Tales from the Crypt/Darkside

Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO. The title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name and most of the content originated in that comic or the four other EC Comics of the time (Haunt of Fear, Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, and Shock SuspenStories). The show was produced by HBO with uncredited association by The Geffen Film Company and Warner Bros. Television (all part of a production consortium officially called Tales from the Crypt Holdings). The series is not to be confused with the 1972 film by the same name or Tales from the Darkside, another similarly themed horror anthology series. Because it was aired on HBO, a premium cable television channel, it was one of the few anthology series to be allowed to have full freedom from censorship by network standards and practices as a result, HBO allowed the series to contain graphic violence as well as other content that had not appeared in most television series up to that time, such as profanity, gore, nudity and sexual situations, which could give the series a TV-MA rating for today's standards. The show is subsequently edited for such content when broadcast in syndication or on basic cable. While the series began production in the United States, in the final season filming moved to Britain, resulting in episodes which revolved around British characters.

Each episode begins with a tracking shot leading to the front door of the Crypt Keeper's decrepit mansion. Once inside, the camera pans down hallways and stairways, and finally descends into the basement. The show's host, the Crypt Keeper, then pops out from his coffin, cackling wildly. Then, the slime covers the screen while showing the title. The Crypt Keeper is an animated corpse, as opposed to the original comics in which he was a living human being. The wisecracking Crypt Keeper, who was voiced by John Kassir and performed by puppeteer Van Snowden, would then introduce the episode with intentionally hackneyed puns (e.g. his frequent greeting to viewers: "Hello, Boils and Ghouls"). Each episode was self-contained, and was bookended by an outro sequence again involving the Crypt Keeper. Comic book cover art was created by Mike Vosburg and Shawn McManus. The episode "You, Murderer" (1995) is particularly noteworthy since it was one of the first shows ever filmed that used computer effects to digitally insert actors into an episode. The episode was directed by series producer Robert Zemeckis, who had recently directed Forrest Gump which utilized these effects. Alfred Hitchcock appeared in a cameo at the beginning of the episode, and Humphrey Bogart played the starring role for this story. Because both men had been dead for decades, their appearances made the episode very well known amongst fans. This episode was also notable for Isabella Rossellini's guest appearance in which she parodies her lookalike mother, Ingrid Bergman, for the first (and only) time. Very few of the episodes, especially in the early seasons, were based on actual stories from Tales from the Crypt. Many were instead from other EC Comics series. For instance, season one was predominantly from The Haunt of Fear, while season two was mostly from Shock SuspenStories. Tales from The Vault of Horror appeared sporadically throughout the series run. The final episode broadcast, The Third Pig, was the only original story not based on the comics, and the only one that was fully animated.

In 1993, a Saturday morning cartoon called Tales from the Cryptkeeper was spun-off from the HBO series. Produced by Nelvana for ABC, the violence of the prime-time series was substantially toned down and the gore was omitted. Nelvana employed child psychologist Brian Newmark to review the scripts to ensure the episodes would be suitable for young viewers. The Cryptkeeper puppet was considered as the host for the series but it was ultimately decided that it might frighten youngsters, so instead an animated version was created (which bore more of a resemblance to the puppet than the version of The Cryptkeeper that originated in 1950s EC Comics) and John Kassir was retained as his voice. "Nelvana created a kinder, gentler personality for the children's Crypt Keeper, and it feels a little uncharacteristic at times," Kassir later said. In addition to the Cryptkeeper, EC Comics' mascots The Vaultkeeper and The Old Witch also made frequent appearances, often fighting with the Cryptkeeper for control of the show's hosting duties. The series lasted two seasons on ABC with a total of 26 episodes. In 1999, the show was revived on CBS for an additional 13 episodes under the title "New Tales from the Cryptkeeper." Due to new U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations that demanded more educational value in cartoons, the final batch of episodes was radically dumbed-down and included much more streamlined morality lessons. Although it was once again produced by Nelvana and the opening credits sequence featured clips from the ABC series, the style of the animation underwent a substantial change, with characters appearing much more rounded and cartoon-like. The Vaultkeeper and The Old Witch were omitted, and the Cryptkeeper generally appeared in disguise interacting with characters throughout each episode.

A kid's game show called Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House was featured on CBS from 1996 to 1997. The Cryptkeeper (again voiced by John Kassir) was the announcer of the show (he would often break into the action with appropriate wisecracks), and contestants competed in physical challenges on a variety of elaborate haunted house sets at Universal Studios Florida. In addition to The Cryptkeeper, the series also boasted an original character named Digger the Skeleton (voiced by Danny Mann).



Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, Tales From The Crypt, and Lee Martin's The Midnight Hour, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. The series' episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and some episodes featured elements of black comedy or more lighthearted themes.

The moderate success of George A. Romero's horror anthology film Creepshow led to initial inquiries about the possibilities of a Creepshow series. Because Warner Brothers owned certain aspects of Creepshow, Laurel Entertainment (which produced the film) opted to take their potential series into a similar, yet separate, direction, including changing the name to Tales from the Darkside. The new name reflected Creepshow's focus, that of a live-action EC-based horror comic book of the 1950s like Tales from the Crypt or The Vault of Horror, though the series would not carry the trappings of a comic as Creepshow did. Some episodes of the series were written by or adapted from the works of famous authors. Stephen King's short stories "Word Processor of the Gods" and "Sorry, Right Number" were amongst them. Works by Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Michael Bishop, Robert Bloch, John Cheever, Michael McDowell and Fredric Brown were also featured. After wrapping, Tales from the Darkside was succeeded by Monsters in 1988, a similarly-styled syndicated weekly horror anthology also produced by Laurel and longtime Romero associate Richard P. Rubinstein. The series was followed by Tales from the Darkside: The Movie in 1990. Stephen King also contributed a short story to this film, "The Cat From Hell". The film starred Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, William Hickey, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore (the first three had previously appeared in episodes of the TV series). Tom Savini has called this film "The real Creepshow 3". The series was originally syndicated weekly by Tribune Broadcasting, with most stations airing it after midnight. After ending production, it was picked up by LBS Communications for barter-based syndication (with the exception of the episode The Apprentice, and a few reruns of earlier episodes) which were distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures. Worldvision Enterprises later became the series' distributor, and the rights currently are held by Worldvision successor CBS Television Distribution. (All three syndicators' logos appear following the closing credits.) On November 17, 2008, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) announced the first season of Tales from the Darkside would be released on DVD February 10, 2009 complete with audio commentary by producer George Romero on the episode "Trick or Treat".

The opening/closing theme to the series was performed by Donald Rubinstein (who co-wrote the theme with Erica Lindsay). Donald (The brother of Laurel Productions' founder, Richard P. Rubinstein) had worked on scores for Laurel Productions in the past, such as the films Martin and Knightriders. His previous works qualified him to try his hand at the theme for Tales from the Darkside, and the haunting composition helped define the series as a separate entity from Creepshow. George Romero wrote the narration. As in the case of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, the series begins each episode with a montage of images—in this case, several shots of a forest and countryside—accompanied by a narrator (the late Paul Sparer) delivering a foreboding voice-over: Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But... there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit... a DARKSIDE. Each episode would also end with a second voice-over during the closing credits: The dark side is always there, waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight.