Reviewed: The Curse of Frank Black

Contributor: ZeusFaber

A quite wonderful Halloween episode that does a beautiful job of capturing the seasonal spirit. There's very little dialogue and virtually no narrative of any kind, but it works because it's an exercise in pure atmosphere. The whistling winds, the autumnal leaves, and the low lighting ‐ you can almost feel the chill in the air, and an episode like this just couldn't be shot anywhere but Vancouver.

It's also a testament to Lance Henriksen's brilliantly expressive face and physical acting abilities, as well as the clever staging in the direction, that long passages of near silence can pass without ever seeming anything but tense and captivating. Spending the evening in the tortured solitude of Frank Black has never felt so appealing. The first flashback scene can drag a bit, with Crocell being made to deliver mounds of exposition on the history of Halloween in a very unconvincing fashion, but it's made up for in spades by the return to the yellow house where we hear the events of “Lamentation” retold and embellished as an urban legend.

If the episode has a weakness, it's that the “Acts 26:8” message can get rather laboured and obvious after a while, but otherwise it's a constantly engaging and almost tangible slice of seasonal ambience. Mark Snow's haunting score is the icing on the cake, and this is an episode that can be enjoyed year after year without losing any of its charm.