.gif)
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
Encyclopedia
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 was 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.
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.
A list of these actors/guest stars includes Adam Ant
, Dan Aykroyd
, Hank Azaria
, Steve Buscemi
, Daniel Craig
, Tim Curry
, Timothy Dalton
, Roger Daltrey
, Benicio del Toro
, James Frain
, Kirk Douglas
with son Eric Douglas
, Brad Dourif
, Kerry Fox
, Brad Garrett
, Whoopi Goldberg
, Bobcat Goldthwait
, Moses Gunn, Teri Hatcher
, Marg Helgenberger
, Mariel Hemingway
, Lance Henriksen
, Jane Horrocks
, Bob Hoskins
, Eddie Izzard
, Margot Kidder
, John Lithgow
, Andrew McCarthy
, Dylan McDermott
, Malcolm McDowell
, Costas Mandylor
, Ewan McGregor
, Meat Loaf
, Demi Moore
, Donald O'Connor
, Joe Pantoliano
, Bill Paxton
, Bruce Payne
, Joe Pesci
, Brad Pitt
, Iggy Pop
, Christopher Reeve
, Natasha Richardson
, Don Rickles
, Mimi Rogers
, Tim Roth
, Julia Sawalha
, Martin Sheen
, Brooke Shields
, Slash
, John Stamos
, Ben Stein
, Jeffrey Tambor
, Lea Thompson
, Vanity
, David Warner
, Sam Waterston
, Steven Weber
, George Wendt
, Adam West
, Treat Williams
, Robert Lindsay
, Travis Tritt
, and Rita Wilson
, among others.
A list of famous directors includes Michael J. Fox
, Tom Hanks
, Kyle MacLachlan
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
. Many well-established film directors also contributed episodes. They include Robert Zemeckis
, Richard Donner
, Howard Deutch
, John Frankenheimer
, William Friedkin
, Walter Hill, Tom Holland
, Tobe Hooper
, Mary Lambert, Peter Medak
, Russell Mulcahy
, Elliot Silverstein
, and Freddie Francis
, who directed the original 1972 film
.
told Fangoria
magazine in 1995. Ultimately three films were made, but the trilogy didn't pan out as originally intended.
Two movies, Demon Knight
(1995) and Bordello of Blood
(1996) were released in theaters. A third movie, Ritual
was slated for theatrical release in 2001, but was only distributed internationally (without the Tales from the Crypt connection) until 2006 when it was released on DVD in the United States, with the Cryptkeeper bits restored.
As a follow-up to Demon Knight, producers planned to make a film titled Dead Easy (aka Fat Tuesday), a New Orleans zombie romp. "We were rewriting it, and it was getting scarier and more intense, but a lot of the humor had been lost, and we always felt that was an important part of Tales from the Crypt -- scare people, then let them laugh." Gilbert Adler told Fangoria
in 1996. The third film that was planned, Body Count, also never found its way to the screen.
It's also worth noting that the Peter Jackson
film The Frighteners
was originally intended to be a Tales From the Crypt movie helmed by another director, but it was produced and released on its own merit after director Robert Zemeckis
read the script.
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.
was featured on CBS
from 1996-1997. 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
).
"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 (with forthcoming episodes listed as "TBA"), only 8 stories were recorded. Seven of the eight shows were released on CD
in 2002 by Highbridge Audio
("This Trick'll Kill You" was omitted from the CD set).
premiered in 1997 on HBO, this time being based on science fiction instead of horror. The series only lasted for a short run, and was cancelled the same year. This iteration of the franchise featured a stylized female robot host in place of the Cryptkeeper.
). A music video for "Crypt Jam" was filmed and is available as an extra on the region 1 Season 3 DVD.
. 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." The album is now out of print and typically sells for high prices on online auction sites.
).
has released all 7 seasons of the series on DVD for region 1. The DVDs for Seasons 1–3 are unique because they feature all-new Crypt Keeper introductions and segments. No such segments were filmed for Seasons 4–7. A Region 2 release of the whole series has been announced for Germany by '84 Entertainment, who will start selling the Season 1 DVD boxset from June 4th 2010 on. They plan to release all seven seasons in the future.
adapted material from the series into a role-playing game
sourcebook, The World of Tales from the Crypt, using the Masterbook
system.
