Tales From The Crypt - Season 2 [WORK]
We're now officially in the 90's, the first half of which Crypt dominated the idiot box alongside Baywatch and Blossom. As previously mentioned, I didn't get to experience this stage of the phenomenon as it was occurring: I lived in a Showtime household, and was probably too busy watching the Ultimate Warrior steal the championship title from Hulk Hogan in WrestleMania VI or yucking it up to Spaced Invaders at the local multiplex to gain any pop cultural awareness of HBO's high-profile anthology show. As with the first season, the network premiered the first three episodes in one night - not entirely sure why they'd do that again, but who am I to question the programming choices of coked-up early-90's Time Warner execs? [editor's note: The Time/Warner merger occurred in early 1990, so assuming the decisions regarding these episodes were made with any forethought they probably would've been made by a Warner Communications Executive who was definitely coked out of his mind.]
Tales From The Crypt - Season 2
- Second Crypt season opener to feature a strip club, although this one employs pasties. One of the strippers is Tiffany Mellon from G.L.O.W.!!! Also the second season opener to close with a man going to the electric chair.
Just to acknowledge the collection of hotshot star-fuckers who made up the production team behind "Tales from the Crypt," the eighth episode of the overall series brings out the big guns. The Cryptkeeper starts to do his thing when Arnold friggin' Schwarzenegger, at his Planet Hollywoodiest sporting a Crypt tee and giant boyish grin, butts in to spout some "Crypt talk" and introduce the episode he directed. I for one was taken aback, having no idea that any living humans ever entered the actual crypt during the host segements and expecting the goddamn Terminator himself least of all. But following Demi Moore in the previous episode, it makes perfect sense for the show to have recruited Schwarzenegger, another huge Hollywood figure of that era of entertainment. It also demonstrates some serious guile on the part of the producers, who obviously scored such an A-lister by stroking Arnie's ego in asking him to make his directorial debut on their humble little horror show.
So Arnold was no stranger to fantastical realms, but "The Switch" ends up being even more down his alley by dealing with body issues and channeling money and influence into improving one's looks. The subject is William Hickey, fitting his appearance here between horror turns in Puppet Master and The Runestone, as an elderly rich man who wants to win the heart of an Experts-era Kelly Preston (it's a long shot, but at that point Preston was probably open to any boyfriend who wouldn't shoot her in the arm). Not wanting her to marry him for his money, Hickey follows up on a referral to a (literal) underground plastic surgeon who offers to replace parts of Hickey's dilapidated anatomy with those of a young stud, who in turn inherits Hickey's face, torso, etc. (Yes, the title of Blake Edwards' Switch from the following year was also a reference to body swapping, with Perry King being reincarnated as Ellen Barkin.) Each improvement only leads to another area Preston insists on Hickey exchanging for a younger set, the operations finally costing him $3 million, "$1 million per limb" (ha ha), to replace the bottom half. Basically a reversal of Howard Deutch's season 1 episode "Only Sin Deep" - instead of trading beauty for wealth, here the lead character trades wealth for beauty - the episode presents one of the show's rare noble protagonists, just a lonely misguided fellow reasonably willing to give up everything to spend time with Kelly Preston in a swimsuit.
Welcome boils and ghouls to 15 tales of terror! Tales from the Crypt is one of the best horror television shows of all-time. Some would argue it is the best horror television show. Based on the infamous EC Comics of the same name, Tales from the Crypt featured stories where bad characters would meet their comeuppance in ironic and gruesome ways that were almost always satisfying. And the story would be tied in a neat little bow at the beginning and end with the Crypt Keeper, everyone's favorite wise-cracking ghoul.
Tales From the Crypt season 7 episode 13, the final episode of the entire series, stands apart from the pack. How? By delivering a demented animated horror version of the "Three Little Pigs" story. The Big Bad Wolf (voiced by Bobcat Golthwait) slaughters two of the three pigs and frames the third for murder. Alas, the third pig is convicted of the crime by an all-wolf jury. To exact his revenge, he conjures a zombie Frankenpig to hunt down the murderous Big Bad Wolf.
There is no better horror anthology series than Tales From the Crypt. Based off the comics from the 1950s, Tales From the Crypt spans 7 seasons and 93 episodes and has developed quite the cult following since its inception. Focusing on 80s and 90s horror, Tales From the Crypt is hosted by the decaying and satirical Crypt Keeper. Each episode has a different theme, cast, and storyline to keep viewers entertained with off-the-wall macabre stories. Let's take a look at some of the best Tales From the Crypt episodes across all the seasons.
During the Crypt Keeper's introduction in season one, episode four, "Only Sin Deep," he looks into a mirror and chants the "Mirror, Mirror" rhyme, to which it breaks. He proclaims that he's brought seven years bad luck. In fact, the show lasted for seven years, from 1989 to 1996.
In season one, episode two, "And All Through The House," the radio announcer states the name of the city where the story takes place as "Pleasantville, Gaines" in reference to EC Comics Editor and the show's Consultant, William M. Gaines. In another scene, when the main character gets a call from the police, the cop introduces himself as "Sergeant Feldstein" which is a reference to EC Comics co-Editor, Al Feldstein.
The name of The Ventriloquist, "Mr. Ingels," in season two, episode ten, "The Ventriloquist's Dummy," is a reference to legendary horror artist Graham Ingels. In fact, he illustrated the story "The Ventriloquist's Dummy!" from Tales From the Crypt #28, the story, on which the episode was based. Ingels is best known for his work of "The Old Witch" from The Haunt of Fear, the sister title of Tales From the Crypt published by EC. After horror comics were vilified and ceased to be published in the mid 1950s, Ingels relocated to Florida, and became a recluse. Although he taught art lessons, and was well regarded in his community, friends and former associates were clueless as to his whereabouts, or even if he was still alive.
On each of the last three DVD releases, there is a virtual comic book special feature of one of the episodes from that particular season read by John Kassir. The virtual episodes are stories from the original EC Comics, from which the show's episodes of the same name are adapted. They include of "Death of Some Salesman"(The Complete Fifth Season), "Whirlpool"(The Complete Sixth Season), and "Fatal Caper"(The Complete Seventh Season).
In the final season of Tales from the Cryptkeeper (1993), the Crypt Keeper's appearance took on a more shaggy and gaunt appearance, with thinning hair similar to his appearance in this show. In the first two seasons, the Crypt Keeper's appearance was a bit more skeletal with stringy hair.
N. Brock Winkless IV was one of the puppeteers for the Crypt Keeper in this show as well as Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995). He also helped bring to life Chucky from the Child's Play franchise, which starred and was voiced by Brad Dourif, who starred in the show's season five episode, "People Who Live In Brass Hearses."
Friday, October 16, 7 p.m.Chant Macabre: Songs from the CryptGhosts, ghouls, and goblins haunt the lyrics of the 19th century. Come be spooked by these harrowing tales as the Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society bewitches your imagination and sings shivers down your spine, echoing sumptuous, rarely performed songs in an authentic period parlor. Singers Anthony Bellov, Amy Gluck, Jane Elizabeth Rady, and Dayle Vander Sande. Music by Schubert, Liszt, Debussy, Duparc, Loewe, Mussorgsky, and others. 75 minutes. $25, $15 MHM Members.
Eight family members died in the house; their funerals were held in the front parlor hung with black crepe. We invite you to venture into the dark and ghostly shadows of history by flickering candlelight to hear chilling tales of restless phantoms, voices calling into the night, and otherworldly occurrences from the people who actually experienced them.50-minute tours begin every half hour from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 041b061a72