Customer Reviews

Tales from the Crypt: The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to watch this on tv, but since they don't show it anymore, i'm glad they have the early seasons on DVD, i loved all episodes, even the ones that "weren't so scary/cheesy", they all rocked in my opinion, they don't make shows like this anymore..which is bad. Alot of great actors appear in "The Tales from The Crypt TV series" and all have eerie, interesting (or just funny) stories of the supernatural and monsters/villians. While this dvd doesn't seem to have some episodes i love, i'd still get it. It's just a good collection to have if you like campy horror stories like i do.-AmberLee

Oh, the horror, the horror!
The one thing that some of the user reviewers are not addressing about Tales From The Crypt is the adult nature of this former HBO presentation. There are a lot of you out there who have never seen or heard of this program, have seen sanitized versions in syndication, or have just heard whispers of the legend of its reputation as scary stuff. I am here to tell you that this is for the adults in the crowd.
There is SEX and full NUDITY in some of these episodes. There is adult language in many of these episodes that would make the cowboys in "Deadwood" blush. The gore effects - the splattered blood and the slicing and the dicing and the cutting and the chopping and the everything else you can think of - still looks like state-of-the-art horror/terror fun. And to top it all off is the fact that several of the top-level horror/fantasy/action directors, and many A/B level actors/actresses participated in making this a fantastic show with very good acting performances. I'm talking about Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Holland, and several real surprises.
I am pro-Tales From The Crypt! If you love horror and terror tales this is the show for you. Buy it, love it, and never look back. Just be prepared for the adult content. This show WILL give young children nightmares. It would be child abuse to let a child under the age of thirteen watch the episode "All Through The House." And that is my opinion on one episode from the FIRST season.
As a fan of this kind of stuff you will be amazed when you read the credits of some of the episodes because of the who's who factor.
Have fun. Now all I need is Tales From The Darkside and Friday The Thirteenth The Series on dvd box set. Oh yea, while you are here on Amazon.com, type in Alfred Hitchcock Presents for one hell of a surprise!

The Cryptkeeper is back with his usual set of puns and an overall entertaining second season. Here's a quick rundown:
DEAD RIGHT: Demi Moore plays a golddigger who marries a grossly unattractive man (Jeffrey Tambor, virtually unrecognizable in all his latex) because a fortuneteller told her he's going to be a rich man and then die. Nice twist. ****
THE SWITCH: William Hickey plays a wealthy octogenarian who is obsessed with young beautiful Kelly Preston, but she wants a younger man. He doesn't tell her he's rich because he wants her to love him for himself. Hickey goes to a doctor who initiates a bodily switch with muscular Rick Rossovich, but things don't go as well as he thought and he exhausts his fortune with further surgeries. Twist is predictable but Hickey and Rossovich enjoy themselves. ***
CUTTING CARDS: Over the top story of two gamblers who go to extreme measures to outbest each other. Lance Henriksen and Kevin Tighe chew up the scenery effectively. **
TIL DEATH: D.W. MOFFET stars as a greedy land developer who'll stop at nothing to get money. Voodoo ensues. ***
THREE'S A CROWD: Effective tale of a jealous husband who can't get his wife pregnant and suspects her of having an affair with his best friend. Good performances from Gavin O'Herlihy, Ruth DeSosa and Paul Lieber. *****
THE THING FROM THE GRAVE: Nasty Miguel Ferrer murders his fiancee's photographer boyfriend (Kyle Secor) but didn't count on eternal love. Teri Hatcher is the femme fatale. ****
THE SACRIFICE: Kim Delaney sparkles as a dangerous woman who helps her lover (Kevin Kilner) bump off her rich hubby, only to find a blackmailing Michael Ironside in on their scheme. ****
FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD: Lee Arenberg is very good in this modern take on THE TELL TELL HEART as he battles his conscience while robbing a concert for a charitable cause. Katy Sagal also appears. ****
FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE: Tedious and uneffective tale of a strange girl and her love for a scarecrow. Even Patricia Arquette can't save this one. *
THE VENTRILOQUISTS DUMMY: Hilarious special effects and Don Rickles' strong performance highlight this tale of madness and murder. ****
JUDY YOU'RE NOT YOURSELF TODAY: Weird concoction saved by the delightful Carol Kane's performance as the victim of a scheming witch. ***
FITTING PUNISHMENT: Predictable and mean spirited tale of a murderous mortician and his naive nephew, given some strength from Moses Gunn's performance. **
KORMAN'S KALAMITY: Colleen Camp's over the top performance ignites this whimsical tale of a comic book writer who is finding inspiration from his fertility pills which results in bringing his murderous monsters to life. Fun. ****
LOWER BERTH: The origins of the Cryptkeeper are explained in this tale of a carnival freak show and the tragic romance between two of its stars. Jeff Yagher, the late Lewis Arquette and Mark Rolston star. ***
MUTE WITNESS TO MURDER: The best of the season features the remarkable Patricia Clarkson as a young woman who witnesses a murder and then is suddenly struck mute and horrors, when her doctor arrives, HE'S THE MURDERER. And its good old John Boy Walton (Richard Thomas), who locks Clarkson up in a looney bin. Excellent change of pace episode. *****
TELEVISION TERROR: Gruesomely funny look at how far television will go for ratings. Morton Downey Jr. is himself and he's perfect for the role of the sleazy talk show host who investigates a haunted house. ***
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER: Siamese Twins Jonathan Stark and Timothy Stack just might get separated when one falls in love with Jessica Harper. Some weird but effective humor in this one. ****
THE SECRET: Spooky tale of a young orphan who is adopted by strange parents who have a dark secret; but so does the young boy. Effective performances from Larry Drake and Grace Zabriskie. ****