In the very first VeggieTales
video, Where's God When I'm S-Scared?
, there was a segment called Tales from the Crisper which spoofed the entire franchise.
A "Treehouse of Horror" episode of The Simpsons
began with a parody of the series. Using an opening similar to the TV series (including theme music, but with a camera man tripping down the winding stairs), Mr. Burns portrayed the Crypt Keeper and made some obvious puns. Laughing, Smithers then appeared to point out what he did.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
. The title was based on the 1950s EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
series of the same name
Tales from the Crypt (comic)
Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s...
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
Crime SuspenStories
Crime SuspenStories was a bi-monthly anthology crime comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title first arrived on newsstands with its October/November 1950 issue and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue, producing a total of 27 issues...
, and Shock SuspenStories
Shock SuspenStories
Shock SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with issue 1 in February/March 1952. Over a four-year span, it ran for 18 issues, ending with the December/January 1955 issue.- Artists and writers...
). The show was produced by HBO with uncredited association by The Geffen Film Company
The Geffen Film Company
The Geffen Film Company was a film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-founder of DreamWorks. Geffen founded the company in 1980, having recruited Eric Eisner as president, and distributed its films through Warner Bros...
and Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
(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
Tales from the Crypt (film)
Tales from the Crypt is a British horror movie, made in 1972 by Amicus Productions. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the stories, however, are actually from EC's Tales from the Crypt...
or Tales from the Darkside
Tales from the Darkside
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series produced by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot...
, 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
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, gore
Graphic violence
Graphic violence is the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as literature, film, television, and video games...
, nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
and sexual situations
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, 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.
Episodes
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. The Crypt Keeper is a zombie, as opposed to the original comics in which he was a living human being. The wisecracking Crypt Keeper, who was voiced by John KassirJohn Kassir
John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
and performed by puppeteer
Puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...
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
Mike Vosburg
Mike Vosburg is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work on the Tales from the Crypt TV series.-Biography:...
and Shawn McManus
Shawn McManus
Shawn McManus is an American artist who has worked extensively over three decades for DC Comics and other companies, notably for DC's Vertigo imprint, including the current Fables.-Swamp Thing:...
.
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
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
, who had recently directed Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
which utilized these effects. Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
appeared in a cameo at the beginning of the episode, and Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
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
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...
's guest appearance in which she parodies her lookalike mother, Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
, 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
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
series. For instance, season one was predominantly from The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue...
, while season two was mostly from Shock SuspenStories
Shock SuspenStories
Shock SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with issue 1 in February/March 1952. Over a four-year span, it ran for 18 issues, ending with the December/January 1955 issue.- Artists and writers...
. Tales from The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies...
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.
Notable guest stars and directors
Individual episodes from the series often involved big-name stars, either as writers, directors, or actors. In this way, many A-list Hollywood stars were appearing on both the big screen and the small screen at the same time.A list of these actors/guest stars includes Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
, Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
, Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
, Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
, Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
, Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
, Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
, Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
, James Frain
James Frain
James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. He is possibly best known for his role in the Showtime series The Tudors in which he appeared as Thomas Cromwell from 2007 to 2009, and for his role as vampire Franklin Mott in season three of the HBO drama True Blood, as well as his role...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
with son Eric Douglas
Eric Douglas
Eric Anthony Douglas was an American actor who appeared in several movies and television shows and was also a stand-up comedian.-Early life and career:...
, Brad Dourif
Brad Dourif
Bradford Claude "Brad" Dourif is an American film and television actor who gained early fame for his portrayal of Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and has since appeared in a number of memorable roles, including the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play franchise, Younger Brother in...
, Kerry Fox
Kerry Fox
Kerry Fox is a New Zealand actress. She came to prominence playing author Janet Frame in the movie An Angel at My Table directed by Jane Campion, which gained her a Best Actress Award from the New Zealand Film and Television Awards....
