Tales from the Crypt | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Created by | William Gaines Steven Dodd |
Based on | |
Voices of | John Kassir |
Theme music composer | Danny Elfman |
Composers | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original languages | English French Spanish for Latin America |
No. of seasons | 7 |
No. of episodes | 93 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Running time | 22–39 minutes |
Production companies | Tales from the Crypt Holdings Geffen Television |
Original release | |
Network | HBO [1] |
Release | June 10, 1989 – July 19, 1996 |
Related | |
Tales from the Cryptkeeper Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House |
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series created by William Gaines and Steven Dodd that ran for seven seasons on the premium cable channel HBO, from June 10, 1989, to July 19, 1996, with a total of 93 episodes. The show's title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name, published by William Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein. Despite the show's title, episodes were not only adapted from stories from Tales from the Crypt, but also other EC Comic series including The Haunt of Fear , The Vault of Horror , Crime SuspenStories , Shock SuspenStories , and Two-Fisted Tales .
The series is hosted by the Cryptkeeper, a wisecracking corpse performed by several puppeteers and voiced by John Kassir. Filmmakers Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill, Joel Silver, and Robert Zemeckis formed the show's team of executive producers.
Because it was aired on HBO, a premium cable television channel, Tales from the Crypt did not have to be censored by the standards and practices of most networks. 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. Reruns of the series were edited for basic cable, broadcast syndication, and when the broadcast networks Fox and CBS re-aired episodes in the late 1990s. While the series began production in the United States, the final season was primarily filmed in the United Kingdom, resulting in episodes revolving around British characters.
Each episode begins with a tracking shot leading to the front door of the decrepit mansion of the Cryptkeeper, the show's host. Once inside, the camera tilts down from the foyer to the hallways and stairways, finally descending into the basement. The Cryptkeeper then comes out from his coffin, cackling wildly. Green slime pours down over the screen as the main title appears. The Cryptkeeper is depicted as an animated corpse, as opposed to the original comics in which he was a living human being.
The wisecracking Cryptkeeper, performed by a team of puppeteers such as Van Snowden, [2] Mike Elizalde, Frank Charles Lutkus, Patty Maloney, David Arthur Nelson, Anton Rupprecht, Shaun Smith, David Stinnent, Mike Trcic, and Brock Winkless, and voiced by John Kassir, then introduced the episode with intentionally stereotyped jokes and mostly puns, e.g., his frequent greeting to viewers: "Hello, Boils and Ghouls" or "Hello, Kiddies". Each episode was self-contained, and was bookended by an outro sequence, again involving the Cryptkeeper. Comic book cover art was created by Mike Vosburg and Shawn McManus.
The success of the series led Universal Pictures to make a three picture deal with the Crypt Partners to produce three Crypt-branded feature films.
The first Crypt-branded feature was Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight (1995). Directed by Ernest Dickerson from a screenplay by Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Vorhis and Mark Bishop, it became a commercial success. Three weeks before starting prep on Demon Knight intended follow up –a psychological thriller called Dead Easy–, Universal changed its mind, canceled Dead Easy and had the creative team make Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood instead.
The film Ritual (2002) was not produced as a Tales from the Crypt film, but is considered to be a third entry in the Tales series. [3]
In 1993, a Saturday morning cartoon called Tales from the Cryptkeeper was spun off from the HBO series. Produced by the Canada-based 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. [4] The Cryptkeeper puppet was considered as the host for the series, [4] but it was ultimately decided that it might frighten youngsters, so instead an animated version was created. John Kassir reprised his role.
Kassir later stated "Nelvana created a kinder, gentler personality for the children's Cryptkeeper, and it feels a little uncharacteristic at times". [4] In addition to the Cryptkeeper, EC Comics' mascots The Vaultkeeper and The Old Witch made frequent appearances, often fighting with the Cryptkeeper for control of the show's hosting duties. The series lasted three seasons on ABC with 39 episodes. The third season was on CBS in 1999, with 13 episodes, under the title New Tales from the Cryptkeeper.
