This series originated on HBO in the late 1980s, with stories based on a comicbook banned in the 1950s as too frightening for children. The E.C. comic book company had a number of frightening comic books, the only survivor of the line was a satire/spoof called Mad Magazine. But I digress...
In 1984, a syndicated tv series appeared called Tales From The Darkside, which changed its name to Monsters in 1989 and is sometimes seen on the Sci-Fi channel. It was somewhat similar to Lights Out.
In 1990, Tales From The Darkside: The Movie was released in theaters starring Debbie Harry (lead singer for Blondie), Matthew Lawrence, Christian Slater, David Johansen (aka singer Buster Poindexter), Robert Klein and Rae Dawn Chong. It consisted of 3 stories, the first 2 by A. Conan Doyle and Stephen King, and didn't really look much like the tv series though William Hickey was in both the movie and an episode of the series. "A rampaging mummy, an evil feline and a monstrous gargoyle appear in this trilogy of terror"
There was a Tales From The Crypt movie in 1972 based on 5 stories from the EC comix; stars included Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee.
Tales From The Crypt 2: Vault of Horror followed in 1973, also with 5 stories from EC comix dealing with "murder, torture, bloodthirsty vampires, voodoo," etc. Stars included Curt Jurgens, Glynis Johns, Terry-Thomas and Tom Baker (of Dr Who fame).
In addition to an earlier Peter Cushing movie, there have also been 2 new movies, based on the TV series:
Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight (1995) Rated R, 105 min.
A devilish stranger unleashes the forces of darkness upon the unsuspecting tenants of a desert boardinghouse. Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett, Brenda Bakke, CCH Pounder, Dick Miller. Director Ernest R. Dickerson began as a cinematographer for director Spike Lee, where he worked on She's Gotta Have It (1986), Do the Right Thing (1989) and Malcolm X (1992)
Tales from the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood (1996) Rated R, 87 min.
This second feature film is a horror comedy about a vampire (model Angie Everhart) who runs an undercover brothel in the deep South with the help of a greedy TV evangelist, Jimmy Current (Chris Sarandon). One night, the brother (Corey Feldman) of Jimmy's assistant, Katherine (Erika Eleniak), goes missing inside the house, so Katherine enlists a caustic investigator (Dennis Miller) to find out what happened. The movie is filled with violence, breasts and gore, but, says the New York Times, "It doesn't take itself seriously. It has a witty style." Cast:
Erika Eleniak, Angie Everhart, Corey Feldman, Phil Fondacaro, Dennis Miller, Aubrey Morris, William Sadler, Chris Sarandon
Director/Producer: Gilbert Adler
Original Story: Bob Gale & Robert Zemeckis
Director of Photography: Tom Priestley, Editor Stephen Lovejoy
Composer Chris Boardman & Danny Elfman (Beetlejuice)
Screenwriter: Gilbert Adler, William M. Gaines, A. L. Katz
Production Designer: Gregory Melton
John Kassir, who was the voice of the Crypt Keeper in the TV series, reprises that role in Bordello of Blood.
The third movie in the trilogy has been made but was never released (at least not yet) due to legal problems
TV Episodes, in alphabetical order (AMC Descriptions)
Tales from the Crypt: Abra Cadaver (1991)
Carl and Marty are siblings who work at a hospital. Carl shows Marty his new way of proving that the brain lives after the body dies. The whole thing turns out to be a prank but the shock of the joke gives Marty a heart attack. Years later Marty hasn't forgiven Carl and plans a deadly revenge. Marty then reveals that it was an act of revenge on Carl and the whole thing was a joke...or was it?
Tales from the Crypt: And All Through the House (1989)
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Tales from the Crypt: Carrion Death (1991)
Digs is a thief who is on his way to the Mexican border. He ends up being captured by a cop. Digs kills the officer but learns that he is up a creek without a paddle when the cop swallows the key to the cuffs that connect them. Now Digs has to carry the corpse all the way to the Mexican border in the hot sun.
Tales from the Crypt: Collection Completed (1989)
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Tales from the Crypt: Cutting Cards (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Dead Right (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Dead Wait (1991)
Red is a low-life crook who is looking for a black pearl. He finds that it's on a island belonging to an ailing millionaire. He plans with the millionaire's mistress to steal the pearl but she turns on him. Fortunately a voodoo priestess comes to the rescue, but she has something special for him that he'll never forget.
