Tales from the Crypt (TV series)

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Tales From The Crypt
Image:Tales from the crypt title shot.jpg Tales from the Crypt title screen
Genre	Horror
Creator(s)	William Gaines (original concept)
Starring	John Kassir
Theme music composer	Danny Elfman
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	93 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Richard Donner David Giler Walter Hill Joel Silver David Geffen Robert Zemeckis
Running time	Various
Broadcast
Original channel	HBO
Original run	June 10, 1989 – July 19, 1996
Links
IMDb profile

Tales from the Crypt is a horror anthology TV series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO. It was based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name and was produced by The Geffen Film Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. The series is not to be confused with Tales from the Darkside, another similarly themed horror anthology series.

It was one of the few anthology series to be allowed to have full freedom from censorship by the FCC, due to the fact that it was on HBO, a premium cable television station. Given that HBO often allows its shows to have more graphic material than most shows on American television, the station allowed the series to contain graphic violence as well as other content that hadn't appeared in most television series up to that time, such as profanity, nudity, and sexual situations.

The series began as an American series, filmed in California. In the final season, filming continued in England and many episodes filmed during that time revolved around British characters.

Warner Home Video has begun to release the series on DVD. Season One was released in July 2005, Season Two in October 2005, Season Three in March 2006, Season Four in late July 2006, and Season Five on October 31, 2006. Season Six is scheduled to be released in July 2007. The DVD's are unique because they feature all-new Crypt Keeper intros & segments.

It is currently being shown on Zone Horror in the UK, and NBC Universal's horror-themed cable channel Chiller, which launched on March 1st, 2007, is airing the series airs on weekdays at 10AM, 10:30AM, 7PM and 7:30PM Eastern and Sundays at 7PM and 7:30PM Eastern. [1]

Contents 1 Episodes 2 Spin-offs 3 Awards 3.1 Nominations 4 Technical data 5 See also 6 External links

Episodes

Main article: List of Tales from the Crypt episodes

Each episode began with a title sequence that was a tracking shot scored by a Danny Elfman theme that led from the front door of the Cryptkeeper's home down hallways and stairways to the basement, where the show's host, the Crypt Keeper, would pop out from a coffin, cackling wildly. Then the wisecracking, decomposing corpse (voiced by John Kassir), would introduce the episode with intentionally corny puns ("Hello, Boils and Ghouls" as a classic example). Each episode was a single story, and many had notable celebrity guest stars such as Brad Pitt, Joe Pesci, Martin Sheen, Roger Daltry, Demi Moore, and Don Rickles among others. Many famous celebrities, such as Tom Hanks, Michael J. Fox, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, also directed some episodes of the series.

The episode "You, Murderer" (1995) is particularly of note due to the fact that it was one of the first shows ever filmed that used computer effects to digitally insert actors into an episode. Alfred Hitchcock appeared in a cameo at the beginning of the episode, and Humphrey Bogart played the starring role for this story. Due to the fact that 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.

Spin-offs

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.

Two movies, Demon Knight (1995) and Bordello of Blood (1996), were based on the series, neither of which was particularly successful. A third movie, Ritual was slated for theatrical release in 2001 but sat on the shelves until 2006 when it was released on DVD.

The Peter Jackson film The Frighteners was originally written as a Tales From the Crypt movie, but was produced and released on its own merit after director Robert Zemeckis read the script.

In 1993, a Saturday morning cartoon called Tales from the Cryptkeeper was based on the series, with none of the violence or other questionable content that was in the original series, but kept John Kassir as the voice of the Cryptkeeper.

A kid's game show called Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House was also spun off from the series in 1996.

After the original series ended, a spin-off called Perversions of Science 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.

Awards

Tales from the Crypt won the following awards:

• the 1991 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing - Television Half-Hour - ADR
• the 1992 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing - Television Episodic - Effects and Foley
• the 1993 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing - Television Episodic - Effects and Foley
• the 1994 American Cinema Editors' Eddie Award for Best Edited Half Hour Series for Television (for the episode "People Who Live in Brass Hearses")

Nominations

• the 1990 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (William Hickey in the episode "The Switch")
• the 1991 Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Cable Special (Mike Simmrin)
• the 1992 Casting Society of America's Artios Award for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic
• the 1994 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kirk Douglas)
• the 1994 American Cinema Editors' Eddie Award for Best Edited Half Hour Series for Television (for the episode "The Lipreader")
• the 1994 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Tim Curry 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
• the 1994 Young Artist Award for Best Youth Actor Guest Starring in a Television Show (Raushan Hammond)
• the 1995 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Series
• the 1996 American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series (for the episode "You Murderer")

Technical data

• alternate title: HBO's Tales from the Crypt
• episodes: 93
• runtime: 30 minutes
• sound: Dolby
• aspect ratio: 1.33 : 1
• series premiere: June 10, 1989

See also

• List of Tales from the Crypt episodes
• 1989 in television
• List of television programs

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