If you were thinking of adding the Tales From the Crypt DVDs to your collection, Season Two is where you should start. This set has 18 episodes and most of them are essential TFTC installments.

*POSSIBLE MILD SPOILERS*

1. "Dead Right" - Starring Demi Moore and, hey now!, Jeffrey Tambor in a fatsuit. Demi plays a 1950s waitress with an extremely accurate psychic advisor. This is a great episode. Features a very gruesome murder and a pretty cool twist. 4 Stars.

2. "The Switch" - Solid episode about an old man who spends his fortune modifying his body to win the affections of Kelly Preston. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed and he also hangs out with The Cryptkeeper for a while. "Do you want to be a 90-pound weakling for all of your death?!" 4 Stars.

3. "Cutting Cards" - Classic Tales... about gambling rivals that take things too far. Reminds me a similarly themed episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. 4 And a Half Stars.

4. "'Til Death" - This one is about a guy who marries a rich woman in the Carribbean. Unfortunately he was also hooking up with a voodoo priestess played by Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The rich wife goes nuts and it's fantastic. 4 Stars.

5. "Three's A Crowd" - OK, here is one of the weaker episodes of the set. It's about some married guy with a rich friend who pays for everything and hangs out with his wife all the time. I found it borderline-annoying at parts, but the end is very TFTC. 3 Stars.

6. "The Thing From The Grave" - Excellent zombie episode with the smoking hot Teri Hatcher. Miguel Ferrer plays a terrific sleazeball in this as well. 3 And a Half Stars.

7. "The Sacrifice" - Here is one of the most common themes you will find in TFTC: the love triangle. This one's about a murder plot that isn't all it seems to be. TFTC regular Michael Ironside is as evil as ever here. 3 And a Half Stars.

8. "For Cryin' Out Loud" - Fabulous episode about a rock promoter who won't listen to his conscience. Katey Sagal and the voice of the great Sam Kinison star in this one. Iggy Pop also appears and the lead is played by Lee Arenberg, who is famous for getting his thumbs broken in an episode of Seinfeld. 4 And a Half Stars.

9. "Four-Sided Triangle" - I love the premise to this one. A scarecrow that appears to be coming alive. And Patricia Arquette is also cute as the little hick girl. Unfortunately, the execution wasn't all it could have been. Still a very good episode. 4 Stars.

10. "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" - No summary needed here, probably the most famous episode of the series. Don Rickles turns in a blockbuster performance as the old ventriloquist. Bobcat Goldthwait plays a particularly awkward, sweaty character in this. But it's the dummy who steals the show... PHENOMENAL. 5 Stars.

11. "Judy, You're Not Yourself Today" - This is a weird installment about a makeup saleswoman. Carol Kane stars... it's too bad this isn't as scary as the movie she was in where that guy was calling her on the phone. I guess this can be a good one to watch to get yourself prepared for the truly disturbing episode that comes next. 3 Stars.

12. "Fitting Punishment" - The only TFTC to feature an entirely black cast. This one's about a funeral home director that is one of the most hateful and demented characters ever in any TFTC. Actually tough to watch in parts. 4 Stars.

13. "Korman's Kalamity" - Absolute classic. Harry Anderson's an artist for Tales From the Crypt magazine. His art begins to take a turn for the realistic after ingesting FDA-unapproved fertility pills. I have watched this episode at least 20 times and it's great every time. 5 Stars.