Tales from the Crypt: Deadline (1991)
Charlie Mackenzie is an out-of-work reporter who wants his life back. One night while at his favorite bar hangout, Charlie meets a beautiful women who seems to turn his life around. He gets his job back, but his boss agrees to rehire him only if Charlie can bring in a murder story soon. One night while at Greek diner, he overhears the owner strangle his girlfriend. Charlie interviews him and goes to where the body is, but she is not dead. Charlie discovers that it's his girlfriend, Vicky. Will Charlie do the gruesome deed necessary to meet the deadline demands of his employer?
Tales from the Crypt: Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone (1989)
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Tales from the Crypt: Easel Kill Ya (1991)
Jack is an artist who has a strange talent for painting pictures of corpses. One day he falls for a beautiful girl who tempts him into painting more. Jack turns over a new leaf for his love. One day she is the victim of a hit-and-run accident. How far will Jack go to save his love's life?
Tales from the Crypt: Fitting Punishment (1990)
Bobby is an orphaned teenager who goes to live with his uncle Ezra. Ezra is a mortuary director who is very grumpy. One day he decides to fill his new casket...with Bobby. But he's soon fittingly punished for his regrettable behavior.
Tales from the Crypt: For Cryin' Out Loud (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Four-Sided Triangle (1990)
Mary Jo is a young slave girl on a farm. One day while escaping to the fields, she has a vision that a scarecrow comes to save her from the cruel couple that "owns" her. When her master discovers the identity of her new boyfriend, he decides to disguise himself as the man in straw. See what fate awaits him at the hands of his jealous wife and whether Mary Jo is able to set herself free.
Tales from the Crypt: Judy, You're Not Yourself Today (1990)
Donald and Judy are a couple who find themselves in a game of witchcraft. When a mysterious woman convinces Judy to try on a magical necklace, the old woman switches their souls. Soon Donald realizes that something is wrong. He tricks the witch into thinking that Judy has cancer and they switch back. Then Donald kills the witch and buries her. Years later, she comes back and this time she's got a special surprise for him.
Tales from the Crypt: Korman's Kalamity (1990)
Jim Korman is a cartoonist for "Tales from the Crypt." He has a talent for creating horrible creatures--they are all inspired by his harassing wife. Little does he know that his creations are coming to life and creating havoc. A female detective pursues the creator and suddenly falls for him. Will Korman finally take his wife out of the picture so that he can pursue a new life? Harry Anderson
Tales from the Crypt: Loved to Death (1991)
A writer finds himself falling for his next-door neighbor even though she won't take him seriously. When his mysterious landlord gives him a potion to make her fall in love with him, it works all too well. She becomes obsessed with him and won't leave him alone. Unfortunately, there is no way to get her to come to her senses, so his landlord offers him some potion to get rid of her. He puts the poison in one of her drinks but he mistakenly drinks it himself. Find out what happens to this love story gone awry.
Tales from the Crypt: Lover Come Hack to Me (1989)
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Tales from the Crypt: Lower Berth (1990)
Enouch is a two-faced man at a sideshow carnival. One day a new attraction arrives--a four-century-old mummy. When the owner learns that the mummy is not only ripped off but cursed, he swipes the jewels off the mummy...but soon he regrets it.
Tales from the Crypt: Mournin' Mess (1991)
A regretful reporter is investigating some murders of homeless people. He meets up with a man who is the prime suspect in the murders, but when he fails to deliver a story, his boss fires him. He then discovers that the new cemetery of a group called Ghouls is the cause for all the deaths in the neighborhood. And guess who's the next victim.
Tales from the Crypt: Mute Witness to Murder (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: My Brother's Keeper (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Only Sin Deep (1989)
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Tales from the Crypt: Spoiled (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Television Terrors (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: The Man Who Was Death (1989)
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Tales from the Crypt: The Reluctant Vampire (1991)
A vampire is working at a blood bank as a night watchman. However, when the blood seems to be running low, the vampire returns to getting blood the old-fashioned way. When the owner arrives at the vampire's lair, he tries to blackmail him, but as fate would have it, the vampire's sexy secretary shows up and knocks him into the vampire's coffin. Find out what's at "stake" for the entombed owner.
