The Man Upstairs story
A young boy suspects his grandmother's strange new lodger is actually a vampire. Directed by: Alain Bonnot. Story by: Ray Bradbury.
8 total · 1 choice · 4 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| vampire | choice | Douglas, a young boy with a vivid imagination, became convinced that his grandmother's eccentric new lodger, Mr. Koberman, was a vampire. In the end, Douglas took matters into his own hands and slew Mr. Koberman by means of cutting open his torso, removing a bizarre organ, and emptying a jar of silver coins into the cavity. It was left ambiguous as to whether Mr. Koberman was a vampire or had perhaps been parasitized by a strange creature, or something stranger still. |
| grandmother and grandson | major | Douglas, a curious young boy, was staying at his grandmother's Paris inn. |
| human childhood | major | Douglas, a curious young boy with a vivid imagination, became convinced that his grandmother's eccentric new lodger, Mr. Koberman, was a vampire. |
| immortal living secretly among us | major | One gathers that Mr. Koberman had ceased aging since at least the fin de siècle. There was a photo of him posing in front of the Eiffel Tower as it was being built. |
| serial murder | major | There was mention of women being murdered and exsanguinated. Miss Treadwell had also disappeared mysteriously. Mr. Koberman had photos of women, Miss Treadwell among them, that were implied to have been his victims and nighttime snacks. |
| creative writing | minor | In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writing. |
| law enforcement | minor | A uniformed policeman was at the strange scene of Mr. Koberman's death. |
| the nature of creativity | minor | In his introduction, Ray Bradbury gave his viewers an intimate window into his writing room, and some of the self-professed sources of creativity that lay about within it. |