Those lucky enough to have had HBO available to them in 90s were served with the best title sequence ever to open for a horror anthology show, the one belonging to Tales From the Crypt. Only The Twilight Zone‘s could give it a run for its money.
A gate with a dragon on it screeches open, leading to a decrepit house that looks like it’s haunted by the ghosts of axe murderers and jealous wives. Once inside, a trip to the basement would land viewers on a messy but storied crypt, full of ancient books and atmosphere-setting cobwebs. Suddenly, in a flash, a ghoulish creature shoots up at the screen. We come face to face with one of the best puppets ever to have graced television sets, the iconic Cryptkeeper (voiced by John Kassir). A Danny Elfman score accompanies it.
Tales From the Crypt was a watershed moment for the genre back when it premiered in the Home Box Office network back in 1989. Its opening sequence was quick to not only become one of its defining features, but also a fixture in the horror genre itself. It went on to announce the beginning of 93 episodes divided into 7 seasons that ran till 1996.
Fans and newcomers alike can now watch season 1 on Shudder, with subsequent seasons dropping weekly in their entirety. They feature a who’s who of actors and directors that either cut their teeth in the 80s, were starting to make a name for themselves in the 90s, or had already become names during the New Hollywood era (mid-60s to early 80s).
The show adapted stories from the EC catalogue, which includes comics such as The Crypt of Terror, The Vault of Horror, Shock SuspenStories, and the titular Tales From the Crypt. As to be expected, then, most if not all of the episodes from the show take the form of morality plays where bad people get what’s coming to them in a myriad of supernatural ways. Wronged parties tend not to stay dead. and scammers get a taste of their own medicine via ancient curses.
The very first episode of the six-episode first season is titled “The Man Who Was Death,” and it was directed by Walter Hill (director of The Warriors). It stars William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption, Die Hard 2) as an electric chair executioner called Niles Talbot that is laid off from his post after state legislation is introduced to abolish the death penalty. Niles figures he doesn’t need to hold an official title to continue dishing out justice one electrocution at a time.
The episode is a powerful mission statement. Hill packs the story with all the elements that will come to define the show’s identity. There’s violence, cruelty, a lesson learned too late, and nudity. In essence, an EC Horror comic come to life with added sex and carnage.
In “All Through the House”, directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump), a woman (Mary Ellen Trainor) kills her second husband on Christmas Eve to be with her lover. As this happens, the radio interrupts its holiday programming to inform residents that a homicidal mental patient has escaped from a facility and is killing women. He’s wearing a Santa Claus outfit.
In this case, the murderous wife is met with a separate force of violence that stands on the same side of the criminal scale as her. But it can least be argued that Psycho Santa has an excuse. He’s battling mental illness. The wife on the other hand deals with an entirely different set of moral dilemmas. This gets complicated with the inclusion of her daughter, who’s eagerly awaiting Santa.
This story was already made famous for its inclusion in the classic 1972 Amicus production of Tales from the Crypt, which is considered by the many to be the best horror anthology ever to be put on film. Zemeckis adds a bit of dark humor to the story, but it doesn’t detract from the terror of having an axe-wielding St. Nick trying to break into a house already embroiled in death.
One of the best episodes of the first batch belongs to Fright Night and Child’s Play director Tom Holland. It’s called “Lover Come Hack to Me” and it soars thanks to a committed performance by Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction, So I Married an Axe Murderer) as a new wife called Peggy that suspects her husband only married her for her money. It’s perhaps the most serious entry of the season, and it takes sex, murder, and love to some very dark places.
Plummer plays Peggy as a woman that uses her perceived innocence as a mask to conceal an intricately sinister agenda. Her approach to sex as a means to further it is imbued with a sense of noir that flirts with horror quite freely. Holland set out to make a truly creepy and weighty crime story with his episode, and he succeeds on multiple levels.
Tales from the Crypt quickly established its brilliance with season one. It would go on to establish itself as a titan in the genre, showcasing great acting and clever directing. Just watch the Richard Donner episode, titled “Dig That Cat…He’s Real Gone” as further proof of this. It contains what’s arguably the best performance of the season: Joe Pantoliano as a man that’s been given the nine lives of a cat. It’s gratifyingly evil and hard to look away from. Robert Whul from Arliss also stars as a carnival showman that brings in audiences to witness the real death and resurrection of Pantoliano’s sleazy character.
Shudder has given horror fans, and especially kids from the 90s who tip-toed across their parents’ room to watch HBO late at night, a beautiful gift with the addition of Tales from the Crypt to their streaming service. This is the type of thing that sells subscriptions. It’s time to head to that basement crypt again to enjoy some endearingly bad puns from everyone’s favorite Cryptkeeper once more. And to those unfamiliar with it? Well, they should get ready to have a new favorite show.
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