In the streaming world, it can almost seem impossible not to be able to find classic movies and television series. An unfathomable amount of projects, live-action and animated alike, have made the jump from physical media to streaming services, though this doesn’t mean that absolutely everything has entered this new age. There are some shows and movies, for various reasons, that have remained on the sidelines, with a classic horror franchise being a prime example. Luckily, for the first time, a horror anthology series is arriving on the streaming world this year, and it’s dropping sooner than you might expect.
For years, Tales From The Crypt’s television series has been absent from many of the streaming platforms of the day. While it did air originally on HBO, the Crypt Keeper-led show never found its way onto HBO Max. Luckily, Shudder, the horror-centric streaming service, has announced that it will stream Tales From The Crypt next month. Specifically, the first season will debut on the platform on May 1st on Shudder, with each additional season arriving every following Friday. This means that the entirety of the horror franchise will be available by June 12th, marking the first time that the Cryptkeeper will have a streaming service for all his campfire tales. You can check out the trailer announcement below, where the voice of the Cryptkeeper himself, John Kassir, makes his ghoulish return.
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Swing Open The Crypt
Image Courtesy of HBO
To accompany the major Shudder announcement, Executive Vice President of Streaming at AMC Networks, Courtney Thomasma, was more than happy to lend some commentary. “Tales from the Crypt isn’t just a series — it’s a cornerstone of horror storytelling. Becoming its exclusive streaming home is both an honor and a thrill for us at Shudder. This is the kind of genre-defining, wonderfully twisted entertainment our members crave, and we’re proud to give The Crypt Keeper a place to cackle once again.”
For those who have never had the chance to check out Tales From The Crypt, or want to know more about its backstory, the television series is based on the creepy comic from EC Comics. Arriving on HBO in 1989, the anthology series ran for seven seasons before ending in 1996. Throughout its 93 episodes, the franchise brought in some surprising talent among directors and actors alike. Tales From The Crypt also released several movies that helped push its creepy universe to new heights.
While there has not been a new Tales From The Crypt series since the show ended in 1996, there was almost a reboot from a surprising source. In 2016, director M. Night Shyamalan was planning to create a reboot of the series that would run for ten episodes to start. Unfortunately, the revamped anthology fell to the wayside thanks to the same reasoning behind why the original show didn’t stream, aka licensing issues. Maybe this new streaming win will mean that the franchise will manage to make a comeback.
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