Water's Edge story
Rusty Connors is a con man that has just been released from prison. He looks up the wife of his dead former cellmate, a robber and murderer, named Mike Krause. Before he was imprisoned, Krause stole a significant amount of money and killed his partner. The money and the body, however, never turned up. Connors talks to Krause's wife Helen and hopes that she knows where the money is. She, however, does not have a clue. Eventually, however, they are able to figure out that the money is stored in an abandoned boathouse that is now infested with rats. In the boathouse, they find the money and the skeleton of Krause's partner. When Connors sees the money, he is overcome with greed and tries to murder Helen. She manages to knock him out. When Connors awakens, he finds himself bound and gagged and being taunted by Helen. She gets up to leave with the money, but is tripped by Connors and is impaled on a hook. As she dies, the scent of her blood attracts the rats. Since Connors is bound; all he can do is listen with horror as the rats approach him in order to kill him by eating him alive. Directed by: Bernard Girard. Story by: Robert Bloch (short story), Alfred Hayes (teleplay).
16 total · 1 choice · 4 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| greedy search for hidden loot | choice | Rusty Connors and Helen Krause both salivated at the thought of finding Mike's $56,000 hidden loot. They ended up betraying and killing each other over it. |
| appearances can be deceiving | major | Rusty assumed Helen to be an easy mark owing to her slovenly appearance. Little did he know that Helen had deliberately gained 30 pounds and played a fool in order to dupe him and the townspeople, and not stand out. |
| betrayal | major | Rusty tried to betray and kill Helen in the end, but she walloped him over the head, tied him to a post and left him to be eaten by rats. |
| human phobia | major | Helen and Rusty discussed their latent musophobia from time to time and, indeed, ended up at the mercy of a throng of flesh gnawing rats. |
| infatuation | major | Rusty appeared to be besotted with Helen. Alas, it was all a ruse. |
| coping with the death of a spouse | minor | Helen's husband Mike had died in prison. Helen was secretly relieved. |
| extramarital affair | minor | Helen confessed that she had been unfaithful to Mike and that jealousy or vengeance was the real reason Mike had killed Pete. |
| fantasy romance | minor | Rusty told Helen that Mike's descriptions, while Rusty and Mike were incarcerated together, of her had made Rusty fall in love with her in his dreams. |
| husband and wife | minor | Helen spoke of her late husband, Mike, from time to time. |
| political issue | minor | In his intro, Alfred Hitchcock made some wry remarks about honesty in politics as he feigned to launch his campaign for office from the back of a caboose. |