Tales of horror based on the gruesome E.C. comic books of the 1950s presented by the legendary Crypt Keeper, a sinister ghoul obsessed with gallows humor and horrific puns.
The year is 1918. During World War I, somewhere in France, it's the 49th day of continuous battle on the front lines. Lieutenant Martin Kalthrob doesn't want to be in the army anymore and asks his ...
Half-hour stories with many themes, including; horror, twists, black-magic, and science fiction Introduced by a puppet called "The Crypt Keeper". A cross between The Twilight Zone (1959) and modern horror movies. Not suitable for the very young or squeamish.Written by
Rob Hartill
Though it was the first episode filmed, "And All Through The House" was placed as the second episode after "The Man Who Was Death" in the show's official episode line-up. See more »
I've always loved horror anthology shows, but almost all of them fit into one of these three categories: 1) mediocre knockoff of The Twilight Zone (Circle of Fear, The Hitchhiker); 2) inspired spin on The Twilight Zone (Black Mirror, either version of The Outer Limits); or 3) The Twilight Zone.
Tales from the Crypt seems so fresh, in part, because it's aiming for something different; as a live-action reimagining of classic horror comic books, it's closer to, say, the Creepshow movies than to One Step Beyond. It's colorful and sleazy, and doesn't bother pretending to have a social message.
Maybe because it's telling stories made to fit a comic book, the pacing almost always feels perfect - there are none of those 10-minute lulls that even The Twilight Zone was plagued with - and every shot feels storyboarded, carefully planned. Until Black Mirror, no anthology show had flaunted such insanely high production values. Every episode feels like a miniature drive-in movie. The casting is always incredible, and the scores are often excellent.
It's a treat to revisit this show almost 30 years after it premiered. It holds up surprisingly well.
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I've always loved horror anthology shows, but almost all of them fit into one of these three categories: 1) mediocre knockoff of The Twilight Zone (Circle of Fear, The Hitchhiker); 2) inspired spin on The Twilight Zone (Black Mirror, either version of The Outer Limits); or 3) The Twilight Zone.
Tales from the Crypt seems so fresh, in part, because it's aiming for something different; as a live-action reimagining of classic horror comic books, it's closer to, say, the Creepshow movies than to One Step Beyond. It's colorful and sleazy, and doesn't bother pretending to have a social message.
Maybe because it's telling stories made to fit a comic book, the pacing almost always feels perfect - there are none of those 10-minute lulls that even The Twilight Zone was plagued with - and every shot feels storyboarded, carefully planned. Until Black Mirror, no anthology show had flaunted such insanely high production values. Every episode feels like a miniature drive-in movie. The casting is always incredible, and the scores are often excellent.
It's a treat to revisit this show almost 30 years after it premiered. It holds up surprisingly well.