Starring Daniel Craig, Ewan McGregor, Natasha Richardson, John Kassir
Written By: Various
Directed By: Various
Studio: Warner Home Entertainment
Buy on Amazon.com link

Although I didn’t have HBO growing up as a kid, I can remember “Tales From the Crypt” from late night re-airs on one channel or another. With my love for the horror movies of the 80’s (Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th) and the fact that the stories in the show were based off of 1950’s horror comics, it was an easy assumption that I would be drawn to “Tales From the Crypt”. Who wouldn’t love the Crypt Keeper and his endless array or horrific puns?

Each episode of “Tales From the Crypt” was a self-contained half hour horror story. There were no set guidelines to what each story would be about or who or what would appear in an episode. In season 7 alone we see appearances by Ewan McGregor, Natasha Richardson and James Bond himself, Mr. Daniel Craig with tales about a zombie/vampire war, a nobleman’s powerful will and suggestive advertising with a twist.

I remember that the first few season of “Tales From the Crypt” contained some of the best episodes in the series and there are a handful of episodes from Season 7 that are reminiscent of the earlier days of the show. “A Slight Case of Murder” is straight out of “Murder She Wrote”, “Horror in the Night” is one of those classic Hitchcock-esque stories of paranoid and mental breakdown, “Escape” is a World War II throwback that keeps you guessing and “Cold War” deals with a war between zombies and vampires. Nuff said!

While Season 7, the final season of the show, had its good points, you could tell that the show was coming to an end. Episodes like “The Kidnapper” and “Ear Today…Gone Tomorrow” just weren’t very interesting and the writing was both shoddy and unentertaining. Other episodes such as “Last Respects” and “Fatal Caper” were hit or miss and felt very repetitive of earlier episodes. You also don’t get much along the lines of features. In fact, the only thing that you get is a virtual comic, which is pretty cool on its own but that’s not much to write home about.

“Tales From the Crypt” is one of those shows that I would love to see reinvented for the 21st century. The show lasted seven seasons and many more on syndication. The final season of the show left a lot to be desired and although it had some good episodes and some of the better Crypt Keeper scenarios the rest of the episodes were bland and vanilla. If you never had a chance to catch an episode of “Tales From the Crypt”, I would highly suggest that you start with something from the first four seasons. If and when you become a fan, then you should be able to digest the last three seasons. As the Crypt Keeper would say, “It’s a dying shame that the last season isn’t as terrorific as the first few.”

Features:
“Fatal Caper” Virtual Comic Book

Audio:
Dolby Digital Surround Sound

Video:
Widescreen 1.33:1

Subtitles:
English and Spanish

Favorite Scenes: Cold War, Escape, Report From the Grave, Smoke Wrings, Horror in the Night
Rating: NR
Running Time: 337 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: