Just saw this segment in season three on Amazon. Had never seen it before, but I literally jumped out of my chair when he attacked the landlord.

When the landlord referred to feeling like "something wasn't right in the house," I just assumed it was the fact that there were three dead bodies in there—not that Smith was hiding in wait to attack too. Clever editing from the production staff, I think—it really played with my expectations, at least. I was as caught off guard as the landlord in the segment.

I think this is the first time I've ever had the kind of "jolt out of your seat" reaction to a UM episode. Usually it's just a pervasive sense of creepiness.

Just saw this segment in season three on Amazon. Had never seen it before, but I literally jumped out of my chair when he attacked the landlord.

When the landlord referred to feeling like "something wasn't right in the house," I just assumed it was the fact that there were three dead bodies in there—not that Smith was hiding in wait to attack too. Clever editing from the production staff, I think—it really played with my expectations, at least. I was as caught off guard as the landlord in the segment.

I think this is the first time I've ever had the kind of "jolt out of your seat" reaction to a UM episode. Usually it's just a pervasive sense of creepiness.

I agree with all your observations here.

There's some pretty cool pictures of the house dynoguy posted here sometime last year:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279342&page=29

I agree with all your observations here.

There's some pretty cool pictures of the house dynoguy posted here sometime last year:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279342&page=29

Wow, that's fascinating. Looks like the house sold, too. I wonder if the owners know about what happened there.

I found some other tidbits online a couple years ago that highlighted details of how and why Joe Smith did this. But the why part is pretty weak.

He waited in that house the entire day with three dead bodies for Frank Allen to arrive so he could kill him too. If Allen hadn't had a bad feeling when he walked into that house, he would have been bludgeoned to death in his sleep like the others and Smith would have had a huge head start on his escape ala Brad Bishop.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=327662

I'm glad I'm not the only one who jumped.

What's the episode called

Just saw this segment in season three on Amazon. Had never seen it before, but I literally jumped out of my chair when he attacked the landlord.

I've posted the same thing on this board before. That moment scared the crap out of me when I first saw it and I think it was the scariest single moment on UM. To this day I get chest pain knowing it's about to happen when I see that segment. :lol:

It was a great job by UM as you know something is amiss but you have no idea JWS is going to pop out with a hammer. It was crazy. That whole scene was really well done.

I've posted the same thing on this board before. That moment scared the crap out of me when I first saw it and I think it was the scariest single moment on UM. To this day I get chest pain knowing it's about to happen when I see that segment. :lol:

It was a great job by UM as you know something is amiss but you have no idea JWS is going to pop out with a hammer. It was crazy. That whole scene was really well done.

The eerie soft music lead up gives an unsettling feeling as well. Most horror movies make sure everything is completely quiet when they throw a jump scare at its audience, sometimes even a fake out jump scare.

Although here, you know something bad is about to happen but you jump anyway when it does. This was during that first 5-6 year period when the production on UM was at its best.

Glad to see other people had the same experience. Until now I had never been jolted out of my seat by this show, and I've been watching it for well over over a decade. You've all echoed the reasons I think I found it so effective.

The preview of the segment in the intro mentions that Smith killed his wife and two stepdaughters, so you go into the episode with that knowledge beforehand. When the landlord says something felt amiss in the house, my brain automatically assumed (like I think most people's would) that he was going to stumble upon a corpse, but instead, out jumps Smith from the shadows!

I re-watched it again and was still on edge knowing it was going to happen, but I think the genius of it is in the way it's edited alongside the music. It wants you to think there is going to be a buildup to something, but hits you with the surprise far earlier than you're expecting (i.e. in a matter of seconds). I can't recall any other UM episode that does something like this. It's very cinematic and "horror movie"-ish.

I agree with all your observations here.

There's some pretty cool pictures of the house dynoguy posted here sometime last year:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279342&page=29

Gad, I had a house not much more than a mile away, albeit in not as exclusive a neighborhood. I didn't realize it until checking that Zillow link. I lived on Viewcrest Road next to an elementary school. Very quiet neighborhood on the opposite side of Warm Springs Road from the Joe Smith house.

In 1990 that area was booming as the population exploded. I didn't move to Henderson until many years later.

Next time I'm in town I'll have to check out that house, or as close as I can get.

In 1990 that area was booming as the population exploded. I didn't move to Henderson until many years later.

When I hear Henderson, NV, I think of the bank robbery segment where the newspaper reporter snapped a picture of the robbers as she passed them on the street. ("I can take this picture....but he'll shoot me! I have to take this picture...but he'll shoot me!").

Any chance that is your bank?

I just signed up for an Amazon Prime account and it's really nice to see all these segments uncut.

In regards to this segment, Lifetime cut out the part where Joe Smith is driving out of Las Vegas in his car, license plate SMITTY2. And Stack mentions the biggest WTF issue in regards to this case which is lack of motive. By all accounts, his marriage to Judith was a happy one. He knew he was not in his wife's will and there were no life insurance policies on Judithy, Wendy or Kristy.

This may be one of the most motiveless crimes ever featured on UM.

Is this the one where the guy jumps through a glass window to escape?

God my tush was tense the whole way through!