, Brad Garrett
Brad Garrett
Bradley "Brad" Garrett is an American actor, voice actor, stand-up comedian, and professional poker player. Throughout he has appeared in numerous television and film roles....
, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Bobcat Goldthwait
Bobcat Goldthwait
Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, ravenous stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice.- Early life :Goldthwait was born in Syracuse,...
, Moses Gunn, Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...
, Marg Helgenberger
Marg Helgenberger
Mary Marg Helgenberger is an American film and television actress known for her roles as Catherine Willows in the CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and as K.C...
, Mariel Hemingway
Mariel Hemingway
- Early life :Hemingway was born in Mill Valley, California, the third daughter of Byra Louise Hemingway and Jack Hemingway, a writer. Her sisters are Joan Hemingway and Margaux Hemingway...
, Lance Henriksen
Lance Henriksen
Lance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
, Jane Horrocks
Jane Horrocks
Barbara Jane Horrocks is an English voice, stage, screen and television actress, voice artist, musician, and singer. She is best known for her role as "Bubble" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous as well as her distinctive voice....
, Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
, Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
, Margot Kidder
Margot Kidder
Margaret Ruth "Margot" Kidder is a Canadian-born American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Lois Lane in the four Superman movies opposite Christopher Reeve, a role that brought her to widespread recognition....
, John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
, Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy
Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...
, Dylan McDermott
Dylan McDermott
Mark Anthony McDermott , better known by his professional name of Dylan McDermott, is an American actor, known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the television legal drama The Practice and his role in the series Dark Blue as Lt. Carter Shaw. McDermott currently stars in FX...
, Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula...
, Costas Mandylor
Costas Mandylor
Costas Mandylor is a Greek Australian actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Kenny in Picket Fences, and for portraying Mark Hoffman in the Saw films.-Early life:...
, Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
, Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
, Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
, Donald O'Connor
Donald O'Connor
Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule...
, Joe Pantoliano
Joe Pantoliano
Joseph Peter "Joe" Pantoliano is an American film and television actor. He played the character of Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos, Bob Keane in La Bamba, Cypher in The Matrix, Teddy in Memento, Francis Fratelli in The Goonies, Guido "the Killer Pimp" in Risky Business, and Jennifer Tilly's...
, Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
, Bruce Payne
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...
, Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
, Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
, Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
, Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
, Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers is an American movie actress and competitive poker player.-Early life:Rogers was born Miriam Spickler in Coral Gables, Florida, the daughter of Philip C...
, Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
, Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha is an English actress well known for her roles as Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous, Lynda Day, editor of The Junior Gazette in Press Gang and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She also played Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
, Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
, John Stamos
John Stamos
John Phillip Stamos is an American actor, singer and musician best known for his work in television, especially in his starring role as Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. Since the cancellation of that show in 1995, Stamos has appeared in numerous television films and series. From 2006...
, Ben Stein
Ben Stein
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.-Early life:...
, Lea Thompson
Lea Thompson
Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress and director. She is best known for her 1990s NBC situation comedy Caroline in the City and her portrayal of Lorraine Baines McFly, Marty McFly's mother, in the Back to the Future trilogy...
, Vanity
Vanity (performer)
Denise Katrina Matthews , better known as Vanity, but sometimes credited as Denise Matthews-Smith or D.D. Winters, is a Canadian-born former singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and model from the 1980s until the early mid-90s...
, David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
, Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
, Steven Weber
Steven Weber (actor)
Steven Robert Weber is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the television show Wings which aired throughout the 1990s on NBC.-Early life:...
, George Wendt
George Wendt
George Robert Wendt III is an American actor, best known for the roles of Norm Peterson and Tug Clarke on the television shows Cheers and Modern Men.-Early life:...
, Adam West
Adam West
William West Anderson , better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series and the film of the same name...
, Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
, Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay (actor)
Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
, Travis Tritt
Travis Tritt
James Travis Tritt is an American country music singer from Marietta, Georgia. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released two albums on Columbia Records and one for the defunct...
