Tales from the Crypt: Doctor of Horror starts as two bumbling mortuary security guards Richard (Hank Azaria) & Charlie (Travis Tritt) are hired by a mad Doctor (Austin Pendleton) who they affectionately nickname 'Orloff' to steal a corpse in order to surgically remove it's soul gland. Richard senses the opportunity to make money while Charlie is uneasy about stealing people's soul's while Orloff is single minded in the pursuit of proving his theory, with all three pulling in different direction with differing motives it's bound to end badly...
This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 12 from season 6, written & directed by Larry Wilson one has to say that Doctor of Horror is an entertaining if ultimately forgettable way to pass twenty five minutes. The script was based on a story appearing in 'The Vault of Horror' comic book & by this stage, the end of the sixth season of Tales from the Crypt, one can notice that the quality has dipped. Maybe all the best stories from those old horror comics had already been adapted for the show & what was left were the less than successful comic strips, Doctor of Horror certainly isn't bad as a grim darkly comic horror story but isn't anything amazing. It's a bit unlikely, the character's are average & the twist ending just doesn't feel that ironic, that satisfying or particularly clever. Doctor of Horror is a decent Tales from the Crypt episode for sure, it moves along at a good pace & it has some good gore, but when you compare it to some of the wonderful stories from the earlier seasons it doesn't really stand up that well.
As usual the production values are very good & there's some nice gore, from a couple of decapitated heads, a zombie made up from different people's body parts, some brief surgery scenes involving people's backs cut open & there's some blood splatter too. The opening & closing Cryptkeeper sequences feature him in Sweeney Todd mode as a barber with a straight razor spouting plenty of bad puns like 'scaredo's' & some gore including a fleshy skeleton & a severed ear. The acting is good from a familiar cast, Hank Azaria is better known as one of the regular voices on The Simpsons while Travis Tritt is better known as a country singer in the US.
Doctor of Horror is a good Tales from the Crypt episode, it's not up there with the best but it's far from the worst & still much better than most TV horror anthology programmes. Well worth a watch.
This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 12 from season 6, written & directed by Larry Wilson one has to say that Doctor of Horror is an entertaining if ultimately forgettable way to pass twenty five minutes. The script was based on a story appearing in 'The Vault of Horror' comic book & by this stage, the end of the sixth season of Tales from the Crypt, one can notice that the quality has dipped. Maybe all the best stories from those old horror comics had already been adapted for the show & what was left were the less than successful comic strips, Doctor of Horror certainly isn't bad as a grim darkly comic horror story but isn't anything amazing. It's a bit unlikely, the character's are average & the twist ending just doesn't feel that ironic, that satisfying or particularly clever. Doctor of Horror is a decent Tales from the Crypt episode for sure, it moves along at a good pace & it has some good gore, but when you compare it to some of the wonderful stories from the earlier seasons it doesn't really stand up that well.
As usual the production values are very good & there's some nice gore, from a couple of decapitated heads, a zombie made up from different people's body parts, some brief surgery scenes involving people's backs cut open & there's some blood splatter too. The opening & closing Cryptkeeper sequences feature him in Sweeney Todd mode as a barber with a straight razor spouting plenty of bad puns like 'scaredo's' & some gore including a fleshy skeleton & a severed ear. The acting is good from a familiar cast, Hank Azaria is better known as one of the regular voices on The Simpsons while Travis Tritt is better known as a country singer in the US.
Doctor of Horror is a good Tales from the Crypt episode, it's not up there with the best but it's far from the worst & still much better than most TV horror anthology programmes. Well worth a watch.