Under the Bed (The Outer Limits)

Introduction

When a little boy is abducted the only witness, his sister, claims that someone or something under the bed took him.

Plot

While Sharon Rosman (Laura Bruneau) works at home one night, a scaly monster abducts her 8-year-old son Andrew (Joel Palmer) by disguising itself as his teddy bear. Fortunately, Sharon has left her tape player on by mistake, and the entire event was recorded on the child monitor. Sharon's 6-year-old daughter Jillian (Colleen Rennison) is the only witness, but the little girl is so traumatized she cannot speak.

Police Detective Caitlin Doyle (Barbara Williams) is so disturbed by the incident that she sends for psychologist Jon Holland (Timothy Busfield) to work with Jillian. He helps the child describe the scenario using dolls to play the parts, but her story seems to make no sense. Later, under hypnosis, Jillian says that the boogeyman pulled Andrew under the bed, and the two vanished. Her story upsets Jon because it dredges up memories of how his own brother disappeared when he was a child.

That night the monster, appearing as Andrew, beckons to Jillian to let it in through a window. At first she opens it, but when the monster assumes its true appearance, Jillian slams the window shut on it. Sharon comes to her daughter's rescue but Jillian panics, and in all the confusion a lamp breaks, cutting both of them. Their screams prompt the neighbors to call the police who arrive and, seeing the blood, misinterpret the calamity as a child abuse situation. Caitlin takes Jillian into protective custody and keeps the child in her own home.

On this particular visit the police find the child monitor, Sharon's tape recorder and more blood drops, all of which are sent to a lab. The test results are frightening. Analysis of the recording shows that one of the voices on it is inhuman. The blood sample has petrified and resembles prehistoric biomatter. Now Jillian's account of the boogeyman is starting to make sense.

Jon discusses his brother's death with his father and finds many similarities between it and Andrew's abduction. Jon also finds out that many children have disappeared without a trace over the years, and he decides to check the police computer records for unsolved cases. He discovers that most occurred when there was no moon—meaning the monster probably can only survive in the dark. Jon and Caitlin must work fast because it's dark out and there is no moon in sight.

Jon and Caitlin rush to her mother's house, where Jillian is staying. They arrive just in time to see a partially visible figure grab the girl and race after her. Jon enters a mine close by first, gun and flashlight in hand, Caitlin soon follows and finds Jon appearing to be injured. Jon then rounds the corner and sees Caitlin reaching towards the fake version of himself. The apparition morphs into a hideous bipedal creature, which the two eventually overpower and drag into the rising sun, where it turns into solid stone. A vengeful Jon viciously destroys the creature with a handy piece of piping. The two then find Jillian bound and carry her out, promising to return her to her mother.

Meanwhile, in France, a mother tells a little girl to stop jumping on the bed, which she does. However, the girl is not alone as evidenced by the glowing pair of eyes underneath the bed.