Main cast: Alex Cord (John Thunston), Terrence Evans (Mr Ritzen), and Laraine Newman (Linda McGuire)
Director: Mark Shostrom

Artist Linda McGuire is visited one fine day by a dapper gentleman, John Thunston, who had written to her in the past about local superstitions. She has just moved into her home about six weeks ago, and she believes that she has found a bargain of a location for an art gallery. Well, think again. He informs her that a previous occupant of the place, a long time ago, was Cret Marrowby, who did black magic and was hanged for murdering a priest. The man’s monstrous familiar still dwells in the cellar, kept in place by a series of protective magical wards… until recently, when a man Linda hired to check out why her cellar is so damp accidentally disrupted the wards and went MIA. John believes that the monster will soon break loose – at midnight, naturally – and he intends to slay it when it does.

All the information above is narrated by John to Linda in a long scene of exposition, and that’s the problem with Rouse Him Not. Basically, it’s all about John telling Linda things for a long, long time, and when the monster does appear – yikes, it’s a guy in a dark rubber suit – John kills it exactly like he says it will. Now that’s what I call an anticlimactic moment. Linda spends the entire episode talking very slowly, listening and nodding to John, and acting scared as John does his thing. In other words, she has no useful role in this episode – her role ends the moment she purchased her new place.

Rouse Him Not is more like rouse me; I fell asleep watching this utterly dull filler episode.