Just Disc 5 in the collection to get this episode

The Sins of the Fathers: Chilling Food for Thought, 26 March 2009
Author: paulbehrer22173 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

In this segment, adapted by Halsted Welles from the short story by Christianna Brand, who was noted for the Nanny McPhee series of books, a famine and plague are ravaging the 19th century Welsh countryside, obliging Mrs. Craighill (Barbara Steele) to send her servant (Michael Dunn) on horseback for 3 days and nights to find someone to do the hated sin-eater's rite. After finding that all the men nearby are either dead or dying of famine and disease, he then heads to the farm of Dylan Evans, only to be told by the man's wife (Geraldine Page) that he's too weak from famine and illness to perform the sin-eater's rite. The servant begs Mrs. Evans to send her husband, describing the foods of the feast in mouth-watering detail. Out of desperation, Mrs. Evans decides to send her dull-witted son, Ian, in her husband's place. Ian, though, is horrified at having to feast from a dead man's corpse and taking on the sins of the departed, and being damned forever as a sin-eater, and refuses to do it at first. His mother insists, saying that he must imitate his father and recite the sin-eater's prayer, but instead of eating the funeral feast must hide the food in his cloak to take home, and never eat so much as a crumb or morsel in the corpse's presence, adding that he must insist that he perform the rite alone. Ian rides to the Craighill home on the servant's horse. Mrs. Craighill protests that Ian is too young and weak from hunger to do the sin-eater's rite, but concedes that since there's no one else healthy enough to do it, then she must have him perform the task. When the mourners urge Ian to eat, he insists that he must perform the rite alone, and Mrs. Craighill, wishing to see her husband's sins removed from his soul, agrees, and ushers them from the room. Ian begins the prayer, hiding the food in his cloak, gagging as he moves around the corpse to do it, and utters the horrified shriek that tells of the passing of the sins. He then runs from the house in terror, with Mrs. Craighill tossing the 3 gold coins after him. Ian makes it home on foot, and his mother removes his cloak, taking the food into the other room as Ian watches. Mrs. Evans says that the feast is ready, and Ian enters the room to find the feast arrayed around his father's corpse. Mrs. Evans pleads with him, asking if he wants his father to die with a sinless soul or not, adding that he shouldn't worry because he would have a son to eat his sins. Ian, now doomed to be a sin-eater, begins his hated feast, shrieking the prayer. I have to admit when I saw this, I was chilled by the thought that anyone would subject their child to this, whether male or female. Spoiler alert: this segment was made before the I'll Never Leave You-Ever segment, but aired a week after it.

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"Another entry from Season Two. This is really one of the most frightening and uncomfortable things to watch, that has ever been presented on television. Richard Thomas deserves accolades for his performance. The finest work he has ever done. This is one of those--"You have to see it to believe it" episodes. Some of the finest horror that television has ever seen. Nothing I can say can describe this episode. It has never been matched... As I said, this episode Scared the S&%T out of me. I bet it would still.

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As the previous posters have attested, this was one of the most frightening things I ever saw--on TV or in a movie theater. The acting was superb, but it was the story, the foggy night forest that the desperate boy had to run through--round trip!--and especially the taut direction that so successfully created an atmosphere of crushing dread. The fear and contempt that The Widow showed for the hysterical young man before slamming the heavy wooden door behind him made my mouth go dry.

Without giving away what actually happens at the climax, I'll just say that, once it took place, my entire family began shrieking and running from the room in all directions.

Poe must have wept with jealousy.