Monday, December 31, 2012

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries -The Mystery of the Haunted House (1977)

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
The Mystery of the Haunted House

This is the first episode of the Hardy Boys Mysteries, but they don't spend any time setting up the premise.  The show begins with a spooky theme song and weird opening title montage, featuring the Hardy Boys running through a maze of their own book covers.  Then we jump right into the mystery, and along the way we learn that the Hardy Boys are Frank and Joe, the sons of Fenton Hardy, a 20 year veteran of the New York City Police Department, who now makes a living as a private detective.  The boys are played by Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy, who are both quite likeable in their roles.  Their father has his office in the Hardy home, and a crime lab in his basement.  The two boys are chips off the crime solving block. They are skilled at fingerprinting and other crime-solving techniques, and have a way of nosing in to their dad's cases, and uncovering new mysteries on their own.
Motorcycle Hooligans
 As the episode begins, the boys follow their dad to a foggy cemetery in the middle of the night.  Later, the case brings them to a nightclub called "The Haunted House," which is horror themed club complete with coffins, characters in monster make-up, and a maze of mirrors.
A Creepy Hand on Joe's Shoulder
It's a decent episode, and I appreciate all the spooky horror touches it has, but overall, it falls a bit flat.   Still, it's only the first episode of the series.  It's forgivable if they haven't quite hit their groove yet.


Rating: 2½ Robots (out of 5)









Chromium -Haunted Disco
   


More screencaps after the jump...




The Science of Fingerprints

The Basement Crime Lab

A Fingerprint Under the Microscope

The Haunted House

The Coffin

 A Talking Head in a Crystal Ball

Creepy Hallway

Iron Maiden

Sliding in to the Hall of Mirrors
Frank and Joe in the Hall of Mirrors

Taking a Peek

Bzzt Thing

Monster Mash

Frankenjaws

Howl of the Wolfman!

"Those Hardy Boys are a couple of odd ducks."

Skull Candle

Hi There!  I'm a Spooky Skeleton!

More Mirrors

Ghost Cloud









2 comments:

  1. Good post - you just forgot the hilarious part when Frank Hardy rode his motorcycle in his boxers and got caught by the police.

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    Replies
    1. That was a good part of this episode, but for some reason none of the screencaps I took of that scene came out looking good.

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