, and Rita Wilson
Rita Wilson
-Early life:Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimoff in Los Angeles, California.Her father, a Bulgarian who worked at a racetrack, was born in Greece. Before immigrating to the US, he had lived in Bulgaria and Turkey....
, among others.
A list of famous directors includes Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
, Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan is an American actor. MacLachlan is best known for his roles in cult films Blue Velvet as Jeffrey Beaumont, Showgirls as Zack Carey, as Paul Atreides in Dune, and Ray Manzarek in the Oliver Stone film The Doors...
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
. Many well-established film directors also contributed episodes. They include Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
, Richard Donner
Richard Donner
Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer.The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...
, Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch is an American film director. His most recent theatrical release was My Best Friend's Girl, starring Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, and Alec Baldwin...
, John Frankenheimer
John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films...
, William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
, Walter Hill, Tom Holland
Tom Holland (director)
-Early life:Holland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Lee and Tom Holland. He graduated from Worcester Academy in 1962. He is the uncle of Dexter Holland, the singer and guitarist for the American punk rock band, The Offspring, and father of American actor Josh Holland.-Dead Rabbit...
, Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...
, Mary Lambert, Peter Medak
Peter Medak
Peter Medak is a Hungarian-born film director of British and American films.-Early life:He was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family, but in 1956 fled his native country for England due to the Hungarian Revolution...
, Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy is an Australian film director. His work is easily recognized by his use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights.- Music videos :...
, Elliot Silverstein
Elliot Silverstein
Elliot Silverstein, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on August 3, 1927, is best known for being the director of the movie Cat Ballou.-Career:Elliot Silverstein was the director of six feature films in the mid-twentieth century...
, and Freddie Francis
Freddie Francis
Frederick William Francis BSC was an English cinematographer and film director.He achieved his greatest successes as a cinematographer, including winning two Academy Awards, for Sons and Lovers and Glory...
, who directed the original 1972 film
Tales from the Crypt (film)
Tales from the Crypt is a British horror movie, made in 1972 by Amicus Productions. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the stories, however, are actually from EC's Tales from the Crypt...
.
Films
Originally the Crypt theatrical films were planned as a trilogy. "They felt that in order to make this thing work, we had to do it essentially like the series, which began with three half hour episodes, so we decided to do three movies," Joel SilverJoel Silver
Joel Silver is an American Hollywood film producer, co-creator of the sport of Ultimate, co-founder of Dark Castle Entertainment and owner of Silver Pictures.-Life and career:...
told Fangoria
Fangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
magazine in 1995. Ultimately three films were made, but the trilogy didn't pan out as originally intended.
Two movies, Demon Knight
Demon Knight
Demon Knight is a 1995 American horror film directed by Ernest Dickerson, starring Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett Smith...
(1995) and Bordello of Blood
Bordello of Blood
Bordello of Blood is a 1996 comedy/horror film starring Dennis Miller, Erika Eleniak, Angie Everhart, Corey Feldman, and Chris Sarandon. It is based on the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt. It received an R rating for vampire violence, gore, language, and nudity...
(1996) were released in theaters. A third movie, Ritual
Ritual (film)
Tales From the Crypt Presents: Ritual is the third and final film spin-off from the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt, the first being Demon Knight and the second being Bordello of Blood. The film was released in 2002 and stars Tim Curry, Jennifer Grey, and Craig Sheffer with Avi Nesher...
was slated for theatrical release in 2001, but was only distributed internationally (without the Tales from the Crypt connection) until 2006 when it was released on DVD in the United States, with the Cryptkeeper bits restored.
As a follow-up to Demon Knight, producers planned to make a film titled Dead Easy (aka Fat Tuesday), a New Orleans zombie romp. "We were rewriting it, and it was getting scarier and more intense, but a lot of the humor had been lost, and we always felt that was an important part of Tales from the Crypt -- scare people, then let them laugh." Gilbert Adler told Fangoria
Fangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
in 1996. The third film that was planned, Body Count, also never found its way to the screen.