Tales from the Crypt: The Sacrifice (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: The Switch (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: The Trap (1999)
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Tales from the Crypt: The Ventriloquist's Dummy (1990)
A ventriloquist seeks out his old hero, Ingels, who he always admired. He soon meets up with his ventriloquist dummy Morty and discovers a shocking secret. Don Rickles
Tales from the Crypt: Thing from the Grave (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Three's a Crowd (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: 'Til Death (1990)
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Tales from the Crypt: Top Billing (1991)
Barry Blye is a frustrated actor who will do anything to get a part. He's been rejected by every acting company because he doesn't have the right look. Bad luck follows him all over. First his girlfriend breaks up with him. Then he's kicked out of his apartment. Then his old rival Winton Robins, who has "the look," gets a part in a weird theater's production of Hamlet. Barry goes into a frustrated rage and strangles him to death to take the part. He is shocked when he learns that the theater is really a mental hospital.
Tales from the Crypt: Undertaking Palor (1991)
Four boys who have a talent for videotaping uncover some weird things at the undertaker's. Revenge comes when one the boy's father becomes a victim. They begin videotaping the undertaker's evil deeds, which he soon discovers in horror.
Note: although Tales From The Crypt is not currently showing on the Sci-Fi Channel, they have a better
FUN FACT:
Naked Vengeance (1985) is a remake of the controversial 1978 film I Spit On Your Grave, directed by Meir Zarchi.
Tales From The Crypt videos, books and DVDs available
Some other Tales of note:
Tales of Terror (1962) starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone and written by Richard Matheson based on Edgar Allan Poe stories.
Tales That Witness Madness (1973), Donald Pleasence of the Halloween movies, Kim Novak, Joan Collins
Tales Of Manhattan (1942), 5 gentle Twilight Zone-type stories following the effects a dress coat has on various owners. Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Robeson, Cesar Romero, George Sanders. Leonard Maltin says his favorite of the 5 is when a down and out black man (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson) wears the coat to his 25th class reunion.
Though not based on the EC comics directly, the 5 Stephen King stories used for Creepshow (1982) were clearly inspired by it. King even stars in the 2nd story, as a backwoods rube who goes poking around some gooey stuff in a meteorite. Stars: Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson; Directed by George Romero. In the final story, a Howard Hughes-type screwy billionaire with an insect phobia (E.G. Marshall) sprays a cockroach and soon they're everywhere (there was a similar Night Gallery episode about spiders).
Creepshow 2 followed in 1987 with 3 more King short stories and cameo by King as a trucker. Stars: George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Lois Chiles.
Hey you! Whhhhhy are you fooling with the musty old Crypt Keeper when you could visit Max Headroom and play the "Max Headroom Squares" game? Just because the hour-episodes of Max Headroom have moved for awhile to Tech TV (archived page, along with episode descriptions) doesn't mean Max has left sci-fi forever!
Although "Tales From The Crypt" is no longer on the sci-fi channel, a number of radio versions of "Tales From The Crypt" stories based on comic books never made into TV episodes. The episodes are webcast at scifi.com - a different episode each week. Go to www.scifi.com/set/tales to see the "Tales From The Crypt" radio website, a list of episodes, and the link to hear this week's episode online
"If Big Brother is watching me, he's pretty bored." Dennis Miller
On the SciFi Channel
07/01/2008 03:00 AM (MOVIE) TALES FROM THE CRYPT: BORDELLO OF BLOOD
08/10/2008 11:30 PM (MOVIE) TALES FROM THE CRYPT: BORDELLO OF BLOOD
There was also a Tales From The Crypt movie marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003
2007 broadcasts:
TALES FROM THE CRYPT: BORDELLO OF BLOOD on the USA Network
Wed July 18 12:00P & 2am on USA Network
Most recent broadcast on Fox Movie Channel
Tue Nov 21, 2006 3pm/6pm EST TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)
Any episodes scheduled on American Movie Classics,
Friday nights/Sat mornings, check monthly listings (all times EST)
(1994 eps unless noted),
The Reluctant Vampire (1991) Sat, Jan. 8, 2005, 4:30 AM
(no eps scheduled on AMC after Jan. 2005)
