2. Tales From The Darkside - Inside The Closet
Horror Icon George Romero's entry into the television anthology genre, Tales From The Darkside, despite its impressive creator pedigree often seemed like a cheap imitation of the Twilight Zone. Usually the extremely disturbing intro was the scariest part of the show. This wasn't the case for "Inside the Closet." Grad student Gail is forced to rent the last vacant room in town from weirdo vetinary college head, Professor Fenner. Claiming that no one wants to rent from him due to his strict rules, he agrees to rent his daughter's old room to her. Alone on the third floor this room sits and in it is a weirdly short closet, to which Fenner claims to have lost the key and cannot be opened. That night, Gail is awakened by mysterious scratching noises coming out of the closet. Assuming it's a rat, Gail manages to open the closet and places a mousetrap inside it. Later she hears the mousetrap go off, but for some reason, the closet door refuses to open. In the middle of the night something slips out of the closet and under Gail's bed..... Director and "sultan of splatter,"Tom Savini (Dawn of The Dead) makes the most of the minimal budget and amps up the fear factor which more than compensates for the predictable plot.