'50 States Of Fright' Episode 1: 'The Golden Arm' is a spine-chilling legend telling us not to be greedy
Quibi's latest show '50 States Of Fright' has just released the first two episodes, and wow, what zingers for horror genre aficionados. The first episode titled 'The Golden Arm', starring Rachel Brosnahan of 'The Marvelous Mrs Maisel' fame was based on the variation of the old American folk tale.
In the adaptation of the tale, David (Travis Fimmel) and Heather (Rachel Brosnahan) are a happily married couple and seem to be living an idyllic life. One day, tragedy strikes. While helping David cut a tree, Heather is struck by the log of wood and her arm is trapped underneath it. In order to save her, David chops off her arm.
Heather is unhappy and wants a prosthetic arm. She asks David to get a gold one for her and he procures it. For a while, she's quite content with its glamour and feel. Unfortunately, the gold corrupts her body and soon, she dies. Before doing so, she asks David to bury it with her. He fulfills her wish. However, he is run over by debts, and decides to take the golden arm back from his wife's grave. A vengeful Heather returns as a ghost and comes back for her arm, killing David in the process.
The real reason behind this folktale is to instill respect in the listeners for the dead — or so it is believed. While it is said to have been written 200 years ago, the oral folk tale goes back much before that. The essence of the tale is, that a dead person has an artificial limb buried with them, that is made of gold. Out of a sense of greed their loved one steals it, only to be haunted by the ghost later, who comes demanding for the limb asking, "You have my golden limb, WHERE IS IT, WHERE IS IT?"
In the English fairy tale written by Joseph Jacob, a man falls in love with a woman, whose arm is made of gold. However, townsfolk believed that he loved her golden arm more than her. Nevertheless, they lived a long and happy life, and then she died. While looking sorrowful at her funeral, the man went to dig up her body and cut off the golden arm.
The ghost of his wife charged into his room and there was a cobersation, "What hast thou done with thy golden hair?” “All withered and wasted away.” “What hast thou done with thy Golden Arm?” “THOU HAST IT!”
The story ends on this note. In another adaptation of the tale written by Karen Sneider, the man's greed grows by leaps and bounds, and he kills his wife for the golden arm. The wife comes back to haunt him, and he flings the arm at her. The story ends with her shoving a scrap of paper and pencil into his hand and the wife saying, "Show your work!"
'50 States Of Fright' is streaming on Quibi.
