Tales from the Crypt (HBO), y'all remember this?

[FreezePeach]

So, i remember as a wee lad basically trying to watch this in a never-ending battle against my parents. It was basically the HBO equivalent of the Twilight Zone. I recently started watching some of the episodes cause Halloween and i have to say it's surprisingly enjoyable in that b-movie cheesy way. There are A LOT of AAA actors that appeared on this show before they got mainstream careers, like for real. The writing was so cheesy though in most cases, and they always had that weird twist that reminded you of the Twilight Zone. Production value and atmosphere was nice for what it was. Anyone have any favorite episodes?

 

[erekiddo]

I really wish these were available somewhere other than YouTube.

I'm pretty sure there's an episode in this series where a group of cats kills an old lady by suffocating her with their paws. One cat held it's paw over her mouth while another sat on her chest.

Or maybe it was a bad fever dream.

 

[adj_noun]

GOOD EVENING, BOILS AND GHOULS! THIS IS YOUR OLD PAL, THE CRYPT KEEPER, WITH ANOTHER TAWDRY TERROR TALE!

That Danny Elfman theme was the best.

 

[FreezePeach]

I really wish these were available somewhere other than YouTube.

I'm pretty sure there's an episode in this series where a group of cats kills an old lady by suffocating her with their paws. One cat held it's paw over her mouth while another sat on her chest.

Or maybe it was a bad fever dream.

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There were a lot of weird episodes. Hell even Arnold Schwarzenegger directed an episode. Super one-note and cheesy though. But there was still something about it that i liked.

GOOD EVENING, BOILS AND GHOULS! THIS IS YOUR OLD PAL, THE CRYPT KEEPER, WITH ANOTHER TAWDRY TERROR TALE!

That Danny Elfman theme was the best.

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The opening theme is fantastic lol.

 

[Kard8p3]

Hodunk podunk well then there motherfuckers

 

[lazybones18]

Where is the fucking Complete Series Blu-Ray?

 

[You Pay This Much]

Oh yeah! I am a huge horror fan, and me and my brother sort of bond over this type of stuff. He showed me this a while back, and really enjoyed all the episodes I had seen. Some better than others. Some stories are plain odd, but by damn it has some real charm.

 

[The Pot]

One of the best shows ever made. I miss it so much.

 

[FreezePeach]

Where is the fucking Complete Series Blu-Ray?

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With the type of actors they had on this show you would think they would have a set. Hell, just picking random episodes from a list they had Demi Moore, Tim Roth, Jeffrey Tambor, David Morris, and that was like the first 4 episodes i bothered with.

One of the best shows ever made. I miss it so much.

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Appropriate avatar for this post.

 

[Salamando]

With the type of actors they had on this show you would think they would have a set. Hell, just picking random episodes from a list they had Demi Moore, Tim Roth, Jeffrey Tambor, David Morris, and that was like the first 4 episodes i bothered with.

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I quite enjoyed the episode starring Tim Curry, Tim Curry, Ed Begley Jr, and Tim Curry.

The episode with the retiree dealing with free time and a wife who loved her pets gave me nightmares as a kid. That last scene....

 

[Hex]

I agree with one of the best shows.
Still watch a couple of times per year

 

[Deleted member 1287]

I loved this show as a kid, but we didn't get to have HBO so I only got censored reruns on network TV. One of these days I need to give it a full rewatch.

 

[greenbird]

I caught it from time to time as a kid, but I can't recall any specific episodes. The intro remains memorable to me though. It would be cool to go back and check out some of the better ones. They really don't have a Blu-ray set for this? Damn, missed opportunity.

 

[FreezePeach]

I caught it from time to time as a kid, but I can't recall any specific episodes. The intro remains memorable to me though. It would be cool to go back and check out some of the better ones. They really don't have a Blu-ray set for this? Damn, missed opportunity.

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i added the intro to the op cause it gives me the nostalgia. Yeah i don't get the no blu-ray thing. I dont even think its on HBO GO either. DVD sets only i think.

 

[dreams]

Yes! I loved watching this as a kid. My dad actually recently brought it up again after YEARS (the episode with the "All Squid Restaurant" is one of his fave creepy stories to tell lol) and I went down the rabbit hole watching a bunch. So cheesy and hilarious.

 

[FreezePeach]

Richard Donner .... executive producer / producer (93 episodes, 1989-1996)
David Giler .... executive producer (93 episodes, 1989-1996)
Walter Hill .... executive producer (93 episodes, 1989-1996)
Joel Silver .... executive producer / producer (93 episodes, 1989-1996)
Robert Zemeckis .... executive producer (93 episodes, 1989-1996)
Damn look at the producers on this show

 

[haxan]

I really wish these were available somewhere other than YouTube.

