Nightfall-CBC Radio Program-Episodes
CBC Radio
A collection of The AWESOME 1980'S CANADIAN RADIO PROGRAM NIGHTFALL! This revised listing contains VBR and OGG Vorbis files as well! (Thanks mods) MORE TO COME SOON! Enjoy! :)
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.
Kapitel
Bewertungen
You need to listen!
CaptnCoolTheCosmicFool
An experience everyone should have, otr is forever the best form of horror and sci-fi, and you will never regret lending an ear. Thank you, northern neighbors. Didn't know you had it in you! Bryan Adams, Alannis, Rush, BTO, and Lights Out. Man! Just take back Samantha Bee and we will call it good.
Nothing Else Like It
TheOutsiderRubbish
Everything that a prior reviewer mentions as a criticism I think makes this show truly one of a kind: Lack of corny gothic style, imagery and setting. There are 1000 good episodes from Lights Out, Inner Sanctum and a bunch of others with that already. It can be good, but didn't need to be revisited in 1981. This show generates a new atmosphere for every episode, sporadically, unevenly and, again, that is a strength not a weakness. Yin-Yang going on here, since I am the complete opposite on the contemporary plays and those based on earlier fiction. I don't like the Poe-Hardy-Stevenson remakes. I like the stuff from the Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal playwrights most. The blunt, 'tacky' aspect is a great strength of many of these episodes: Listen to video-games-are-evil episode No Quarter and hear Paul Weaver correct Vicky Weaver when she says: "Maybe I should come get you so you're not wasting your cab fare on Dinkey King". Paul Weaver corrects: "DONkey KONG". Painfully tacky and corny...awesome! But, not every episode stands out because it is 'so bad it's good', like No Quarter. The Road Ends at the Sea is the best radio show episode I have ever heard. It has made me think deeply about life and death like perhaps only a Keats ode such as Ode to a Nightingale might evoke (which, incidentally, is quoted in The Undertaker) and has a perfect combo of spacey seashore ambiance, airy synthesizers and a powerful dialog. SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT. When Skully describes the approaching boat and the black barge, there is something about the way he does it that I cannot get over. Huge praise to Tim Wynne-Jones for writing this moving episode and for all the actors who made it happen. Other epidoes worth listening to again and again: i. Beyond the Law: "Melodramatic Crime" (whatever that is!) as it's described by the host. Cool Coltrane-like sax interludes, which clash with the story a bit, but like the result of someone boldly experimenting as opposed to just being bad. ii. No Quarter: Mentioned. One of the so-bad-it's-good episodes iii. Special Services: Think Coma, Altered States and a bunch of other 1970s medical thriller mysteries distilled into the early 1980s and a dose of overacting thrown in for good measure iv. The Dentist: Another medical mystery. Interesting and re-listenable over and over v. Deadly Developments: Another favorite. Sounds so contemporary, not trying to be 'gothic' or whatever. Sounds like people working/hanging at somewhere like Sam Ash music shop thrust into strange circumstances. This is almost a predecessor to The Ring, though it had antecedents in sub-plot elements of The Omen and elsewhere vi. The Repossession: Pretty intense Hope I've praised this show enough cause I am not sure I have. If not, add some more praise to the above.
Wrong Titles to Some Shows, etc.
radiophoto
"Nightfall_CBC_81-02-20_34_The_Monkeys_Paw.mp3" is actually "The Book of Hell". A later "Book of Hell" on the list is titled correctly. "Nightfall_CBC_81-03-13_37_Wind_Chill" is actually called "Breaking Point". A later "Breaking Point" is titled correctly. "Nightfall_CBC_81-04-10_41_Repossession" is actually called "Cemetery Stuff". EDIT: It is "Stop" and not "Stuff", as OTRJunkie points out -- I was going by what I thought I'd heard the announcer say. These are pretty good shows, with some good writing and excellent acting. While I haven't heard the whole list yet, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that at least 2/3 of the one I have listened to are worthy of a 2nd listen.
These are ACTUALLY scary!
Jak Frost
Once you get past the terrible synth music interludes, these stories are actually quite wonderfully disturbing. Necrophilia, murder, despair, desperation, severed hands, monstrous deeds, corruption, evil, madness... everything that makes a good horror story. The problem is getting there, this is a terrible site to find anything. BUT if you can find Nightfall, I can not recommend it highly enough. Who knew the CBC could actually be scary? I never heard these as a kid, too bad, it would have been vastly better than being forced to watch The Beachcombers. (Canadians will understand) :)
some of the best....
nighthouse66
nightfall is definitely my second-favorite all time radio series, second only to the staggering "vanishing point" (highly, HIGHLY reccomended, and on this site). and as another reviewer noted, get past the corniness and you have some seriously bizarre, dark stories. my favorite is "the all nighter", about a woman who keeps finding blood and human flesh in the the washers and driers of the all night laundromat she works at. like, what the hell? thanks for keeping these available.
Oh so gooooood!
Hipbilly
Give me stormy nights and Nightfall!
Not so good - "The Weird Circle" it ain't.
Dream On
Well, not all of the episodes are here - the two-part "Blood Countess" (about the "vampire" Lady Bathory) is not here - and as violent and seedy as it is, it has genuine power. I'd almost recommend it, in fact I do. But again, you'll have to look at other sources of "Nightfall" on this site. As for what is here. Episodes derived from older sources can be good, but if you hear the phrase "...we present to you a chilling tale from Edmonton/Vancouver/Ottowa/Toronto writer...", you can skip it. Those episodes (and most all episodes here) are tacky rubbish. Often violent rubbish. The caliber of acting is wildly uneven. Some of the material here reminds me of the BBC's "Fear on Four" series - sometimes effective, but with real sadism as opposed to gothic atmosphere and poetry. I actually like the '80s synths - it matches the seediness of the show in general. But! The good ones here (and there are some) would be: 1. Carmilla. 2. The Appetite of Mr. Lucraft. 3. Late Special. 4. The Stone Ship (gripping, actually). 5. They Bite. 6. Blood Countess parts 1 & 2 (not available here). 7. The Body Snatchers. 8. The Fatal Eggs. 9. Hands Off. 10. The Tell-Tale Hear (A very odd version). A mixed bag.
Amazing stories, incomplete collection
Lizzy
These stories some of the creepiest shows I've heard in regard to radio plays. 'The Dentist' in particular freaked me out. The only criticism I have of this collection is that it is not complete. My absolute favourite radio play, 'The Blood Countess,' parts 1 and 2, are missing! Can you please track the missing episodes down and include them?