A kids' 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 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 showed off an original character named Digger the Skeleton, voiced by Danny Mann.
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, [5] as well as for sale on Audible.com. Although 13 episodes were planned, with forthcoming episodes listed as "TBA", only eight stories were recorded. [6] Seven of the eight shows were released on CD in 2002 by Highbridge Audio [7] "This Trick'll Kill You" was omitted from the CD set. [6]
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, Cryptkeeper segments were put down onto the three stories, "Yellow", "Showdown", and "King of the Road", and HBO ran them as Tales from the Crypt episodes.
After the original series ended, a spin-off called Perversions of Science premiered in June 1997 on HBO, this time being based more on sci-fi 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.
A variety of notable guests have starred in episodes of Tales from the Crypt. These include Academy Awards-winning actors, A-list celebrities and highly recognizable character actors. [8]
Some of the most famous people to have starred in episodes are listed below:
In 1991, Big Screen Records released a soundtrack album featuring assorted music from the series. [9] The album includes the theme music, suites from 11 episodes and an original song titled "Crypt Jam" performed by The Cryptkeeper, John Kassir. A music video for "Crypt Jam" was filmed and is available as an extra on the Region 1 Season 3 DVD. [10]
Track | Title | Composer | Length |
---|---|---|---|
01 | Tales from the Crypt (Main Title) | Danny Elfman | 2:27 |
02 | Three's a Crowd | Jan Hammer | 3:50 |
03 | Cutting Cards | James Horner | 3:45 |
04 | Loved to Death | Jimmy Webb | 3:19 |
05 | Dead Wait | David Mansfield | 4:04 |
06 | Undertaking Palor | Nicholas Pike | 3:10 |
07 | Carrion Death | Bruce Broughton | 3:32 |
08 | Ventriloquist's Dummy | Miles Goodman | 3:32 |
09 | The Thing from the Grave | David Newman | 2:53 |
10 | The Man Who Was Death | Ry Cooder | 4:22 |
11 | Reluctant Vampire | Cliff Eidelman | 3:50 |
12 | Deadline | Steve Bartek | 3:32 |
13 | The Crypt Jam | Chuckii Booker | 4:30 |
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" ( Jingle Bells ), "We Wish You'd Bury the Missus" ( We Wish You a Merry Christmas ) and "Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie" ( Deck the Halls ), 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".
Track | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
01 | Intro to Album | 0:51 |
02 | Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie | 1:55 |
03 | Juggle Bills | 3:17 |
04 | We Wish You'd Bury the Missus | 2:20 |
05 | Moe Teitlebaum | 2:32 |
06 | A Christmas Card for the Cryptkeeper | 0:51 |
07 | Christmas Rap | 3:22 |
08 | Intro to Cryptkeeper's Family Christmas | 0:32 |
09 | Cryptkeeper's Family Christmas | 2:03 |
10 | 'Twas the Fright Before Christmas | 3:55 |
11 | Twelve Days of Cryptmas | 3:42 |
12 | Intro to Revenge of the Cryptkeeper | 0:24 |
13 | Revenge of the Cryptkeeper | 2:18 |
14 | Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas | 2:21 |
15 | Should Old Cadavers Be Forgot | 3:38 |
In 2000, Capitol Records released another album titled Tales from the Crypt: Monsters of Metal. [11] This album is a compilation of horror-themed songs from popular heavy metal bands with wraparound narration by the Cryptkeeper (John Kassir).
