [1] BTW, there are worse ways to spend 5 minutes than Googling women’s hairstyles.  Ha-cha-cha!
• [2] This exact same moaning motif was used effectively in the 1960’s Twilight Zone episode The Obsolete Man.  Holy crap, by the same director 33 years earlier!
• [3] I’m kinda hoping it was 1-877-Kars4Kids because that jingle is eating my brain.
• This is the rare episode of any series covered here to have not a single Critic or User review posted on IMDb.
• This is the 3rd consecutive episode by the same writer.  C’mon, give someone else a chance!