Fitting Punishment story
Bible-thumping funeral home director Ezra Thornberry cuts corners when it comes to his own line of work. Following a tragic car crash, he is made the legal guardian of his teenage nephew, Bobby. Bobby becomes his uncle's apprentice mortician in order to earn his room and board, though he soon comes to resent the abusive behavior and stinginess of his uncle, especially after Ezra cripples him in a rage. Directed by: Jack Sholder. Story by: Jonathan David Kahn & Don Mancini.
10 total · 8 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| child abuse | major | Ezra was abusive towards his nephew and legal charge, Bobby, and eventually made him a cripple by beating him with a crowbar. |
| funeral rite | major | The story regarded a purveyor of Christian style funeral services, and the business he ran. |
| greed for riches | major | Ezra was pantomimically thrifty. He beat his nephew for leaving the water tap dripping or the light on. He cut of his late nephew's feet to fit him in a Taiwanese coffin. He also stole a gold tooth from a corpse, embalmed with tap water, and otherwise cheated customers at his undertaking business. |
| living corpse | major | Bobby somehow came back, with his cut off feet as physically separate entities, to wreck vengeance on his abusive and murderous uncle. The story is presented by the Crypt Keeper, a cackling, wisecracking cadaver. |
| miserliness | major | Ezra was a textbook penny-pincher. He beat his nephew for leaving the water tap dripping or the light on. He cut of his late nephew's feet to fit him in a Taiwanese coffin. He also stole a gold tooth from a corpse, embalmed with tap water, and otherwise cheated customers at his undertaking business. |
| mobility impairment | major | Bobby had to get by on crutches after his uncle beat him with a crowbar. |
| parricide | major | Ezra cold heartedly killed his crippled nephew by pushing him down the stairs and embalming him with tap water, in order to save money. |
| uncle and nephew | major | Ezra was not at all pleased to take in his orphaned nephew, Bobby, and have another mouth to feed. |
| ghost | minor | Bobby variously had the trappings of a ghost (briefly haunting the house) and a living corpse after he returned from the grave. |
| the game of basketball | minor | In his intro, the Crypt Keeper was shooting human skulls on a basketball net with mixed results. |