Track | Title | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|
01 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #1 | John Kassir | 0:30 |
02 | Heaven and Hell | Black Sabbath | 6:54 |
03 | Creepy Feelings | Armored Saint | 5:21 |
04 | Five Magics | Megadeth | 5:41 |
05 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #2 | John Kassir | 0:14 |
06 | Cemetery Gates (Demon Knight) | Pantera | 5:47 |
07 | Eyes of a Stranger | Queensrÿche | 4:40 |
08 | Hallucinating | Apartment 26 | 3:40 |
09 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #3 | John Kassir | 0:35 |
10 | Dead Inside | Arch Enemy | 4:11 |
11 | Beyond the Realms of Death | Judas Priest | 6:53 |
12 | Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck | Prong | 4:12 |
13 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #4 | John Kassir | 0:16 |
14 | Don't Talk to Strangers | Dio | 4:52 |
15 | Bordello of Blood | Anthrax | 4:12 |
16 | The Bell Witch | Mercyful Fate | 4:34 |
17 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #5 | John Kassir | 0:21 |
18 | Wolverine Blues | Entombed | 2:10 |
19 | Hollow Ground | The Haunted | 4:10 |
20 | Beyond the Black | Metal Church | 6:22 |
21 | The Cryptkeeper Ending | John Kassir | 0:46 |
Warner Home Video has released all seven seasons on DVD Region 1. The DVDs for the first three seasons feature all-new Cryptkeeper introductions and segments. No new segments were filmed for seasons 4–7. In June 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 in June 2010.
Until mid-2020, the series was available through the streaming platform Vudu. [12]
Season | Episodes | Discs | Release date | Extras | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | 2 | July 12, 2005 |
| |
2 | 18 | 3 | October 25, 2005 |
| |
3 | 14 | 3 | March 21, 2006 |
| |
4 | 14 | 3 | July 25, 2006 |
| |
5 | 13 | 3 | October 31, 2006 | Death of Some Salesmen: Virtual Comic Book | |
6 | 15 | 3 | July 24, 2007 | Whirlpool: Virtual Comic Book | |
7 | 13 | 3 | October 23, 2007 | Fatal Caper: Virtual Comic Book | |
Complete series box set | 93 | 20 | June 6, 2017 |
Reruns aired on Fox from 1994 to 1995 under the name Primetime Tales from the Crypt; episodes also aired in 1994 in a late-night time slot. It aired late night on CBS in 1997–1998. 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, then Zone Horror, 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 Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service Max reportedly due to licensing issues. It was also unavailable on HBO Go and HBO Now for the same reason. [13]
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 omit The Cryptkeeper. The series was unsuccessfully shopped to several major networks. [14]
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. [15] The network ordered a 10-episode season that was slated for fall 2017. [16] The series was to keep the episodic anthology format, but without The Cryptkeeper. [17] In June 2017, it was announced that TNT would not move forward with the series due to legal issues concerning the rights for the characters from Tales from the Crypt Holdings. [18]
Night Gallery is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although he did not have the same control of content and tone as he had on The Twilight Zone. Serling viewed Night Gallery as a logical extension of The Twilight Zone, but while both series shared an interest in thought-provoking dark fantasy, more of Zone's offerings were science fiction while Night Gallery focused on horrors of the supernatural.
Tales from the Darkside is an American horror anthology television series created by George A. Romero. A pilot episode was first broadcast on October 29, 1983. The series was picked up for syndication, and the first season premiered on September 30, 1984. The show would run for a total of four seasons.
Tales from the Crypt may refer to:
John Bernard Larroquette is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series Baa Baa Black Sheep (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom Night Court for which he received four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards wins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series during the earlier incarnation, the NBC sitcom The John Larroquette Show (1993–1996), the David E. Kelley legal drama series The Practice (1997–2002), the ABC legal comedy-drama series Boston Legal (2004–2008), and the TNT series The Librarians (2014–2018).
Perversions of Science is an American science fiction/horror anthology television series that ran from June 7 to July 23, 1997, on the premium cable channel HBO, lasting one season. It is a spin-off of the horror series Tales from the Crypt also shown on HBO, and its episodes are based on EC Comics's Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Incredible Science Fiction comic book series.