14. "Lower Berth" - The secret origin of The Cryptkeeper. You actually meet the CK's mom and dad in this and they are quite a handsome couple. Any episode of TFTC that takes place at a carnival is a guaranteed classic, this one set the standard. 4 And a Half Stars.

15. "Mute Witness To Murder" - A Rear Window-inspired piece about a woman who witnesses a murder but can't seem to tell anyone about it. This particular installment required a lot of suspension of disbelief from me. Things just couldn't happen this way, even in the TFTC universe. The atmosphere is perfect though. 4 Stars.

16. "Television Terror" - The late Morton Downey Jr. accomplished at least one thing in his career that no one can ever take from him. He starred in the scariest episode of Tales From the Crypt. Downey plays, get this, a TV shlock host named Horton Rivers (an amalgamation of his own name and Geraldo Rivera's). He is investigating a notorious haunted house in LA and the whole thing is broadcast live on his show. Everything about this episode is perfect. The Cryptkeeper's intro is very unnerving. Easily a top 5 TFTC, in my opinion. 5 Stars.

17. "My Brother's Keeper" - Here's a theme that became common in this show: conjoined twins. Timothy Stack is in this and he is wondering if he should get a risky operation to seperate himself from his brother. Good episode. 3 And a Half Stars.

18. "The Secret" - Awesome season finale about a 1950's boy who is adopted by eccentric parents. I like this one because it is a tribute to the classic horror monsters. They have a secret, but he has one too. 4 And a Half Stars.


Beginning with Season Two, each volume appears on 3 single sided discs, and is overall very nice. This particular volume appeared as a digi-pack set, as did the first season. Every season after this came in slimcase DVD boxes, each with 3 discs. Season Two also features a decent documentary, though not as good as the one featured in Season One. After this, the season sets become very shallow in terms of special features. One other thing to note is that the much loved TFTC episode opening and theme are NOT present on this set. Obviously, that makes zero sense. Hardly any TV DVD will leave out the episode openings, yet here you have it for a show that had the BEST opening and the BEST theme. HUH? Anyway, all subsequent seasons feature the opening to begin each episode.

Tales from the Crypt takes me back to when I was a kid. The stories always drew me in right from the intro through the dark mansion into the basement where the Crypt Keeper awaited. I just could never get enough of the show and remember being really let down when they decided to cancel it. Thankfully they released every season on dvd so you can relive the show all over again. It has certainly stood the test of time by being as entertaining as it was so many years ago. It's a must for every fan, and here are my highlights from the second season release:

Cutting Cards: Realizing the town isn't big enough for the both of them, two rival high stakes gamblers face off against one another in deadly games of 'Russian Roulette' and 'Chop Poker'.

Three's a Crowd: For their tenth anniversary, a down-on- their-luck couple are invited to a cabin owned by their wealthy former best man, but the unstable husband is convinced that his wife is having an affair and in turn, he commits an unbelievable faux pas.

For Cryin' Out Loud: A crooked rock promoter hosting a benefit concert plans a scam to run off with all the money but complications arise when he starts hearing his conscience in his head.

The Ventriloquist's Dummy: Wanting to be better at his craft, a ventriloquist seeks out his long retired idol and discovers a shocking secret.

Fitting Punishment: A nasty Alabama funeral home director, who uses any illegal cost saving means necessary to garner an extra buck, gets an unexpected new addition to his home when his 16-year-old nephew shows up.

Television Terror: An arrogant television tabloid host, trying to get big ratings decides to take his crew inside a genuine haunted house rumored to be haunted by an old woman who killed half a dozen victims.

My Brother's Keeper: The relationship between Siamese twins becomes strained when the sensitive one refuses an operation to separate himself from his slob brother.

I just read the reviews of morons complaining simply because the title credits aren't at the beginning of each episode. Who really cares? I usually fast forward through it anyways...same stuff I've seen over and over, and I prefer to get to the episode.

So don't let them fool you, these episodes ARE complete. We just have morons whining because there's no intro credits. Big deal! It doesn't really ruin it! And who cares why it was done!

I should also say that I'm very glad to see this series FINALLY available on dvd. It was one I watched all the time as a kid, and now it's great to own and watch again. Very highly reccomended (season 1, even if it's just 6 episodes), and I'm sure the second seasons will be great as well.

