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Title

The Cornstarch Killer

Plot

Discovering that she can bring down the wrath of God upon anyone who approaches her with impure intentions is a major inconvenience to a landlord who is growing increasingly wary of his boarder-- and just as enchanted.

Episode

0479

Air Dates

  • First Run - May 3, 1976
  • Repeat - September 3, 1976

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

142
117     25


18 Responses to Episode 0479

Excellent Episode. A sexy murder mystery that leaves you wondering is it supernatural or something more naferious? Great ending.

James

A "virtuous" woman brings the wrath of God down upon anyone who approaches her with "impure" thoughts. Her landlord is going increasingly wary of her --- and attracted to her.

P. Cabrera

A mysterious and beautiful woman takes a room at a boarding house and claims her luggage was lost by the bus and she is irate at the bus station staff who, she believes, looked at her in a lewd and lascivious manner. (This episode, ironically, is sponsored by Greyhound Package Express). The police arrive moments later to question the landlord about his tenants and we learn the victim, stabbed in the back, with a smudge of corn starch on his face, is none other than the terminal manager.

Almero

Do not dare lust over her. If you value your life, always be a gentleman. In the end, she pays for her brutal sins.

misty

**SPOILERS FOLLOW** I rated this low because it was narrated by someone who supposedly survived the entire episode, having journaled the whole experience from beginning until _through_ his seduction and death. Just doesn't make sense. The ending of the narrator's life doesn't fit the premise in which the story was being related. The rest of the episode was good, albeit predictable, but as a whole it was like listening to a passable symphony, with the final chord being struck by a chorus of kazoos.

Mike

Maybe his ghost finished the diary, lol! This is CBSRMT after all. :D

Amy

I agree with Mike that the story was good if not predictable. Until Mike mentioned the journal I didn't think about that part of it, but there have been plenty of stories that do the same thing in the end. Not quite the same is The Haunter of the Dark by HP Lovecraft.

Alec

Loved listening to this show way back in the 70's.I'm really happy to be able to enjoy it now thanks to this site. I still prefer to listen to these shows under the covers in the dark.The music was from the original Twilight Zone tv shows (1959-1964). I Really love the commercials in this show. Advertising was so much more polite and gentle back then, unlike the loud, rude advertising of today.

Tom

Tom, the music was stock CBS music that could even be heard on Perry Mason!

Rocky

Miss Manhayden LOL

Gary C

This episode is a little gem of a treasure. The star character's name is Miss Men-hate-in, who doesn't associate too well with the men in the story. There is a bumbling police detective named Officer Bad-arrest-tee, and a fellow boarder named Wilburforce Bonnyface., who delivers the line 'There is no woman born who can resist the charms of Wilburforce. Ahh, this reminds me of my golden days writing high school plays in High School Drama class. But the best lines of all are in the beginning preview. Dennis Truffle, "May I take your bags upstairs?" Miss Menhater, "If you can find them, the bus company lost them", "How do you know?", ""Well they put them on the bus when I got on, and the bags were lost when I got off."Dennis, "Maybe they lost them at another stop?", "There was no other stop." "Well maybe another passenger mixed them up and took them?" "I was the only passenger on the bus! Let's face it Mr Truffle, no other explanation, the bus company lost my luggage!" Then we hear the brief introductory music and E.G. Marshall comes on and says, "Tonight's episode is especially brought to you by Greyhound Package Express." Just tooo much! I was rolling on the floor laughing!

D.C. Klinkensmit

An enjoyable listen. Loved E.G.’s comments per usual. So grateful for this end of a day ritual.

Anastasia

Police are baffled by a series of murders — all the victims are men who made a practice of leering at women. The manager of a bus depot, a drunken professor who once was a heavyweight boxer, and the policeman assigned to solve the murders of the first two all had a reputation of making lewd remarks to women and were found stabbed in the back, with a smudge of cornstarch just above the chin.

Jack

Kind of deceptive. The landlord finding her beautiful is not the same thing as having lust for her or asking for a date would be suicidal.

Roger

This is weak story made very entertaining by a very good performance by Marian Seldes. I really enjoy listening to her character because she made her interesting.

Amy

Btw, her name is 'Menhaden' after a fish. She explains her name at the beginning of the episode.

Amy

Well done until the ending. My guess is the writer toyed with the idea of having the landlord be the murderer since he knew all those people and did have cornstarch. The woman an undercover cop trying to catch him.What a terrible ending, so much potential. But Seldes was very good

J Nicolosi

Like Tom, I noticed the inclusion of music which can be heard in Twilight Zone episodes. And if you didn't know, the CBSRMT theme song was used in an episode of TZ named "Two."

Joe Mama


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