"Tales from the Crypt"
And All Through the House (1989)

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writer:

Fred Dekker (writer)

TV Series:

"Tales from the Crypt" (1989)

Original Air Date:

10 June 1989 (Season 1, Episode 2)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A greedy woman makes the mistake of murdering her husband while an escaped mental patient dressed in a Santa Claus outfit is on the loose. |

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | Christmas | Asylum | Murder Of Husband | Atmospheric

Cast

John Kassir	...	Crypt Keeper (voice)
Mary Ellen Trainor	...	Wife
Larry Drake	...	Santa
Marshall Bell	...	Husband
Lindsey Whitney Barry	...	Carrie Ann

Trivia:

In the season one episode "And All Through the House", the radio announcer warns the "Gaines County Area" of the escaped maniac in a Santa suit. This is a reference to William Gaines, publisher of the comic books in the 1950s. Also, when the police officer calls the wife, he says his name is "Feldstien", a reference to Al Feldstien, one of Gaines' top EC Comics employees.

Quotes:

Crypt Keeper: [In the closing narration, after Carrie screamed at the evil Santa Claus who was holding an axe] Well, how was that for a scream boys and ghouls? Oh, don't worry about little Carrie. This particular Santa preferred older women... in pieces, that is.
[laughing]

Movie Connections:

Version of Tales from the Crypt (1972)

good until Santa showed up

This episode of "Tales from the Crypt", "And All Through the House" is a remake of the first segment in the 1972 Amicus production "Tales from the Crypt", which was also called "And All Though the House". A woman kills her husband on Christmas Eve so she can run of with her husband's money and her lover. After she kills her husband with a fire poker she runs into several problems, the first one is her daughter wakes up and goes down stairs. The woman is able to get her daughter back up into her bed, but soon the woman has a far bigger problem. It seems that a killer dressed as Santa Clause has escaped from the mental institution and has already claimed several victims with an axe. Of course the killer soon finds her and a cat and mouse game ensues. As an added twist the woman is faced with a dilemma, if she calls the police they will find her husband's dead body.

The original Amicus segment is important because it is one of the first (and I believe it is the very first, although I may be wrong) use of the "killer Santa" gimmick, which of course would later go on to inspire its own subgenre during the 1980's including "Christmas Evil" and the ultra controversial "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (I have yet to see any of this genre though but do plan to soon).

Anyway, this episode starts off well and does a pretty good job of building up suspense while keeping an edge of macabre humor. All that falls apart once the killer shows up. I hated Larry Drake's performance as the deranged Kris Kringle, he took the episode from a very macabre and dark form of humor to slap stick and it failed miserably. I know the "Tales from the Crypt" TV series was never meant to be taken seriously, but the humor really ruined what could have been a fantastic episode