Perhaps not for the most recent films or for temporarily popular cinema hypes, but definitely for classic movies and vintage TV-shows the ratings here on IMDb are very reliable and just. Take for instance the fantastic and legendary series "The Twilight Zone"
As good as ALL episodes are terrific and they averagely rate around 7 – 8 out of 10. So, when you encounter an outlier with a rating of 9 out of 10, you can be more than confident that the episode in question is extraordinary good. "The Monsters are due on Maple Street" has a very high rating and deservedly so because, apart from having a kickass title, it's also one of the best tales thus far, with a more than intelligent screenplay and a handful of deeply disturbing but truthful observations about the human nature. The story stars one of my personal favorite – and sadly underrated – actors, Claude Akins, as a very ordinary inhabitant of the very ordinary Maple Street. During a typically sunny Saturday afternoon, whilst all the neighbors in Maple Street are doing their own thing and minding their own business, they hear a strange and unidentifiable noise above their heads. Few moments later, all electrical equipment, telephone lines, tools and car engines inexplicably stop functioning. Quite rapidly, all these normally warm and friendly people lose their rationalism and start accusing the introvert neighbors of knowing more about these mysterious circumstances. Especially when a young child hints that this could be the start of an alien invasion, they all fanatically defend their own behavior whilst randomly attacking the others. It doesn't take too long before verbal threats turn into physical aggression. "The Monters etc
" is an exemplary episode, with non-stop and gradually mounting suspense and an atmosphere that goes from calm and peaceful to grim and unsettling in less than twenty minutes. Of course the subject matter is slightly exaggerated and dramatized, but the reactions and behaviors of the protagonists are nevertheless realistic; which automatically forces you to contemplate about how cowardly our species in fact is. Are there monsters prowling around Maple Street? Yes, there definitely are
The more experienced viewer quickly sees where the whole thing is going and the actual denouement is fairly easy to guess, but that certainly isn't a blocker since the entire episode is so compelling, intense and professionally crafted.
Review of The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
