Customer Reviews

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

From the producers of " Creepshow 1 & 2" gives us another fine collection of bone-chilling stories, based on the popular 80's TV show that defined the era for Television fear. This movie is about a deadly wicked Witch ( played by Debraoh Harry) who plans on cooking a little boy ( played by Mattew Lawrence) but while she's preparing for the dinner, he reads her three horror stories. The first story is called " Lot 249" which is about a Mummy being resurrected by a Archeologist, the second story is called " Cat From Hell" which is about a hired assassin that has been hired by a old rich man to kill a cat that's really a murderer and the last story is called " Lover's Vow" which tells the story of a New York artist who saw his friend slaughtered by a winged monster and the creature spares the man's life by telling him a promise to not tell anyone about the creature or the murder. But then the artist keeps his promise, he suddenly runs into a woman and falls in love with her then marries her, but can he keep his promise forever?
Very entertaining, spooky and unique anthology flick from the minds of Stephen King, George Romero ( Creator of Night of the Living Dead, Creepshow and Dawn of the Dead), Michael McDowell ( Creator of " Beetlejuice"), Richard P. Rubenstein and Arthur Conan Doyle ( Author of " Sherlock Holms). A great cast such as Steve Buscemi, Rae Dawn Chong from "Commando", " James Remar, Julianne Moore, Christian Slater, Debraoh Harry, William Hickey, and David Johansen. And plenty of superb make-up effects by Robert Kurtzman, the third story however is basically a remake of the "Woman in The Snow" story from the Japanese horror classic " Kwaidan" and the ending to that story will scare the pants off of you.
This is a must see for anyone who loves " Creepshow", " Goosebumps", "Tales from The Crypt" or " Asylum".

I first viewed this movie almost a decade ago, and it only gets better with repeated viewing, that's how good it is! The movie begins with a little kid who is trapped in a witch's house, with the witch herself preparing to serve him up as the main course for her coven's dinner. The kid proceeds to buy himself time by telling stories to the witch, and the three stories make up the movie. The first revolves around a college student who uses arcane means to resurrect an ancient mummy for his own purposes [Christian Slater & Julianne Moore are in this], the second is about an old man who hires a hit man to kill a malevolent cat, but the cat has a few tricks in the bag, and the last story [also my favorite] is kind of a romance/horror about a struggling artist who encounters a horrific murder, only to escape death and find true love in the form of the lovely Rae Dawn Chong who harbors some dark secrets of her own. All in all, this is great entertainment and a treat for horror fans.

Note: does contain spoilers.

Tales From The Darkside: The Movie,is a simply awesome horror anthology that's a worthy addition to the world of horror films and a great addition to the multi-story genre.

There are three stories in all.The wrap-around is OK,but could use more guts.However,it has a very cool finale that's very amusing.

The first story is arguably the best.It's titled "Lot 249" and involves an un-bandaged mummy who kills college coeds in VERY gruesome and painful ways.The special F/X are awesome and the gore is very high.The mummy is one of the coolest you'll ever see,not to mention,one of the ugliest.

The second story is almost as good as Lot 249.It titled "Cat From Hell" and involves a murderous black cat.Very chilling and pretty disgusting.

The third tale is my least favorite,but it's still good.It's titled "Lover's Vow",and involves a guy named Preston who witnesses a man get shishkabobed by a Gargoyle.The Gargoyle tells Preston to promise not to tell anyone about the incident. Of course he eventually tells,and the finale is really wicked. The ending will surely scare the crap out of you and the gore F/X are incredibly gross.The Gargoyle looks fantastic too.

This film is an absolute must if your a fan of the multi-story genre,and is well worth buying if your a horror movie fan.

Rated R for very gruesome horror violence,some language and nudity.

Unlike the silly television series, Tales From the Darkside: The Movie, takes you on a heck of a ride as a boy spins three harrowing tales of horror to a modern day witch (Harry) who wants to pop him in the oven! The first anthology tale ,"Lot 249", is a tale in which a mummy is suddenly brought to live and gruesomely murders several college coeds. A very ugly mummy to say the least.
The 2nd tale is about an old rich man who hires a hitman to kill an evil black cat in "The Cat From Hell". Gore hounds will love this one!
The 3rd tale is probably my favorite, "The Lovers Vow". It is a very moving tale about a poor artist who is the eye witness to a live gargoyle. The gargoyle promises not to kill the man if he will promise to never tell anyone about seeing the gargoyle. The man agrees and promises to never tell a soul, and the gargoyle lets him live. But can the man truly keep his promise? Find out.
This movie is awesome. I love it. If you love bloody horror anthologies then this is just the flick for you.
Rated R for violence, gore, language, some nudity, and a scene of suggested sex.

