This was indeed a great show. I have always loved horror/sci-fi/fantasy anthologies whether it's on TV, the movies, or comic books. Ghost Stories was arguably one of the best, and definately overlooked. The show was low budget and featured no name actors. It even reused a few brief scenes and settings on different unrelated episodes. Surprisingly, 2 of the Ghost Stories episodes, "You'll Always Be Mine" and "Denial" were remade in the 2002 Twilight Zone series that came later. The TZ episodes were "To Protect and Serve" and "Dead Man's Eyes". Maybe not so surprising since IMDB lists Frederick Rappaport as a producer on BOTH shows. The power of script recycling compels you!!! Anyway, Rip Torn was surprisingly effective as the narrator and commentator in Ghost Stories. The stories were much more serious than most other anthology shows. The stories were always eerie, but also touching and thought provoking at times. Unfortunately, this show didn't have a chance. It received very little media attention or promotion when it first aired. I wish they revive this show..
7 Reviews
Fantastic Series
eltasho8 April 2006
This was a great series, and made with much enthusiasm and care, which let the story unfold in a subtle manner. I loved the opening credits with the narrator's voice. It was very effective.
For anyone that is in the UK, and has SKY TV, the series are being shown over and over on The Horror Channel (321). They start at 2:30pm until 4:00pm. Then start again at 5:00pm until 6:00pm. Then start again at 7:30pm until 9:00pm.
I hope that some of you comment on this show as it was a great asset to television, and was not cheesy, it has a sort of, wow, who thought of that story? It must have taken some wide amount of effort to put paper onto camera.
10/10!!
For anyone that is in the UK, and has SKY TV, the series are being shown over and over on The Horror Channel (321). They start at 2:30pm until 4:00pm. Then start again at 5:00pm until 6:00pm. Then start again at 7:30pm until 9:00pm.
I hope that some of you comment on this show as it was a great asset to television, and was not cheesy, it has a sort of, wow, who thought of that story? It must have taken some wide amount of effort to put paper onto camera.
10/10!!
Come With Me Into the Very Cradle of Darkness
joshfedderson24 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Come with me to a place of wondrous contradictions. A place that is silent and unstirring yet restless and alive. A place of untold peace and boundless dread. Come with me into the very cradle of darkness where those who dwell, dwell alone."
Ghost Stories was a good mini TV series, it was creative, fun, and creepy the individual stories were good and I thought they were very creative. Rip Torn does an excellent job at introducing each episode with some sort of moral and at the end of each episode he finishes the moral with a consequence. Sure, there have been negative reviews for this TV series and the picture quality is not the best, but come on, who ever wrote these stories did not do a bad job at writing them. I like to write myself and some of these stories were inspiration to me.
Some episodes were funny, some were serious, and some were downright creepy. Each episode had a unique moral to it, the way that Rip Torn introduces them is amazing, his voice, along with his emotions can have you hooked in just a couple of seconds. All of the episodes were good, but I have my favorites here.
Those are my personal favorites but as I said they were all good and exciting in there own way. I was hoping to find like a second season of these great ghost stories but unfortunately I guess they did horrible that more were not made, a shame really, they were great stories. I would recommend checking these out, they are not the best picture quality but they are fun and imaginative and scary too.
10/10 for Rip Torn's Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories was a good mini TV series, it was creative, fun, and creepy the individual stories were good and I thought they were very creative. Rip Torn does an excellent job at introducing each episode with some sort of moral and at the end of each episode he finishes the moral with a consequence. Sure, there have been negative reviews for this TV series and the picture quality is not the best, but come on, who ever wrote these stories did not do a bad job at writing them. I like to write myself and some of these stories were inspiration to me.
Some episodes were funny, some were serious, and some were downright creepy. Each episode had a unique moral to it, the way that Rip Torn introduces them is amazing, his voice, along with his emotions can have you hooked in just a couple of seconds. All of the episodes were good, but I have my favorites here.
- Cold in the Grave - Personal Demons - All Night Diner - Green Eyed Monster - At Deaths Door - It's Only a Movie - Consumers - You'll Wake the Dead - Winner Takes All
Those are my personal favorites but as I said they were all good and exciting in there own way. I was hoping to find like a second season of these great ghost stories but unfortunately I guess they did horrible that more were not made, a shame really, they were great stories. I would recommend checking these out, they are not the best picture quality but they are fun and imaginative and scary too.
