Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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99 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the FEAREST of them all?", April 26, 2005
Welcome to my review, horror freaks! So glad you could join me and read about the 6 eerie episodes of HBO's "Tales from the Crypt," the very ones that helped the series rise from its tomb back in 1989. It's been 9 long years since the show went off the air, and until now, I've been waiting for the Crypt Keeper's putrid puns and awful alliterations to be forever preserved on DVD format. And why not? The show lasted a full 7 seasons and featured many of the biggest actors and directors in Hollywood. Each tale carefully incorporates the grisly black humor William M. Gaines EC comic books, which were almost banned in the 1950's. Did I say 'almost?' Anyway, as other HBO programs like "Dream On," "Deadwood," and "Carnivale" were packaged and displayed on Best Buy shelves, I wondered if "Tales" would ever be among them. Well, the time has finally arrived, creeps! As stated by John Kassir himself, Warner Brothers wisely chose to create these discs so we ourselves can scare the next generation of kiddies to come. Even better is the fact that the second disc of this Season 1 set will contain a sickening array of never-before-seen extras. I don't want to give the surprises away, but I will briefly tell you the stories you are about to see. Enter, if you dare!
"Dig that Cat...He's Real Gone" stars Joe Pantoliano as Ulric, a homeless alcoholic who becomes a rich and famous sideshow performer after a mad doctor (Gustav Vintas) surgically implants a cat's gland into Ulric's brain. This procedure allows him to die and return to life nine times. Morbid hilarity ensues as a carnival barker (Robert Wuhl) presents Ulric the Undying to astounded audiences who watch him get electrocuted, hanged, drowned in a tank, and shot with an arrow (among other things).
In "The Man Who was Death," Bill Sadler (who eventually starred in the 1995 Tales from the Crypt film "Demon Knight") plays Niles Talbot, a state executioner who loses his job after spending 12 years pulling the switch. This resulted because the government unexpectantly repealed the death penalty. However, not wanting to abandon his favorite occupation, Niles drifts to the other side of the law by killing criminals who were acquitted by the courts.
The frightening and festive "And All Through the House" stars Mary Ellen Trainor as a devious housewife named Elizabeth, who brutally bludgeons her husband with a poker to collect on an insurance policy. Just when she is ready to eliminate the corpse, a homicidal maniac donning a Santa Claus costume (Larry Drake) terrorizes her with an axe. Even worse, Elizabeth can't call the police for fear of being convicted of first degree murder and losing custody of her daughter.
Vanity and greed play a central role in "Only Sin Deep," a tale about a street prostitute named Sylvia Vane (Lea Thompson). After killing a pimp and stealing his gold jewelry, she willingly sells her beauty to a strange pawnbroker (Britt Leach) in exchange for $10,000 cash. At first, Sylvia wins over the affections of a suave playboy millionaire. But immediately afterward, as a result of some black magic performed by the pawnbroker, she gets increasingly distraught as her face quickly ages. Desperate to buy back her looks, she shoots her rich lover dead, but is then forced to avoid prison by staying ugly for life.
Prepare for a honeymoon hell in "Lover Come Hack To Me." Here, a cunning bachelor named Charles (Stephen Shellen) marries a naive Peggy (Amanda Plummer) for her inheritance money. On a rainy night, after accidentally getting stuck in an abandoned mansion, the two go up to the bedroom and make perfect love for the very first time. Originally, Charles was going to kill Peggy and stage the crime to look like a burglary. But he soon discovers that her family history is cursed, and that much darker skeletons lie in the bride's closet.
Last but not least is one of my favorite episodes, "Collection Completed." M. Emmet Walsh plays Jonas, a grouchy tool salesman who finally gets to retire after 47 years on the job. His slightly odd wife Anita (Audra Lindley) has developed a fondness for pets...alot of pets. In fact, she keeps a zoo-full of cats, dogs, and birds in the house. On top of that, she talks to squirrels and runs an aquarium in the bathtub. Obviously, such an attachment to animals is enough to drive Jonas up the wall! Inevitably, he gets sick and tired of not having enough attention, and he gleefully takes up taxidermy as a hobby. But those poor animals weren't the only living creatures that ended up getting stuffed.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
LONG LIVE EC COMICS!, June 17, 2005
OK, I was too young to remember EC comics before narrow-minded nitwits basically ran William Gaines out of business in the 1950's (But he would start Mad Magazine shortly after)but I loved the reprints that came out in the 80's and 90's and this TV show was a welcome surprise. The reason this set is only $18 or so is because the first season had only 6 episodes while season two would have 18 episodes. You start as the camera whizzes through the haunted house and down the stairs to the crypts where the EC mascot the Cryptkeeper pops up with his hideous cackle, voiced magnificently by John kassir.