It's also worth noting that the Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
film The Frighteners
The Frighteners
The Frighteners is a 1996 comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife, Fran Walsh. The film's cast includes Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey and Chi McBride...
was originally intended to be a Tales From the Crypt movie helmed by another director, but it was produced and released on its own merit after director Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
read the script.
Tales from the Cryptkeeper
In 1993, a Saturday morning cartoon called Tales from the CryptkeeperTales from the Cryptkeeper
Tales from the Cryptkeeper is an animated series aimed at children made byNelvana Limited, PeaceArch Entertainment, kaBOOM! Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Animation. It was shown on TVO and ABC,and is still shown near Halloween on Teletoon. It was based on the live-action television...
was spun-off from the HBO series. Produced by Nelvana
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, 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
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
) and John Kassir
John Kassir
John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
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
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
for an additional 13 episodes under the title "New Tales from the Cryptkeeper." Due to new U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(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.
Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House
A kid's game show called Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted HouseSecrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House
Secrets of the Cryptkeeper’s Haunted House is a Children's Saturday-morning game show that ran on CBS. It premiered on September 14, 1996 and lasted until August 23, 1997. It featured the Cryptkeeper of Tales from the Crypt now serving as an announcer...
was featured on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from 1996-1997. The Cryptkeeper (again voiced by John Kassir
John Kassir
John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
) 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
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...
. In addition to The Cryptkeeper, the series also boasted an original character named Digger the Skeleton (voiced by Danny Mann
Danny Mann
Daniel "Danny" Mann is an American voice actor, writer, singer, musician, and production manager. He is best known for his voice of Hector from Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Freeway, Cloudraker and Lightspeed in Transformers, Backwoods Beagle in DuckTales, Kaltag in Balto, Ferdinand from Babe,...
).
Radio Series
In 2000, several Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt (radio series)
Tales from the Crypt is an American radio series spun-off from the HBO series of the same name and based on the 1950s EC Comics, which ran for 8 episodes in 2000.-History:...
"radio shows" were recorded for Seeing Ear Theatre, an online subsidiary of The Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
, and were offered free as streaming RealAudio
RealAudio
RealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music. It can also be used as a streaming audio format, that is...
files on their website, as well as for sale on Audible.com
Audible.com
Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers....
. Although 13 episodes were planned (with forthcoming episodes listed as "TBA"), only 8 stories were recorded. Seven of the eight shows were released on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
in 2002 by Highbridge Audio
Workman Publishing Company
Workman Publishing Company is a publisher of primarily non-fiction print and audio books along with calendars with annual sales of over US$25 million. Located in New York City, New York, USA, the publisher works under several imprints with offices located throughout the United States. Peter...
("This Trick'll Kill You" was omitted from the CD set).
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 (Yellow, Showdown, and King of the Road), and HBO ran them as Tales from the Crypt episodes.Perversions of Science
After the original series ended, a spin-off called Perversions of SciencePerversions of Science
Perversions of Science is a science fiction/horror television series that ran on the cable channel HBO for one season in 1997.It is a spin-off of popular horror series Tales from the Crypt also shown on HBO, and its episodes are based on EC's Weird Science comic book series.The format of...
premiered in 1997 on HBO, this time being based on science fiction instead of horror. The series only lasted for a short run, and was cancelled the same year. This iteration of the franchise featured a stylized female robot host in place of the Cryptkeeper.
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 (John KassirJohn Kassir
John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
). A music video for "Crypt Jam" was filmed and is available as an extra on the region 1 Season 3 DVD.