I'm pretty sure there's an episode in this series where a group of cats kills an old lady by suffocating her with their paws. One cat held it's paw over her mouth while another sat on her chest.

Or maybe it was a bad fever dream.

Click to shrink...

I don't recall that episode personally, but I tend to rewatch faves, so maybe it's not on my list.

I bought all the seasons on Amazon Video. At the time, it was less than 10 beans a season. I just checked and they're still in my library, so I'd think they'd still be for sale there.

 

[CielTynave]

I don't remember much of the show itself but I do remember a Saturday morning game show for kids that had the Crypt Keeper as the host for some reason.

 

[FreezePeach]

I don't remember much of the show itself but I do remember a Saturday morning game show for kids that had the Crypt Keeper as the host for some reason.

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There was actually a cartoon version of Tales from the Cryptkeeper that lasted like 5 seasons. Kind of funny how that tapped into the kid's desire to sneak a peak at r-rated cryptkeeper.

 

[GKSilKamina]

I remember watching it all the time as a kid, though I don't recall anything from it aside from the Crypt Keeper. Should give it a rewatch.

 

[mac]

Once in awhile an episode would feature boobies!

Otherwise, I enjoyed the Crypt Keeper. If I had to live in a land of horror I would try to make friendly with that bro.

Does anyone remember the one with Corey Feldman and the other Corey and they are assassins who invade a woman's house to plan how to kill her husband. Twist! The wife is the guy they tried to kill and she takes one of them out with a stiletto to the eye. That plot seemed so dumb I remembered it. Eh, early understanding of transgender I guess.

 

[HStallion]

I really wish these were available somewhere other than YouTube.

I'm pretty sure there's an episode in this series where a group of cats kills an old lady by suffocating her with their paws. One cat held it's paw over her mouth while another sat on her chest.

Or maybe it was a bad fever dream.

Click to shrink...

That actually sounds more like one of the segments from Tales From the Dark Side movie.

 

[Enzom21]

Loved it but I love most anthology series. Season 7 is so weird, I guess it was produced in the UK so it was complete different from the previous seasons.
The only one that really frightened me was the Santa Claus episode.
Not the best horror anthology but still pretty damn great.
The intro never scared me like the one for Tales from the Darkside.

 

[Mikebison]

I literally have a Cryptkeeper tattoo, I love the show that much.

(Shoutout to tales from the crypt keeper cartoon as well).

Favourite episode is the one with Steve Buscemi as the war photographer.

 

[haxan]

I literally have a Cryptkeeper tattoo, I love the show that much.

(Shoutout to tales from the crypt keeper cartoon as well).

Favourite episode is the one with Steve Buscemi as the war photographer.

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Forever Ambergris. One of my very favorites. Right up there with Maniac at Large.

 

[Mikebison]

Yes, that's it! Ah another great episode!

Also an big shoutout to the one with the unfaithful wife of the soap salesman.

Love how every episode had a twisted 'moral of the tale'. Flipped it on its head.

Ohhh, also, the gambling/Russian roulette episode with the two gamblers who hate each other.

Once every few years I rewatch almost every episode. Have them all on my plex server.

To anyone wanting to watch them, especially from the U.K. I say just torrent them. The DVDs are prohibitively expensive, can't be bought in the U.K. And back when I checked, were poor quality and incomplete. I'd buy a complete Blu ray set in a heartbeat.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

Used to like it and the cartoon as a kid. I could only watch the main series when I rented the tapes, though, because I didn't have cable. When I think back to summers at my trailer, though, the cartoon comes to mind. It aired on the only channel we got there.

I bought the DVDs, but haven't watched a lot of them yet.

 

[BWoog]

Why isn't this on HBOGo is my question.

 

[Fishsnot]

Used to like it and the cartoon as a kid.

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The cartoons were great weren't they.
My kids and I watch them around this time every year. It would be nice to get them restored at a better quality, but watching them at 480p somehow retains that nostalgic feeling.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

The cartoons were great weren't they.
My kids and I watch them around this time every year. It would be nice to get them restored at a better quality, but watching them at 480p somehow retains that nostalgic feeling.

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Yeah, they were. I haven't seen it in years, though. Perhaps a decade or more.

 

[Fishsnot]

Yeah, they were. I haven't seen it in years, though. Perhaps a decade or more.

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They still hold up very well.
I must say that I was quite surprised how spooky some of them were for small children.

 

[FaceHugger]

My family would gather to watch it whenever a new episode was airing. I loved how the episodes would begin with those pulp comics fading into real life.

Remember the time Morton Downey Jr was on it? It turned out to be a great episode. I had no idea who he was at the time, but I remember my parents really getting a kick out it.

 

[Magnus]

What the fuck, this was an HBO show? I thought it was Nickelodeon or YTV.