This 80s movie based on a tv series is one of those anthology horror movies, with the wraparound segment pretty humorous. Deborah Harry seems to be in rapture as a housewife/witch who has kidnapped a little boy and is planning to serve him as the main dish for a coven dinner party. He tries to stall her by reading her stories from TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, which gives us the three stories in the film:
The first one features Christian Slater, Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi in a story about revenge via an ancient mummy. Buscemi and Moore demonstrate their early talent but Slater has yet to evolve beyond the geekish nerd he frequently played back then. The story has a few suspenseful moments with a twist ending.
The middle tale revolves around hitman David Johansen who has been hired by cranky old William Hickey to kill a dangerous black cat that has wiped out his friends and is planning on killing Hickey too. The cat wins in this one, folks.
The final tale features talented James Remar who plays a struggling artist who encounters a murderous gargoyle creature who promises to spare his life if he never tells anyone about it. Soon Remar meets lovely Rae Dawn Chong and they get married..and, well...things don't turn out too well. Robert Klein plays Remar's manager.
The stories are well done and effective, and horror fans should have a good time.

Movies like this are still creepy till this time!!

I remember Creepshow and it's sequel wich is preety much like this but with more fun, more stories and with more creepy scary stuffs. What make this movie better than Creepshow is the blood and gore.

For now on Im going to collect this kind of horror movies, because this is the way that they should be!! with short stories but SCARY, CREEPY and with HORRBLE ENDINGS!!! Very scary, dark and cool comic book style!!!

P.S: Don't worry about the dvd quality. Is excelent!! but lacks extras.

Adios.

Ok, so this movie is not scary, or even intelligent in the least bit. If your watching this thing hoping to be truly frightened, then maybe you should go elsewhere. But if you like corny, bloody "horror" movies, then this one is for you. I watched this movie one day, for reasons I can't explain, and I couldn't stop laughing. What with the mummy pulling people's brains out of their noses with a wire hanger (resulting in a mass of red jello), and a demon cat latching onto a man's crotch, there's no way not to enjoy the ridiculous hilarity of Tales from the Darkside. The crowning comedy jewel of this film, though, is the gargoyle love story. I already knew how this thing was going to end about 7 minutes in, but I wasn't expecting a hilarious Muppet-esque gargoyle. Or the part where starving-artist-guy picks a chick up off the street (no, not a hooker), and, telling her the streets are dangerous, he just takes her back to his place and they get it on. Yeah, keeping her real safe there, pal; nice line. And the part where, even though he knows he shouldn't, the artist just HAS to sketch, paint, and sculpt likenesses of the gargoyle he saw. Like it's so freakin awesome-looking, he just can't get it out of his head. The thing looks like a toothy chameleon with wings! Like something Stephen King made up when he was five! But I guess this artist thinks it was really cool, 'cause he would put his own life in danger just to make a play-doh model of it. What a dork. Anyway, this movie is hilarious. Now, all the actors play it straight, if not overly dramatic, so I guess this was supposed to be serious and scary? I don't know, but that angle definitely doesn't work. So just watch this movie and revel in its horrific cheeziness. You'll have a good laugh. I know I did.

TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE is a horror anthology that contains three gruesome stories that are bookended by a wraparound story."The Wraparound Story" is about a little boy who tells scary stories to a modern day cannibal in order to save some time before she cooks the little boy for a dinner party. "Lot 249" is about a college student who brings an ancient mummy back to life in order to seek revenge against the people who have done him wrong. "Cat From Hell" is about a rich man who hires a hitman to kill a cat that he believes has come to kill him. "Lover's Vow" is about a man who witnesses an act of murder committed by a demonic creature and is given the chance to live if he promises never to speak about what he saw. All these stories contain plenty of gore, humor, and scares to keep you on the edge of your seat! Plus, you have a great cast of actors in the movie!