| Track | Title | Composer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Tales from the Crypt (Main Title) | Danny Elfman Danny Elfman Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976... |
2:27 |
| 02 | Three's a Crowd | Jan Hammer Jan Hammer Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s... |
3:50 |
| 03 | Cutting Cards | James Horner James Horner James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements... |
3:45 |
| 04 | Loved to Death | Jimmy Webb Jimmy Webb Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"... |
3:19 |
| 05 | Dead Wait | David Mansfield David Mansfield David Mansfield is an American violinist, mandolin player, guitarist, pedal steel guitar player, and composer.... |
4:04 |
| 06 | Undertaking Palor | Nicholas Pike Nicholas Pike Nicholas Pike is a film composer. He was born in Water Orton, Warwickshire, England, UK in 1955. His music throughout his career have sometimes drawn comparisons to his counterpart Graeme Revell.Scores ----Blood and BoneCaptain Ron... |
3:10 |
| 07 | Carrion Death | Bruce Broughton Bruce Broughton Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th... |
3:32 |
| 08 | Ventriloquist's Dummy | Miles Goodman Miles Goodman Miles Goodman was an American musician who composed music for television programs, including Teen Wolf, and many films, notably the toe-tapping tunes from Footloose and the incidental music to Little Shop of Horrors . As a producer, Goodman specialized in light jazz and classics... |
3:32 |
| 09 | The Thing from the Grave | David Newman David Newman (composer) David Louis Newman is an American composer and conductor known particularly for his film scores. In a career spanning nearly forty years, he has composed music for nearly 100 feature films.-Life and career:... |
2:53 |
| 10 | The Man Who Was Death | Ry Cooder Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing... |
4:22 |
| 11 | Reluctant Vampire | Cliff Eidelman Cliff Eidelman Clifford Glen “Cliff” Eidelman is an American composer and conductor who scored films such as Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Free Willy 3: The Rescue, and Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.- Career :Eidelman began his formal training in violin at the age of eight and continued with... |
3:50 |
| 12 | Deadline | Steve Bartek Steve Bartek Steve Bartek, born in Garfield Heights, Ohio on January 30, 1952, is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor and orchestrator.-Early career:... |
3:32 |
| 13 | The Crypt Jam | Chuckii Booker Chuckii Booker Chuckii Booker is an African American award-winning producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader.-Biography:... |
4:30 |
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 RecordsCapitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. Most of the songs are spoofs of holiday standards performed by the Cryptkeeper, such as "Juggle Bills" (Jingle Bells
Jingle Bells
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
), "We Wish You'd Bury the Missus" (We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular secular sixteenth-century English carol from the West Country of England. The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve such as 'figgy...
) 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." The album is now out of print and typically sells for high prices on online auction sites.
| 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 Misses | 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 |
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 metal bands with wraparound narration by the Cryptkeeper (John KassirJohn Kassir
John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise...
).
| Track | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #1 | John Kassir John Kassir John Kassir is an American actor, voice artist, and comedian who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's, Tales from the Crypt franchise... |
0:30 |
| 02 | Heaven and Hell | Black Sabbath Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22... |
6:54 |
| 03 | Creepy Feelings | Armored Saint Armored Saint -Early career:Armored Saint was formed in 1982 by brothers Phil Sandoval and Gonzo Sandoval , and guitarist David Prichard, while attending South Pasadena High School. Next to join were singer John Bush also a South Pasadena High School Alumni and bassist Joey Vera... |
5:21 |
| 04 | Five Magics | Megadeth Megadeth Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two... |
5:41 |
| 05 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #2 | John Kassir | 0:14 |
| 06 | Cemetery Gates (Demon Knight edit) | Pantera Pantera Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as... |
5:47 |
| 07 | Eyes of a Stranger | Queensrÿche Queensrÿche thumb|250px|right|Queensrÿche's classic line-up performing at the [[Sauna Open Air Metal Festival]] 2011 in [[Tampere]], [[Finland]]. Left to right: bass Eddie Jackson, lead vocals Geoff Tate, drums Scott Rockenfield and guitars Michael Wilton.... |
4:40 |
| 08 | Hallucinating | Apartment 26 Apartment 26 Apartment 26 was an alternative metal band from Leamington Spa, England. They played Ozzfest in 1999 and split up in 2004.They worked with Tchad Blake, at Real World Studios, on their self-financed Music For The Massive, having scrapped "Album 1.5" after two years of production... |
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 Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,... |
