Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) Half-Way Horrible (1993) User Reviews

Fitting title for this episode (and bobcobb301 is right)

[bellino-angelo2014 · 6/10 · 3 July 2021]

Roger Lassen (Clancy Brown) is the cynical president of a chemical company that notices that all his colleagues are dying one by one. He also discovers that the FDA contacted his company for the suspension of the release of a preservative because of the murders. After this, Roger remembers of that time he went in the Brasilian jungle and offered his best friend Alex as a human sacrifice in exchange of samples of the preservative's formula since it was created by an indigenous tribe. The day after, in his office, Roger receives the visit of his undead friend and suggests that the murderer might be more closer to Roger than what he thinks...

I really expected the episode to be great, but however as it progressed I felt more confused than satisfied and the ending baffled me. Not among the show's best and easy to skip.

Another quality Tales from the Crypt episode.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 5 May 2008]

Tales from the Crypt: Half-Way Horrible starts as the owner of a large chemical company named Roger Lassen (Clancy Brown) identifies the body of one of his business associates in the Los Angeles morgue, him having been killed using the revolutionary preservative serum that Roger's company is about to commercially release. LAPD detective (Martin Kove) ask's Roger if he has any enemies, Roger remembers back to six years earlier in the Brazillian rain-forest where he sacrificed one of his associates in a Voodoo ritual to gain the secret of the preservative serum from a local tribe. An evil act which he now seems set to be punished for by forces from beyond the grave...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 12 from season 5, written & directed by Gregory Widen one has to say that Half-Way Horrible was a great entry in the series. Based on a story from 'The Vault of Horror' comic book this has everything that makes for a good solid Tales from the Crypt episode like Voodoo rituals & curses, double crosses, a bad guy character who gets his comeuppance from supernatural means, zombies, blood, gore & a grim twist ending which rounds the programme off nicely. The actual story contains a lot of elements that were common place in the EC comic books & the The Tales from the Crypt telly show like Voodoo & people getting their just desserts in a twisted & horrible way but that doesn't make Half-Way Horrible any less enjoyable or entertaining. The one thing I will say is if his mate Alex came back from the dead as a zombie how did he get from the Brazillian rain-forest back to Los Angeles? Did he take a plane? I mean he had rotting flesh & looked like a zombie so how did he get back? He obviously didn't walk & I doubt he swam, then again maybe I'm just thinking about it too much...

This one looks pretty good, the photography is nice enough & the production values are high as usual. There's some decent gore, there are several rotten corpses, a rotten zombie, someones head if cut off with a sword, there's some blood splatter, someones head is smashed in on a table & someone is stabbed with a sword. The Cryptkeepr sequences are full of bad hairdressing puns with a 'scare salon' setting. The acting is good, minor genre favourites Martin Kove has a small role as does Cheech Marin.

Half-Way Horrible is another enjoyable Tales from the Crypt episode, it's not the most original one out there but why fix it if it ain't broke? Fans of the show, like me, should love it.

Half-Way Horrible

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 20 May 2018]

Not a bad episode, it is just that there was not much of a twist. With these anthology shows we are hoping for some sort of moral quandary or lesson or something shocking, but you could tell that as soon as the evil was described as half of him that the lead would end up with half a body.

Okay TV viewing, but not a great one.

lol what a bad episode

[ashgameover · 7/10 · 21 August 2011]

It was pretty bad but what you come to expect from Tales from the Crypt. Pure camp horror at it's best (which is bad, so bad that it's funny and entertaining). It was very amusing to me. I am a fan of the series but have only seen a few episodes. I sought this particular episode out because Costas Mandylor was in it. His appearance was very brief, but it was nice seeing him in shorts. The actor portraying the main businessman character was great - all of his actions and lines were convincing despite the surreal setting. The cast of this episode as a whole was great, including an odd appearance by Cheech Marin. Another actor that really stood out for his stellar performance was the businessman's right hand man. He was perfect in his delivery. I saved the episode to watch in the future when I have only a little time to kill, so it's definitely worth watching at least once. Have fun!

Another great episode

[Rautus · 10/10 · 21 August 2007]

This episode of Tales from the Crypt called Half-Way Horrible sees a business man Roger Lassen (Clancey Brown) who is working on a product that can keep things from rotting, but he keeps having flashbacks of when he was in the jungle and had one of his friends in a ritual where some of his blue liquid was used on him. People who he knows are being killed and he starts to think it may be his friend who now is a zombie created by the ritual and his product.

Like most episodes of Tales from the Crypt this one keeps on your seat wondering what will happen next, the acting is great especially from Clancey Brown who starred in Highlander which was written by Gregory Widen who wrote and directed this episode. Check this episode out. 10/10

Neat episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 29 June 2012]

Ruthless business executive Roger Lassen (an excellent performance by Clancy Brown) wants to market a rare preservative that keeps food from spoiling. However, the brutal extremes Lassen resorted to in the past to obtain said preservative come back to haunt him in the present. Writer/director Gregory Widen relates the compelling story at a steady pace, maintains a generally serious tone throughout while sprinkling in some dark humor for good measure, and delivers several cool moments of juicy gore. The fine acting from the tip-top cast keeps things humming: Martin Kove as a pesky homicide detective, Costas Mandylor as Lassen's disapproving partner Dan King, Charles Martin Smith as concerned right-hand guy Colin, Jon Tenney as vengeful zombie Alex, and, in an especially offbeat part, Cheech Marin as quirky voodoo expert Dr. Beneloy. Moreover, Brown excels in the lead role; it's a lot of fun to watch him unravel and give in to mounting pressure during the episode. The ending is satisfyingly gruesome and ironic. The slick cinematography by Levie Isaacks provides an impressive polished look. Donald Markowitz's throbbing tribal score does the heart-pounding trick. An enjoyable show.