"The Man Who Was Death" is directed by Walter Hill and is about an Executioner who finds himself out of work when the death penalty is abolished and how he decides to keep his work going.
"And all through the House" is directed by Robert Zemeckis is a horrific Christmas episode which finds Larry Drake playing a homicidal Santa stalking a woman who just killed her husband.
"Dig that Cat he's Real Gone" was directed by Richard Donner. It stars Joe Pantoliano as a bum who becomes the featured star of a sideshow when a mad doctor ala Boris Karloff, gives him a cat gland which allows him to die and come back to life.
"Only Sin Deep" Directed by Howard Deutch. In one of those classic ironic twist stories of EC comics, a prostitute sells her beauty to a pawn shop but then finds herslef getting older and uglier vary rapidly.
"Lover come Back to Me" Directed by Tom Holland. A man marries a woman (Amanda Plummer) for her money but soon finds himself in for more than he bargained for with her family.
"Collection Complete" directed by mary Lambert. A retired salesman is fed up with living with his wife's house full of pets and takes up taxidermy to deal with the animals.
A solid first season with some of the great directors in film chipping in with their own efforts. The Richard Donner episode was a favorite due to its black humor and fine performances. Great to have these on DVD finally!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lights...Camera...Hack-tion! Season 1 of CRYPT Comes to DVD!, November 7, 2005
Based on stories from the deliciously depraved E.C. horror comics (TALES FROM THE CRYPT, VAULT OF HORROR, HAUNT OF FEAR, etc.) of the 1950s, TALES FROM THE CRYPT was a TV horror anthology that, like most TV anthologies, had a lot of both hits and misses. Originally airing on HBO and then later in syndication, some of the episodes fell short, but when a story was a hit, it was usually dead on (excuse the pun). This DVD features the complete first season of TALES FROM THE CRYPT. The season was sort of a trial run, so it was abbreviated and offered only 6 episodes, but all six are offered here in their original uncut form in syndication, episodes were edited to remove non-cable no-nos like nudity, severe profanity, and sometimes a certain amount of gore).
All 6 episodes from this first season are pretty good, but two of them stand out above the rest:
"And All Through the House," directed by renowned and Oscar-winning (1994's FORREST GUMP) Robert Zemeckis, is definitely the scariest of the six. It's a tense morality play about a disgruntled wife who murders her husband on Christmas Eve, only to then have a madman dressed in Santa garb show up to deliver her just deserts. But not only does it warn that "what goes around, comes around," it also makes a multi-faceted statement about innocence and youth, as it is the murderous woman's little daughter who ultimately lets "Santa" into the house. Larry Drake delivers a delectably deranged performance as the insane Saint Nick. (This has proven to be one of the most enduring stories from the original E.C. Comics series, as it was also previously dramatized in 1972 as one portion of an excellent five-part British flick entitled TALES FROM THE CRYPT. In that version, Joan Collins--DYNASTY's Alexis Carrington Colby--played the part of the homicidal wife.)
"The Man Who Was Death" stars William Sadler--who would later star in the TALES FROM THE CRYPT feature film DEMON KNIGHT (1995)--as an old-fashioned country boy who moved to the big city and ended up being employed as the state's executioner. However, when the death penalty is repealed, he suddenly finds himself without a job, so he decides to go freelance and bring his own "shocking" brand of justice to the murderers who fall through the cracks of the system. His zeal makes him a bit careless, though, and he eventually finds himself in the "hot seat" when the cops are able to trace him down just after the death penalty gets reinstated.
The DVD from Warner Home Video not only offers fairly clean digital transfers of these delightful episodes of this popular show, and it also features a couple of pretty cool extras, the best of which is a featurette that discusses what it took to get TALES FROM THE CRYPT off of the comic pages and onto the small screen.
In short, TALES FROM THE CRYPT--THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is a must-own for all serious horror fans.
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