Tales from the Crypt (TV series)


Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from June 10, 1989 to July 19, 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO for seven seasons with a total of 93 episodes. 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 other EC Comics of the time. The show was produced by HBO.
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 include content that had not appeared in most television series up to that time, such as graphic violence, profanity, sexual activity, and nudity. The series 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.

Premise

Each episode begins with a tracking shot leading to the front door of The Cryptkeeper's decrepit mansion. Once inside, the camera pans down from the foyer to the hallways and stairways, and finally descends into the basement. The show's host, The Cryptkeeper, then pops out from his coffin, cackling wildly; finally, green slime pours down over the screen as the main title appears. The Cryptkeeper is an animated corpse, as opposed to the original comics in which he was a living human being. The wisecracking Cryptkeeper would then introduce the episode with intentionally hackneyed puns. 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.

Spin-offs

The success of the series led to numerous spin-offs and films.

Films

In 1995, a film spin-off from the TV series was produced by Universal Pictures, Demon Knight. After it became a commercial success, Universal greenlit two more Tales from the Crypt films, intending to produce a trilogy. The second film, Bordello of Blood, was released in 1996. It was a box office bomb, and was generally disliked by critics and fans of the series.
As a follow-up to Demon Knight, producers planned to make a film titled Dead Easy, a New Orleans zombie film, but the producers felt the scripts lacked humor and leaned too heavily towards horror. A rewrite was done by The X-Files writer Darin Morgan. The executive producers loved it but the producers Gilbert Adler and A L Katz rejected it. The third film that was planned, Body Count, written by two other writers of The X-Files, James Wong and Glen Morgan also never found its way to the screen again due to Adler and Katz rejecting the script. Both Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk till Dawn and Peter Jackson's The Frighteners were considered as possible Tales from the Crypt films. The film Ritual was not produced as a Tales from the Crypt film, but is considered to be an unofficial third entry in the Tales series.

Tales from the Cryptkeeper

In 1993, a Saturday morning cartoon called Tales from the Cryptkeeper was spun off from the HBO series. Produced by Nelvana for ABC in the United States and YTV in Canada, the violence of the prime time series was substantially toned down and the gore was omitted. Nelvana employed a child psychologist 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; John Kassir reprised his role. Kassir later said "Nelvana created a kinder, gentler personality for the children's Crypt Keeper, and it feels a little uncharacteristic at times,". 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 series was revived on CBS for an additional 13 episodes under the title New Tales from the Cryptkeeper.

Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House

A kid's game show called Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House was featured on CBS from 1996 to 1997. The Cryptkeeper was the announcer of the show, 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.

Radio series

In 2000, several Tales from the Crypt "radio shows" were recorded for Seeing Ear Theatre, an online subsidiary of The Sci-Fi Channel, and were offered free as streaming RealAudio files on their website, as well as for sale on Audible.com. Although 13 episodes were planned, only eight stories were recorded. Seven of the eight shows were released on CD in 2002 by Highbridge Audio.

Two-Fisted Tales

In 1991, the Fox television network aired a pilot for Two-Fisted Tales, a spin-off based on the 1950s EC action comics. When Fox passed on the pilot, Crypt Keeper segments were tacked onto the three stories, and HBO ran them as Tales from the Crypt episodes.

Perversions of Science

After the original series ended, a spin-off called Perversions of Science premiered in June 1997 on HBO, this time being based more on science fiction instead of horror. The series was unsuccessful and lasted for a short run, ending only a month after it had begun airing. This iteration of the franchise featured a stylized female robot host in place of The Cryptkeeper.

Famous Faces

A variety of famous faces have starred in episodes of Tales from the Crypt. This includes Academy Award winning actors and A-list celebrities that we know and love today.
Here are some of the most famous people to have starred in episodes:

Soundtrack

In 1991, Big Screen Records released a soundtrack album featuring assorted music from the series. The album includes the theme music, suites from 11 episodes and an original song titled "Crypt Jam" performed by The Cryptkeeper. A music video for "Crypt Jam" was filmed and is available as an extra on the Region 1 Season 3 DVD.
TrackTitleComposerLength
01Tales from the Crypt Danny Elfman2:27
02Three's a CrowdJan Hammer3:50
03Cutting CardsJames Horner3:45
04Loved to DeathJimmy Webb3:19
05Dead WaitDavid Mansfield4:04
06Undertaking PalorNicholas Pike3:10
07Carrion DeathBruce Broughton3:32
08Ventriloquist's DummyMiles Goodman3:32
09The Thing from the GraveDavid Newman2:53
10The Man Who Was DeathRy Cooder4:22
11Reluctant VampireCliff Eidelman3:50
12DeadlineSteve Bartek3:32
13The Crypt JamChuckii Booker4:30

Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas

In 1994, a Christmas album, Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas, was released by The Right Stuff, a subsidiary of Capitol Records. Most of the songs are spoofs of holiday standards performed by The Cryptkeeper, such as "Juggle Bills", "We Wish You'd Bury the Missus" and "Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie", with narration and a few original songs mixed in. The CD booklet includes a black and white reprint of the comic "And All Through the House".
TrackTitleLength
01Intro to Album0:51
02Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie1:55
03Juggle Bills3:17
04We Wish You'd Bury the Missus2:20
05Moe Teitlebaum2:32
06A Christmas Card for the Cryptkeeper0:51
07Christmas Rap3:22
08Intro to Cryptkeeper's Family Christmas0:32
09Cryptkeeper's Family Christmas2:03
10'Twas the Fright Before Christmas3:55
11Twelve Days of Cryptmas3:42
12Intro to Revenge of the Cryptkeeper0:24
13Revenge of the Cryptkeeper2:18
14Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas2:21
15Should Old Cadavers Be Forgot3:38

Monsters of Metal

In 2000, Capitol Records released another album titled Tales from the Crypt: Monsters of Metal. This album is a compilation of horror-themed songs from popular heavy metal bands with wraparound narration by the Cryptkeeper.
TrackTitleArtistLength
01The Cryptkeeper Intro #1John Kassir0:30
02Heaven and HellBlack Sabbath6:54
03Creepy FeelingsArmored Saint5:21
04Five MagicsMegadeth5:41
05The Cryptkeeper Intro #2John Kassir0:14
06Cemetery Gates Pantera5:47
07Eyes of a StrangerQueensrÿche4:40
08HallucinatingApartment 263:40
09The Cryptkeeper Intro #3John Kassir0:35
10Dead InsideArch Enemy4:11
11Beyond the Realms of DeathJudas Priest6:53
12Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your NeckProng4:12
13The Cryptkeeper Intro #4John Kassir0:16
14Don't Talk to StrangersDio4:52
15Bordello of BloodAnthrax4:12
16The Bell WitchMercyful Fate4:34
17The Cryptkeeper Intro #5John Kassir0:21
18Wolverine BluesEntombed2:10
19Hollow GroundThe Haunted4:10
20Beyond the BlackMetal Church6:22
21The Cryptkeeper EndingJohn Kassir0:46

Home media

has released all seven seasons on DVD Region 1. The DVDs for the first three seasons feature all-new Crypt Keeper introductions and segments. No new segments were filmed for seasons 4–7. On June 6, 2017, all seven seasons were reissued in a box set entitled Tales From the Crypt: The Complete Series. A Region 2 version of the whole series was released by '84 Entertainment on June 4, 2010,
The series is also available through the streaming platform Vudu.

Reruns

Reruns aired on FOX from 1994-1995 under the name Primetime Tales of the Crypt. It aired on CBS in 1997. It also aired on other channels, such as Syfy, Chiller, and Fearnet.
In the United Kingdom, the series aired Fridays on ITV. Sky1 Satellite and cable channel Horror Channel aired the series in both late night and daytime slots. The daytime versions were billed as "cut"; however, they remained uncut.
Tales from the Crypt is not available on HBO streaming services HBO Go and HBO Now reportedly due to licensing issues.

Awards

Tales from the Crypt won the following awards:
In July 2011, it was announced that Gilbert Adler, who produced the original series, was working with Andrew Cosby to develop a new Tales from the Crypt series. It was said to be a continuous story, rather than an anthology, and would also omit The Cryptkeeper. The series was unsuccessfully shopped to several major networks.
In January 2016, Entertainment Weekly reported that M. Night Shyamalan would helm a series reboot as part of TNT's new two-hour horror block. The network ordered a 10-episode season that was slated for fall 2017. The series was to keep the episodic anthology format, but without The Cryptkeeper. In June 2017, it was announced that TNT would not move forward with the series due to legal rights issues concerning the rights for the characters from Tales from the Crypt Holdings.