What stinger at the end of an episode most embodied the movie it came from?
For me? The empty glance and double take of one of the smoochers guarding the Valley Lodge route to the Great Beyond. The vacuum within that look and her eyebrow expressed the sum of what there’s to be said on Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966).
I think most stingers were well chosen. For whatever reason, the ones I find most memorable are short and sweet, and really capture the silliness of the movie.
Some of my faves:
The Creeping Terror: “My God! What is it?” Teen-Age Strangler: “And he didn’t steal no bike neither … I did!” Teenagers from Outer Space: “When we return to our planet, the high court may well sentence you to TORTURE!!”
I also have a special place in my heart for episodes where the stinger is the final shot of the movie (credits don’t count), such as Being from Another Planet, where the odious guy screams as fungus eats his hand; and Danger!! Death Ray, where the film editors couldn’t be bothered to edit out the guy’s hand holding the watch above the swimming pool. It takes something really special to save the silliest moment in your movie for the last.
And finally, I always appreciate when the stinger comes from the short, not the feature. Such as:
Racket Girls. The short is “Are You Ready for Marriage”: SNAP! “It’s gone!” “Where’d it go?” The Painted Hills. The short is “Body Care and Grooming”: Satellite News describes it as “Naughty girl goes into the shower.” War of the Colossal Beast. The short is “Mr. B Natural”: Mr B dances like a happy king!