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 Dio (band) Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial... |
4:52 |
| 15 | Bordello of Blood | Anthrax Anthrax (band) Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene... |
4:12 |
| 16 | The Bell Witch | Mercyful Fate Mercyful Fate Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career... |
4:34 |
| 17 | The Cryptkeeper Intro #5 | John Kassir | 0:21 |
| 18 | Wolverine Blues | Entombed Entombed (band) Entombed is a Swedish death metal band which formed in 1987 under the name of Nihilist. Though Entombed began their career as an early pioneer of Scandinavian death metal which initially differed itself from its American counterpart with its distinct guitar tone, by the early 1990s their sound had... |
2:10 |
| 19 | Hollow Ground | The Haunted The Haunted The Haunted is a Swedish metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1996.The original members were Anders & Jonas Björler, Peter Dolving, Adrian Erlandsson and Patrik Jensen... |
4:10 |
| 20 | Beyond the Black | Metal Church Metal Church Metal Church was an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in Seattle, Washington as Shrapnel in 1980. Their first album was released in 1984, and the band's most recent work, This Present Wasteland, was released in 2008.... |
6:22 |
| 21 | The Cryptkeeper Ending | John Kassir | 0:46 |
DVD releases
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
has released all 7 seasons of the series on DVD for region 1. The DVDs for Seasons 1–3 are unique because they feature all-new Crypt Keeper introductions and segments. No such segments were filmed for Seasons 4–7. A Region 2 release of the whole series has been announced for Germany by '84 Entertainment, who will start selling the Season 1 DVD boxset from June 4th 2010 on. They plan to release all seven seasons in the future.
| Season | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | July 2005 |
| Season 2 | October 2005 |
| Season 3 | March 2006 |
| Season 4 | July 2006 |
| Season 5 | October 2006 |
| Season 6 | July 2007 |
| Season 7 | October 2007 |
In other media
West End GamesWest End Games
West End Games was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
adapted material from the series into a role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
sourcebook, The World of Tales from the Crypt, using the Masterbook
Masterbook
Masterbook is a generic role-playing game that was created by West End Games as a follow-up to the multi-genre role-playing game Torg and the science fiction game Shatterzone, which used a modified version of the Torg system...
system.
In the very first VeggieTales
VeggieTales
VeggieTales is an American series of children's computer animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables in stories conveying moral themes based on Christianity...
video, Where's God When I'm S-Scared?
Where's God When I'm S-Scared?
Where's God When I'm S-Scared? is the first episode of the Christian animated series VeggieTales. It was initially released in December 1993 directly by Big Idea based on a "burn-on-demand"-like service, the first tapes being shipped out on December 21 , and was released on DVD February 10, 2004...
, there was a segment called Tales from the Crisper which spoofed the entire franchise.
A "Treehouse of Horror" episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
began with a parody of the series. Using an opening similar to the TV series (including theme music, but with a camera man tripping down the winding stairs), Mr. Burns portrayed the Crypt Keeper and made some obvious puns. Laughing, Smithers then appeared to point out what he did.
Awards
Tales from the Crypt won the following awards:- 1991 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Television Half-Hour – ADR
- 1992 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Television Episodic – Effects and Foley
- 1993 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Television Episodic – Effects and Foley
- 1994 American Cinema Editors' Eddie Award for Best Edited Half Hour Series for Television (for the episode "People Who Live in Brass Hearses")
Nominations
- 1990 Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (William HickeyWilliam Hickey (actor)William Edward Hickey was an American actor. He was best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston 1985 film Prizzi's Honor, as well as the voice of Dr...
in the episode "The Switch") - 1991 Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Cable Special (Mike Simmrin in the episode "The Secret")
- 1992 Casting Society of America's Artios Award for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic
- 1994 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kirk DouglasKirk DouglasKirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
) - 1994 American Cinema Editors' Eddie Award for Best Edited Half Hour Series for Television (for the episode "The Lipreader")
- 1994 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Tim CurryTim CurryTimothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
in the episode "Death Of Some Salesman"), Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series - 1994 Young Artist Award for Best Youth Actor Guest Starring in a Television Show (Raushan Hammond in the episode "People Who Live in Brass Hearses")
- 1995 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Series
- 1996 American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series (for the episode "You Murderer")