 

[Deleted member 7572]

The perrrrrrfect love, Charles!

I own the entire series on DVD. Amazon used to have two-season packs for $10-$15 a piece.

What the fuck, this was an HBO show? I thought it was Nickelodeon or YTV.

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Oh god no. I think I may have seen my first pair of bare titties on an episode of Tales From the Crypt.

Remember the time Morton Downey Jr was on it? It turned out to be a great episode. I had no idea who he was at the time, but I remember my parents really getting a kick out it.

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There were many "before they were big" moments on the show. Daniel Craig stars in an episode.

 

[CDX]

.

 

[Enzom21]

What the fuck, this was an HBO show? I thought it was Nickelodeon or YTV.

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You're thinking of Are You Afraid of the Dark.

 

[FreezePeach]

One of my constant disappointments with HBO Go and HBO Now. These shows are missing and not on the service, and have never been.

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I imagine there is some type of legal issue or something preventing this from happening.

 

[Nitemare_zero]

What the fuck, this was an HBO show? I thought it was Nickelodeon or YTV.

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It also aired on Fox after America's most wanted and mad tv.
I don't know if it aired during the week.

 

[Jarmel]

I had no clue this was HBO. I loved this as a kid.

 

[IggyChooChoo]

I loved it the few times I was able to see it. It was only years later that I realized the Simpsons theme is a slightly altered major version of Elfman's minor TFTC theme. The cadence is slightly different, but the melody is almost identical. So lazy, Danny!

 

[FreezePeach]

It also aired on Fox after America's most wanted and mad tv.
I don't know if it aired during the week.

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They must have edited it. Like was said, this was notorious for the SPOOPY titties young boys sneaking their late night stories. My dad shut this shit down any time i tried to watch. In retrospect though it actually wasnt that common, pretty tame show actually.

 

[enkaisu]

I loved and hated watching this show as a kid, the Crypt Keeper genuinely terrified me and to this day still gives me the creeps. "Split Second" was my favorite episode.

 

[FreezePeach]

There were many "before they were big" moments on the show. Daniel Craig stars in an episode.

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Its nuts looking at the casts they had. Curious what % of hollywood got launched from this show.

 

[FRANKEINSTEIN]

Used to watch the show but the best thing that came from Tales from the Crypt was Demon Knight. Billy Zane was never better. Roger Rabbit was a pervert. Thomas Haden Church, Jada Pinkett, old guy from Gremlins, and Brenda Bakke all great. Oh my god, I used to have such a crush on Bakke because of Demon Knight and American Gothic.

 

[Cripplegate]

This was a big part of my childhood. My brother and I were obsessed with this and the cartoon. We collected and read the old comics, too, and subsequently became obsessed with other stuff like The Vault of Horror.

Anybody fuck with the movies? I remember watching them, but I don't remember anything about them now.

edit - beaten by a hair. I remember liking Demon Knight but I only remember seeing it the one time on late night cable (might have been edited, I'm not sure). I don't remember anything about Bordello of Blood, period, and I know I never saw the third one.

 

[Azzanadra]

Whaaaat this was a live action series as well? I thought the cartoon was an original thing.... loved that show as a kid though.

 

[Nitemare_zero]

They must have edited it. Like was said, this was notorious for the SPOOPY titties young boys sneaking their late night stories. My dad shut this shit down any time i tried to watch. In retrospect though it actually wasnt that common, pretty tame show actually.

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This along with x files, outer limits, and fucking Goosebumps were banned from the house cause it scared my parents and they thought it would make me into some crazy person.

 

[FreezePeach]

Whaaaat this was a live action series as well? I thought the cartoon was an original thing.... loved that show as a kid though.

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lol, yeah cartoon was spinoff of the show cause the kids wanted to watch but mommy and daddy were like NO GO TO BED!

This along with x files, outer limits, and fucking Goosebumps were banned from the house cause it scared my parents and they thought it would make me into some crazy person.

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Dad let me watch the X-Files, but the only time he stepped in and was like 'ok shut this off' was watching "Home" in season 4. Lmao i still remember that shit. Ah memories.

 

[Deleted member 7572]

Its nuts looking at the casts they had. Curious what % of hollywood got launched from this show.

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Absolutely. My girlfriend and I rewatched the series last October and it seemed like every other episode we had a, "holy shit, it's ____", moment.

So good! Sort of excited for whatever reboot M. Night Shyamalan is working on, if that's still happening.

Sorta related: For anyone interested, WalMart seems to have the complete Tales From the Dark Side for around $15!

 

[lmcfigs]

There are some classic episodes. I remember we once used the Schwazenegger episode where he switches bodies with an old pervert in our philosophy class. I miss these types of Twilight Zone type shows, which is why black mirror is so great.