Weirdest Episode Ever: Family Matters Fights an Evil, Murderous Puppet
Added 2023-01-16 08:30:27 +0000 UTC“Stevil” (October 25, 1996)
You might be as surprised as we were that when Family Matters does a horror episode, they really go for it. As corny as Steve Urkel’s wacky adventures could sometimes be, this Halloween outing has a few effective jump scares, all scattered throughout a story about the Winslow family being offed one by one by Stevil, the murderous puppet. It really is surprising that this was ever made, much less that it was allowed to air on TGIF.
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Watch the video showing Harriet and Carl reunited — and still loving each other all these years later.
The logo for Weirdest Episode Ever was designed by Ian O’Phelan. The theme music was composed by Nick Loiacano.
Comments
Oh yay
Drew Mackie
2023-01-17 03:40:29 +0000 UTCThis was Posted on the discord look who is trending right now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1gJ5z5tNJM
Lobo
2023-01-17 02:18:32 +0000 UTC… finocchio?
Drew Mackie
2023-01-17 01:32:11 +0000 UTCSemi related note to add to your Pinocchio hatred. You change the p to an f, and it's the f slur.
Robyn Pavlakovich
2023-01-17 00:22:13 +0000 UTCI wonder if some of the doll movies mentioned are based on Robert the doll? I think he was from the early 1900’s
Lobo
2023-01-16 19:32:18 +0000 UTCThis episode terrified me as a kid, particularly the Murphy bed/pantry “deaths”. I didn’t make it until the credits but that may have calmed me down a bit! As far as where evil dolls were in the zeitgeist at the time: there was an evil dummy in the Goosebumps books & TV show (which was in its second season when this aired). I wonder if the writers were aware of this character, and if that was a factor in the creation of this episode, either as a reference or proof that kids in the audience could handle it
Ryan Gaffney
2023-01-16 19:08:50 +0000 UTCSo they’re not good, but there is also Dolls and Dolly Dearest
Drew Mackie
2023-01-16 18:50:30 +0000 UTCOh you are probably right. I haven’t seen this film!
Drew Mackie
2023-01-16 18:49:41 +0000 UTCThere was a brief moment for evil dolls in African American horror cinema in 1995 with Tales From the Hood, which was an anthology-style horror film starring Clarence Williams III focused on real life terrors such as police brutality, domestic abuse, and racism. In the segment "KKK Comeuppance," Corbin Bernsen plays a southern racist senator name Duke Metger who lives in a plantation house inhabited by hoodoo dolls who come to life and take revenge on Bernsen. It's possible that this was a spin on the evil fetish doll from Trilogy of Terror, but rather than evil the hoodoo dolls delivered righteous retribution. Either way, it was definitely well-known in 1995 because the commercials and trailers prominently featured the doll sequence. Since this Family Matters episode came out a year later, I wouldn't be surprised of Tales From the Hood was one of many inspirations.
Matt LS
2023-01-16 17:36:29 +0000 UTCAdding the doll movies mentioned to the watch list
Ryan Zepp
2023-01-16 16:25:06 +0000 UTCThanks for the cleaning company fellas!
Ryan Zepp
2023-01-16 15:59:50 +0000 UTC