Picked up S1 at used store, great now I gotta get them all like I'm a 2nd grader collecting Pokemon cards. Grew up catching these I suppose on re-running on some cable channel as a kid, they were obviously spectacular back then. A lot of them are slap-stick & the same plot re-hashed of a man kills woman/child/weak person & they come back from the grave and exact their revenge.

But the nostalgia, awesome cameos, & genuine fun of these shows outweighs the pitfalls so I picked this up when it went on sale along with S3 & S4.

If you asked most fans of this show.. what is your favorite season? More often then not they would tell you SEASON 2. For good reason, Tales From The Crypt was sooo fresh when the 2nd season aired. There hadn't been a great horror anthology show on tv since The Twilight Zone. So this was a major breathe of fresh air.

Episodes

Dead Right - I love this episode. I have seen it so many times and in my opinion it is one of the best season openers ever. Demi Moore gives a dynamite and cold performance that works so well. Jeffrey Tambor in a fat suit does sooo much sublte work to his character that he becomes it. This episode also has a shocking finale and a great final twist. 4 out of 4

The Switch - Directed by.............. Arnold Schwarzenagger!!!!! Don't worry he handles this episode very well. This episode is just alot of fun and feels so much like an actual comic. Light and entertaining. 3 out of 4

Cutting Cards - One of the weaker of season 2 but still pretty dang good! This one may have you cringing at times. 2.5 out of 4

Til Death - A total freaking fantastic episode. Grisly and horrifying in a almost comic way. The climax is outstanding and will have you on the edge of your seat. Love it. 4 out of 4

Three's A Crowd - The season's darkest and sad episode. It's quiet and unnerving. It's also easily the most disturbing of the season in some ways. The final shot will make you gasp. 3.5 out of 4

The Thing From The Grave - A very simple zombie story. But it is done with such fresh style that you don't care that it is so thin story wise. Teri Hatcher stars! Great episode that feels so Crypt. 3.5 out of 4

The Sacrifice - Weakest of the set but still really good. Not really horror but a revenge thriller. It works quite well and has good acting all across the board. Not very memorable in ways though. 2.5 out of 4

For Crying Out Loud - One of my favorites of season 2. Yes it's absurd. But it is sooo much fun and odd that you cannot stop watching. Interesting and original for sure. Love it. 4 out of 4

Four Sided Triangle - Another one of my easy favorites of season 2. This involves a scarecrow that may be coming to life. Patricia Arquette stars. Well done in every area. 4 out of 4

The Venriloquist's Dummy - A gross out episode. Very horryfing in every aspect. Don Rickles is great and so is the climax. Very messy episode but one of the standouts. 3.5 out of 4

Judy You're Not Yourself Today - What can I say... it's a real odd ball. Whether that is good or bad... you can decide. Carol Kane is typical Carol Kane and the whole thing is amusing. 2.5 out of 4

Fitting Punishment - Maybe my favorite of the set. Fitting Punishent is a disturbing revenge tale. It will make you cringe and it will be hard to watch at times. A great episode with amazing performances. 4 out of 4

Korman's Kalamity - Very light, highy amusing and off the wall tale. It is funny from start to finish and never scary. Good. 3 out of 4

Lower Berth - This is classic, at the end you will see why. I loved it. They could have almost done this for season 1. 3.5 out of 4

Mute Witness To Murder - Yes! Another classic. One of the most suspensful for sure. I was hooked from start to finish. It's one of those tales you cannot wait to see how it will wrap up. 4 out of 4

Television Terror - The scariest episode on season 2. Really. This is one great haunted house tale. The atmosphere and music are spot on. So is Morton Downey Jr. All is great here. Flawless. 4 out of 4

My Brother's Keeper - Weaker for a season 2 tale but still a great watch. Not much to say. It's good though! 3 out of 4

The Secret - Great vampire story. One of the most entertaining of the set easily. A great episode. 3.5 out of 4

There you have it! Tales From The Crypt season 2 is a must buy.

This is funny in some episodes scary and just straight wierd in other episodes Best horror show yet

This is another great season with some awesome scary, creepy, and ironic episodes! The Crypt Keeper will guide you through the madness! A beautiful woman marries a grotesque obese man for his money, an older rich man wants to marry a younger woman, a man will be loved to death, a man thinks his wife is having an affair, a Rock and Roll manager hears voices, a Ventriloquist's dummy comes to life, smokin' hot Patricia Arquette falls in love with a scarecrow with a clown mask, a news show host investigates a real haunted house live on the air, and witness the birth of the Crypt Keeper! I highly recommend TALES FROM THE CRYPT: THE COMPLETE 2ND SEASON!!!