10/10 for Rip Torn's Ghost Stories
Embarrassing. Amateurish. Disappointing.
rmorse217 May 2012
I love a good ghost story as much as the next guy. That's the problem with this little-known series: its ghost stories are far from good. Perhaps this is the reason Hulu is offering episodes at the time of this review: no doubt Hulu obtained it very cheaply indeed.
Without exception, the series scripts are hackneyed, the acting rarely rises above the typical junior high school play, and the production values--well, let's just say no one went broke putting this turkey together.
Not all television productions deserve to be resurrected after a failed first run: this is one of them. Watch if you must, but don't say you haven't been warned!
Without exception, the series scripts are hackneyed, the acting rarely rises above the typical junior high school play, and the production values--well, let's just say no one went broke putting this turkey together.
Not all television productions deserve to be resurrected after a failed first run: this is one of them. Watch if you must, but don't say you haven't been warned!
Good stuff! A lost gem.
kevin-0033519 January 2021
Probably deserves a high 7 but I'm giving it a 10. Because I can! I picked up this 1990's horror anthology on DVD a week ago and am way into it. I've been on it like Oprah on a baked ham! It's widely available on Youtube with a little searching if you want to save a few bucks.
Some pretty well wrought and thought-provoking tales here. The writing is generally very good, with top-notch camera work & high production values all around. Better looking show than "Tales From The Darkside", which I also love. This series has, to me, more in common with the Amicus portmanteau moralistic lesson horror films of the 60's & 70's than say the overproduced & brain-dead "Tales From The Crypt" or the utterly awful "Freddy's Nightmares". Ghost Stories is peopled with actors I've mostly never seen anywhere else, but who are obviously well-trained and give there all. I did see a young Stuart from "The Big Bang Theory" playing a horror obsessed video clerk in "It's Only A Movie". So there you go! :) But yeah, I highly recommend this. Other than "Night Visions" hosted by Henry Rollins, I can't think of a modern horror anthology series that's nearly as good.
Some pretty well wrought and thought-provoking tales here. The writing is generally very good, with top-notch camera work & high production values all around. Better looking show than "Tales From The Darkside", which I also love. This series has, to me, more in common with the Amicus portmanteau moralistic lesson horror films of the 60's & 70's than say the overproduced & brain-dead "Tales From The Crypt" or the utterly awful "Freddy's Nightmares". Ghost Stories is peopled with actors I've mostly never seen anywhere else, but who are obviously well-trained and give there all. I did see a young Stuart from "The Big Bang Theory" playing a horror obsessed video clerk in "It's Only A Movie". So there you go! :) But yeah, I highly recommend this. Other than "Night Visions" hosted by Henry Rollins, I can't think of a modern horror anthology series that's nearly as good.
Nothing To Raise The Dead About
michaeldukey200017 April 2010
Ghost Stories is a reasonably entertaining ultra low budget series that was shot on tape and aired late at night in syndication. I'm usually pretty savvy on such things but it escaped my radar without so much as a blip and being infirmed in 1997 I had a lot of TV time on my hands. Other than the dead on narration of your unseen host Rip Torn the tales of specters and precognition are presented by no name thespians whose performances range from adequate to ridiculously bad. I'm now on disc 3 of the 5 disc series of 44 episodes so it's not so bad as to be disinteresting but it's certainly not Twilight Zone or One Step Beyond. All the stories are pretty straight forward no cutting up like Tales From The Crypt or Monsters and they usually contain some vague morality like the guy whose conscious leaves his body to betray him to the police or the writer who cheats on his wife with a ghost to get his passion back. For the few bucks I paid for it on Amazon I'm satisfied just don't go for it expecting House On Haunted Hill (Either Version).
Can't get any worst.
mikkailos20 June 2003
When I started watching this series I was hopping that it was something in the region of and tales from the crypt. But this is probably one of the worst series of its kind. The majority of the stories is poor and the endings are very predictable. No special effects what so ever incorporated with bad acting.
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