Hush
Buddy, an asthmatic boy stuck at home with this babysitter, Jennifer, while his mother goes out, invents things in what used to be his father’s workshop. Most of them are toys made out of found items around the house, but Buddy’s latest is his attempt to finish something that his father had started – a “noise-eater” which, with its ghastly and organic-looking mouth-stalk, sucks the “noise” out of anything that’s making noise…but what it’s actually doing is draining the energy from whatever is making sound. To Buddy and Jennifer’s horror, that includes a caged bird kept by Buddy’s mom: the noise-eater can drain the life out of living things too. Now they have to figure out how to escape the house and trap the noise-eater inside…and the biggest obstacle to that seemingly simple goal is Buddy’s persistent cough.
teleplay by John Sutherland
based on a story by Zenna Henderson
directed by Allen Coulter
music by Pat Irwin
Cast: Nile Lanning (Jennifer), Eric Jason (Buddy), Bonnie Gallup (Beth), Paul Sparer (Narrator)
Notes: Director Allen Coulter would go on to direct numerous television projects, as well as the movies Hollywoodland and Rememeber Me. John Sutherland is a pseudonym for writer/director/composer John Harrison, who wrote (and directed) numerous other Tales From The Darkside installments, as well as going on to adapt and direct Frank Herbert’s Dune in miniseries form for the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000.
LogBook entry by Earl Green