When I hear Henderson, NV, I think of the bank robbery segment where the newspaper reporter snapped a picture of the robbers as she passed them on the street. ("I can take this picture....but he'll shoot me! I have to take this picture...but he'll shoot me!").

Any chance that is your bank?

I have a co-worker from Henderson and always kind of mentally associate this case and the bank robbery segment with her.

When we first met and she told me where she was from, I said "Oh, Vegas". She said, "Yes! You've been there?" I've never even been to the state of Nevada so I felt a little awkward trying to explain that. :lol:

When I hear Henderson, NV, I think of the bank robbery segment where the newspaper reporter snapped a picture of the robbers as she passed them on the street. ("I can take this picture....but he'll shoot me! I have to take this picture...but he'll shoot me!").

Any chance that is your bank?

That lady! Is she still around?

What episode listed on Amazon are you talking about? Joe Smith?

What episode listed on Amazon are you talking about? Joe Smith?

I think it's called "Smitty" on the Amazon streaming.

Hahahaha.

This was my first time seeing this on Amazon, damn you're right, I literally jumped out of my skin. I was expecting him to find a dead family or something. That really took me by surprise.

Hahahaha.

This was my first time seeing this on Amazon, damn you're right, I literally jumped out of my skin. I was expecting him to find a dead family or something. That really took me by surprise.

I've seen this segment several, several times over the past ten years and I still jump, every time.

What I was surprised to see was that little bit about the gold vehicle with the "Smitty2" vanity plate. I'd never seen that part of the segment before.

I've seen this segment several, several times over the past ten years and I still jump, every time.

What I was surprised to see was that little bit about the gold vehicle with the "Smitty2" vanity plate. I'd never seen that part of the segment before.

I rewound that part five times, and jumped on each time. Crazy he was waiting in that house for hours waiting to kill him.

I've never seen this segment prior, but the gold car was interesting.

When I hear Henderson, NV, I think of the bank robbery segment where the newspaper reporter snapped a picture of the robbers as she passed them on the street. ("I can take this picture....but he'll shoot me! I have to take this picture...but he'll shoot me!").

Any chance that is your bank?

No, but my bank at the time was actually very close to the site of another Unsolved Mysteries case. I used a Wells Fargo branch on Maryland Parkway. It was just down the road from the Albertsons grocery store parking lot where Kathy Hobbs was abducted.

I live mostly in Miami now but when I'm in Las Vegas I still default to that Maryland Parkway area at night, after the games are over. It's not far east of the Strip and has lots of convenient grocery stores, restaurants and major stores.

However, the area did decline and become more seedy. I think I've mentioned that previously. Many businesses moved away from the area. It was just starting to decline in the late '80s at the time of the Hobbs case and then got markedly worse later. The area between Koval Lane and Maryland Parkway became a crime area, especially in the Swenson Street and East Desert Inn Road region. You'll see multiple patrol cars and stoppages all the time. Actually it's just starting to improve a little bit.

One of the reasons I moved to Henderson was for a safer area, even though it was out of the way and I actually preferred being within walking distance of the Strip. Some of my friends who were doing the same things I was had been robbed and apparently targeted. So I got a home and endured the boring dusty drive to suburban Henderson. It turned out to be a good investment only because I timed the market well, mostly by accident.

Henderson is huge and sprawling. Originally it defined the area toward Boulder Highway and partially toward Boulder City. That is traditional Henderson and the area where I lived. Later when the population exploded and new developments were required then major communities sprung up, much further west but also technically within Henderson. For example, maybe 5 or 6 years ago an LPGA golfer named Erica Blasberg sadly committed suicide in her home. It was technically within Henderson and the media accounts listed Henderson but it was not even close to where I lived. She was in one of the newer areas maybe 15 or 20 miles away. I believe it was the Anthem development.

I'm not sure where that bank from the Unsolved Mysteries segment was. Based on how remote it looked I'm guessing it was alongside Sunset Road, or somewhere like that. That area can be desolate and seemingly a great area for a bank escape.

I think I've mentioned that I knew the guy who portrayed the bank manager in that segment. It was Chipper Chirimbes, a prominent sports handicapper who worked for the Jim Feist conglomerate. He probably still does but I lost track of him. At the time he had some acting aspirations.

Another guy who was in the Las Vegas sports handicapping community at the time was Jack Maxwell. He does the Booze Traveler series on Travel Channel. He was a good guy. Very approachable and not stuck up. So was Chipper. I can't say the same about others who I won't name, unless you include Wayne Allyn Root. Let's just say anybody who knew him isn't surprised at what he became.

I watched this again last night. I must have been too busy playing with my son to catch it properly the first time. They set up an amazing jump scare in this scene. The tension really builds as Frank goes out to look around the house. For me, the sudden change in POV right before Joe jumps out though is the most brilliant part. The sudden cut so that we see Joe crouched down is so much more effective than seeing Joe jump out as if from nowhere.

Also, this is followed by one of the most inadvertently funny moments when Frank says, "What in the hell are you doing Joe?" right after he jumps out.

That lady! Is she still around?

Katherine Scott. I looked her up and apparently she died in 2008 of breast cancer. :(

http://obits.reviewjournal.com/obituaries/lvrj/obituary.aspx?n=katherine-selinsky&pid=142272889