Tales From the Crypt - 1972

 

Tales From the Crypt - 1972

Death lives in the vault of horror!

 

      Tales From the Crypt is another anthology film from Amicus Productions.  Each of the segments are based off stories from the old EC Comics of the same name, as well as The Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear(the Tales From the Crypt TV show did the same thing).  The first segment, "And All Through the House, features a woman who kills her husband on Christmas eve only to be stalked by a murderous psychopath dressed as Santa Claus.  The second segment, "Reflections of Death", is about a man who is leaving his wife for his mistress but gets in a car crash.  When he wakes up no one seems to recognize him.  The third segment, "Poetic Justice", is about a man who does his best to drive the neighborhood widower to commit suicide and succeeds.  "Wish You Were Here" is Tale From the Crypt's macabre take on The Monkey's Paw.  Our final segment is titled "Blind Alleys", a former Army Sergeant takes over a home for the blind and his negligence, callousness, and selfishness causes the tenants to capture and put him in an elaborate death trap.

     This is one of the weaker Amicus flicks I've seen.  The movie starts off with a story I don't like here, in the comic, or even as the second episode of the HBO series.  This version I'd say is the worst.  The TV version gives us a little more insight into why this woman just decides to kill her husband but here we're not given so much as a motive other than insurance money.  The guy even seems kind of nice as he's placing a present under the tree to"the best wife in the world".  I guess its even more disappointing that I usually love stories where horrific things happen on the happiest day of the year.  

     The rest of the movie is pretty good and I have a hard time picking out which segment I like best out of what remains.  If I had to pick one I'd have to say its Blind Alleys.  This is another one that shows up in the HBO series but I think Amicus' version is much better.  The actor who plays the lead blind man is just so good!  I don't know if he really was blind but he pulls it off excellently, he's also really menacing when it comes time to punish the Sergeant.  

     Peter Cushing shows up again as the widower in Poetic Justice.  Its all the more tragic that at the time this movie was filmed Cushing lost his wife in real life and wanted to play this part so much he was willing to take a pay cut.  I suppose this was a form a therapy for him.  I really liked this segment and its mostly because of Cushing.  I'd say most people recognize him as Grand Moff Tarkin from the first Star Wars movie, or as Frankenstein in the Hammer Frankenstein films where he pretty much plays an asshole, for the savvy they may even recognize him as the famous vampire hunter Van Helsing.  Regardless all these characters have one thing in common, they're all strong or in charge characters.  What I like so much about this one is its so against type for Cushing.  He's really sad, sympathetic and vulnerable in this role and it may be my favorite because of that.

    Despite All Through the House this is a pretty solid movie and since its the first segment I reckon you could just press skip and not have to worry about it.  The stories aren't at creepy and atmospheric as From Beyond the Grave, just like the stories they are based on they took a more visceral approach with this one.  I find it perplexing that they used the title Tales From the Crypt but mentions the Vault of Horror in the tagline.  The Vault of Horror was the next anthology Amicus released but were they going to use a different title for that or was it all just one big marketing screw up?  The Crypt Keeper makes in appearance (as he appeared in the comics not like the undead ghoul of the show) in this movie and is credited as the Crypt Keeper but is he really The Vault Keeper?  The Vault Keeper isn't in the next movie but was the Crypt Keeper suppose to reprise his role in that one?  It raises many questions that only an obsessed fan would ask.  Even though I don't like the first one 4 out of 5 segments is still pretty good 83/100.

EC's Crypt Keeper

Amicus' Crypt Keeper

HBO's Crypt Keeper.  CK's had more faces than Michael Jackson.