Tales from the Cryptkeeper is an animated children's horror television series made by Canadian studio Nelvana. The series was broadcast on ABC in the United States, and on ITV in the United Kingdom. It is based on the 1950s EC Comics series Tales from the Crypt and the live-action television series of the same name, which aired concurrently on HBO. Intended for children, Tales from the Cryptkeeper was significantly milder than its live-action counterpart, and all blood, gore, profanity and sexual content were completely removed in order to be more appropriate for the target audience. Most episodes take place within the fictional city of Gravenhurst, California.
The Vault of Horror is an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series that was published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955 created by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. The magazine began in March 1948 as War Against Crime. It continued under this title for 11 issues before becoming The Vault of Horror with issue #12. The comic ran for 29 issues until being discontinued after issue #40.
The Haunt of Fear is an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series that was published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1954 created by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. The magazine began in June 1947 as Fat and Slat. It continued under this title for four issues before becoming Gunfighter (#5–14). It was retitled The Haunt of Fear with issue #15 (1). The numbering was reset after #17 (3). The comic bore this title for 28 issues until being discontinued after issue #28.
Tales from the Crypt is an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series that was published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955 created by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. The magazine began in March 1947 as International Comics. It continued under this title for five issues before becoming International Crime Patrol (#6) and Crime Patrol (#7–16). It was retitled The Crypt of Terror with issue #17. Two more issues were published under this title before it was rebranded as Tales from the Crypt for issue #20. The comic bore this title for 27 issues until being discontinued after issue #46.
Cold Case Files is a reality legal show/documentary on the cable channel A&E Network and the rebooted series on Netflix. It is hosted by Bill Kurtis and the original series produced by Tom Golden. The show documents the investigation of many long-unsolved murders through the use of modern forensic science, and criminal psychology, in addition to recent breakthroughs in the case(s) involving previously silent witnesses.
Terence Patrick Winter is an American writer and producer of television and film. He was the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014). Before creating Boardwalk Empire, Winter was a writer and executive producer for the HBO television series The Sopranos, from the show's second to sixth and final season (2000–2007).
Kevin Michael Alejandro is an American actor and film director. He is known for his roles as Nate Moretta in the TNT crime drama Southland, Forklift Mike in the NBC series Parenthood, Jesús Velázquez in the HBO supernatural thriller True Blood, Sebastian Blood / Brother Blood in The CW superhero series Arrow and as detective Daniel Espinóza in the Fox/Netflix supernatural comedy-crime drama Lucifer.
Howard Deutch is an American film and television director who worked with filmmaker John Hughes, directing two of Hughes's best-known screenplays, Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful. Since 2011, he has primarily directed television productions, including multiple episodes of Getting On and True Blood.
Blinding Edge Pictures is an American film and television production company, founded in 1998 by M. Night Shyamalan. The company is known for producing films, such as the Unbreakable series, Signs, The Village, The Happening, After Earth, The Visit, Old and Knock at the Cabin.
In Treatment is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series BeTipul, created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman.
John Kassir is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as the voice of the Cryptkeeper in HBO's Tales from the Crypt franchise. He also appeared in the role of Ralph in the off-Broadway show Reefer Madness and its 2005 film adaptation. He is also the first voice actor to take over Disney comics character Scrooge McDuck following the death of Alan Young.
Tales from the Crypt is an American radio series spun off from the HBO series of the same name based on the 1950s EC Comics, which ran for eight episodes in 2000.
Dominic Mitchell is an English playwright and screenwriter. He is the creator and writer of the BBC 3 television series In the Flesh.
The 17th Annual CableACE Awards were held on December 6, 1995. Below are the nominees and winners from that ceremony in the major categories.
The fifth season of the American television romantic comedy-drama Sex and the City aired in the United States on HBO. The show was created by Darren Star while Star, Michael Patrick King, John P. Melfi, series lead actress Sarah Jessica Parker, Cindy Chupack, and Jenny Bicks served as executive producers. The series was produced by Darren Star Productions, HBO Original Programming, and Warner Bros. Television. Parker portrays the lead character Carrie Bradshaw, while Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon played her best friends Samantha Jones, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbes.