Tales From the Crypt (1 Viewer)

[LanieParker]

Any plans to release this series or part of it? I enjoyed this show quite a bit.

 

[Pete Battista]

I haven't heard anything.... but I wish they would. I would love to collect this show as well!

 

[LanieParker]

The episodes I remember the most are:


Death of a salesman: Where Ed Begly played a gravestone salesman. He finds this weird family (played by Tim Cury)and finds out that they have lots of money burried in their basment so he marries the daughter....

The one with Demi Moore where she goes to a fortune teller and finds out that she is going to meet a man who inherits money and then dies.

The one where Morton Downy plays a tabloid talk show host.

and I think Tom Hanks was in one and played a cable guy?

 

[Eugene Esterly]

I also want this show on DVD in season format with the original uncut HBO versions. I never got to see the show when it on HBO cause I didn't have HBO at the time. I was only able to see the edited synidcated versions so I defintely want the HBO versions on DVD in season format.

 

[Corbin Stirn]

Ah.....I enjoyed this show immensely. It's hard to say if it may see the light of day on DVD, but with "Dream On" coming(same time period on HBO), it gives it a slightly better chance. Zemekis also directed a few episodes of this.......very good show with good guest actors AND directors.


(FIERCELY hugs his multiple LDs of Tales :b ).

 

[Jeremy Farthing]

I want this show released very bad but have never seen any plans. :frowning:

 

[The Drifter]

Bumping this ancient thread to comment that I recently started watching TFTC for the first time (on the DVD sets) in chronological order - I'm now on the 3rd season. Never had HBO back in the day, so wasn't able to see the show when it was originally on (or in re-runs).

Wow - this is an extremely twisted, sick, and funny (in a morbid way) series. Back in the 200X's, I read some of the the original 1950's iconic EC horror comics (TFTC, The Vault of Horror, etc.) via the excellent EC Archives HC Editions (reprints). And, the show is definitely a modernized (as of the late '80's/'90's) update of the grotesque & extremely well-done comics.

It's hilarious seeing the corpse-like Crypt Keeper introduce & close each episode (something similar was done in the comic); the animatronics/effects used to "animate" this creature are excellent - at least by late '80's/early '90's standards.

Also impressed by the calibre of well-known (and some lesser known) actors/actresses on this great show. I.e., Demi Moore, Malcolm McDowell, Bill Atherton, the late Paul Gleason, Tim Roth, Andrew McCarthy, Mariel Hemingway, Whoopi Goldberg, John Rhys-Davies, James Remar, the late Bruno Kirby, Teri Garr, Bruce McGill, Beau Bridges, etc.

Some of my favorite episodes (so far) have included:

-D. Moore plays a greedy gold-digger who, due to taking "advice" from a fortune teller - marries a grotesque man who's really into her - thinking that she's going to become wealthy when he dies. Things don't work out as she planned, however - LOL.

-An prison executioner loses his job because of cut-backs, and then decides to take his anger/frustration out on criminals. Interesting & disturbing story, with an ironic ending.

- A greedy man (McGill) enlists the aid of his own wife (Garr) & his mortician/doctor brother (Kirby) to make it look like he's died in a robbery gone bad - all so he can cash in on a life insurance policy & live in luxury on an island resort.

 

[The Drifter]

Making my through TFTC; excellent show. I recently finished the 5th season. No bad episodes (so far); they've ranged from good to great. Some stand-outs:

-"Yellow" - definitely one of the best episodes of the series, with amazing sets/battle scenes. Set during WW I, a lieutenant is accused of cowardice (for retreating from the enemy) & has to be punished. Kirk Douglas, Dan Akroyd, and Eric Douglas (Kirk's son) star. I'm a big WW I buff, so any modern film/TV show set during this time period is interesting to me; the attention to detail re: the trench warfare scenes, outfits, etc. were stellar.

Spoiler: SPOILER

The final scene was quite sad, but not at all unexpected.

-Joe Pesci plays a con-artist who decides to scam two wealthy, reclusive twin sisters whose father died mysteriously a while back. He romances them & convinces them (falsely) that he also has a twin brother that spends a lot of time out of the country. So, he then sets it up so that he marries both of them, by using the "twin brother" ploy. And, he thinks he has it made - until he realizes (too late) that he scammed the wrong people...LOL.

-JS plays a low-level criminal, who has hooked up with a much older, extremely jealous female mob boss; she always has a small entourage of "enforcers" with her at all times (Frank Stallone (Sy's brother) stars as one of the gangsters). JS is also having an secret affair with a much younger woman. When he is found out by the jealous mob boss, he & the young woman are taken to a deserted clearing - and he is told that he needs to take her out...

Spoiler: SPOILER

the next scenes show him instead taking out the enforcers & the mob boss, and he and the young woman escape & live a life of luxury with $ they stole from the mobsters....however, it turns out that this was all a last-minute fantasy on the part of the young woman, and JS actually takes her out - as he was instructed to do. Great episode, that reminded me somewhat of the iconic short story "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" (Ambrose Bierce, 1890).

 

[The Drifter]

Finally finished TFTC - excellent horror/satire series! It's too bad I missed it for so long, but better late than never.

The final S07 was especially great, and one of my favorites. This particular season had an exclusive UK cast/setting, and featured early roles of Natasha Richardson, Ewan McGregor, Daniel Craig, etc. Some of my favorite episodes:

-McGregor played a living zombie, who along with his living zombie girlfriend caused havoc by robbing/stealing/etc., and then moving on when they'd gotten their fill; they could do almost whatever they wanted since they couldn't be hurt/killed (due to already being dead). However, soon after they met their match -

Spoiler: SPOILER

a vicious vampire - LOL

-Craig portrayed an allegedly legitimate advertising "artist" to get his foot in the door at an exclusive ad agency, but his ulterior motive was that he was the "advocate" for a bitter ex-employee who had been apparently wronged by the agency years before - and Craig was planning on "sabatoging" projects, etc.

Spoiler: SPOILER

However, as it turned out Craig was being played & set-up by both the agency & the alleged ex-employee, and was actually being used as the "guinea pig" for a mind-control/virtual reality "product" that the agency was testing - LOL. Very unexpected ending to a great episode

-One of the oddest episodes of the entire series was the final one of S07, which was a truly bizarre (even by TFTC standards - LOL), disgusting, and twisted animated tale which combined the three little pigs nursery rhyme & Frankenstein mythology. Wow - what a truly #%$#%-up cartoon - ha ha. AFAIK, this is the only animated episode of the series.

 

[Gary Seven]

Another great series from that time on HBO is Dream On. Unfortunately, they only released the first two seasons then stopped. Hulu may still show it but it is edited and not the original cut from HBO. It ran for six or seven seasons.