I mostly bought this movie because I am a big fan of Deborah Harry. Still The stories were really very good. The mummy one started out ok but got a little much toward the end. The Black Cat by Stephen King, oh my gosh, the part were the cat crawls inside of that guys mouth and then later when the old man comes back and we see the dead guys stomach move and the cat climbs out of his mouth and blood goes all of that old man, I thought I was going to throw up. But I loved the ending when the little boy tricks the witch (Harry) and she ends up being cooked alive. She did such a terrific job at screaming her head off! I loved it! I watch this movie over and over.
Jess Preston

Now we've all seen movies like this before, haven't we? A horror movie with three different tales in it. Tales of which usually consist of revenge, love, or some animal out on a rampage. I've watched many movies like this and I actually like them, to be honest. Why? Well, mainly because they aren't restricted. In regular horror movies, the plot is restricted because it had to string together and it had to make sense. In movies like this, you can just tell random tales of horrors, so it allows for much less restriction. Anyway, moving on, I said I've seen many movies like this and I have, but Tales From The Darkside is one I particularly like.

In the movie, we start off with a woman doing grocery shopping. As she is driving home, we are given clues that she is well liked by the community. However, it turns out she has a secret. That secret is that she's the mythical "witch in the woods", except she lives in the city. You all know what kind of witch that is, don't you? It's the kind Hansel and Gretal met. The witch that likes fattening up children so she can eat them. Well, it's the same here, except it's only with a single young boy here. The boy is, of course, bitter about her desire to eat him, so in an attempt to stall her, he decides to tell her three separate stories.

Let me list the stories and their attributes.

The first one is called "Lot 249" and it is about a college student named Bellingham who hates two particular lovers. No, it's not because of jealousy, but because they have framed him for stealing an artifact. They thought he didn't know, but it becomes apparent that he does, so in an act of revenge, he decides to purchase a mummy. The mummy comes with a scroll that allows it to be resurrected for any desire Bellingham wants. The plot is the usually revenge stuff, but I like how it was done. Bellingham wasn't a raving maniac, but a rather articulate man. He did things rather casually and he always seem to be one step ahead of other people. The other characters are nice, but Susan seemed rather unrealistic. I don't know about everyone else, but if I saw a rotting mummy about to kill me, I wouldn't exactly be calm about it. I must say, though, the ending is terrific. When I first saw this movie, I honestly did not expected that kind of ending.

The second story is called "Cat From Hell". The title sounds corny and you can easily guess the story from there, but the story is presented very well. Drogan is an old, rich man who hires a hitman named Halston in order to kill a cat. The cat is the cause of the deaths of his butler, his sister, and her best friend already and Drogan knows he is next, so he is willing to pay $100,000 for Halston to kill it before it gets him. Halston is rightfully skeptical, so Dragon told him why the cat is killing everyone. It turns out the cat is a form of revenge. Revenge for the 5,000 cats Drogan killed during the 4 years of testing it took for his drug or perhaps...it's actually all the people Drogan has destroyed with his medicine that helps an aging heart (at the cost of a lot of money and the risk of addiction). Now, while the story is rather cliche, I just this particular story. Why? Well, it's because William Hickey's acting is simply incredible and the scene transitions are beautiful. Aside from that, though, the plot could be a little better. For one thing, why does Halston try to kill the cat with a syringe to begin with? He could have easily used his gun right from the beginning. That's seem unrealistically inefficient for a high price hitman. He could have attempted to immediately kill the cat and spend the rest of the time playing pool and drinking while waiting for Drogan to return. Other than that, the story is very good.

The third story is called "Lover's Vow" and I really liked this because it adapts a neat ancient tale. The story is about a struggling artist named Preston who's just got dumped by his agent (well, not exactly his agent). Angry, he decides to get drunk out of his mind, so the bartender named Jer decided to take him home. Well, as Preston was taking a piss, Jer suddenly gets mauled and decapitated by a gargoyle and Preston witnessed everything. Well, the gargoyle decided to let Preston live as long as he keeps the promise that he will never tell what happened that night. Well, Preston's troubles was quickly met with good fortune as he ran away and into the arms of a beautiful woman named "Carola" who falls in love with him. A decade later, it seems like everything turned out alright for Preston. He is married with the woman, he has children, and due to her connections, he has success. However, he is as obsessed with the gargoyle as those first few days he met it, so can he still keep the secret? I really liked this story. While the ending differed from the tale it was adapted from, it was still very good. One thing I have to asked is why did the gargoyle killed Jer? It didn't eat him or anything. It just seemed to do it for no reasons. Of course, you could deduct a number of reasons, but deductions are not a good substitute for plot holes.

Anyway, that was the last story, but much like all other movies similar to Tales From The Darkside, there is always an extra tale. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as good as the ones that were told (Lets just say it's of the Hansel and Gretal type), but hey, what can you expect? I highly recommend this movie! I give it 5 stars!