

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
A young boy tells three stories of horror to distract a witch who plans to eat him.
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This is one of the scariest movie of all time. The show is scarier. But this is very scary. Scariest then silence of the lambs ever could be. The Exorcist is better. But still this a great movie. A Nightmare on elm street (1984) is better. still this a very good movie. A lot better then Hannibal or Hannibal rising. This is better then Saw. This has great story lines. It also has great acing. It also has great special effects. It is very scary. It is one of the scariest movie you will ever see. It is better the Saw II. It also better then Saw III. If this movie does not scary you then no movie will. It is very scary. If you like good horror stories. Then you need to see this movie.
A lamentable attempt at resurrecting the flailing bandwagon of horror anthologies, this arrived on the tail end of such '80s "classics" as CREEPSHOW and CAT'S EYE. The first story is an incredibly clichéd tale about a mummy that kills people (like we haven't heard that before). The film is supposedly based on a tale by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but, having read the tale in question, I'm afraid that it's a long way away from the Victorian story. However although the story is rather clichéd there are a couple of enjoyable performances from Christian Slater, in his typical "nice but slightly deranged" role and Steve Buscemi as the spooky student. Also there are a couple of neat death sequences where a man has a coat hanger shoved up his nose and his brain pulled out, and another sequence where Julianne Moore (to make up for her atrocious acting in THE LOST WORLD) gets cut open and flowers stuffed inside her body! In the end though we've seen this kind of thing before so it doesn't hold too many chills.The second story is much the same. The plot is atrocious - a lame story about a cat killing people (anyone remember THE UNCANNY? I thought not). Although the plot is atrocious, the final ten minutes of the episode are quite entertaining with the hit man battling the cat. The various weapons he uses - knife, lethal injection, and finally pistol all fail to kill the cat which appears to have teleportation skills! Unfortunately the PREDATOR rip-off "cat vision" is rather less impressive. However this battle finally climaxes in an excellent sequence where a cat climbs into the hit man's open mouth and into his stomach! This effect is truly 'stomach churning', blood everywhere, an excellent spectacle which pretty much makes the episode. However apart from this there isn't much to hold your attention apart from a few supposedly atmospheric 'man running about in darkened rooms' scenes.The third story is quite old-fashioned in the way that all of the loose ends are tied up and it all comes across as rather fitting. The acting is adequate but the episode benefits from some good special effects in the form of the demon, especially when Rae Dawn Chong herself turns into it at the end. This episode is the best as it aims for something more than the tepid chills of the previous efforts - it's a tragic love story. That said, it's still strictly pedestrian in its structure.The wraparound story too is very average about the witch and the boy. Really there is nothing to get excited about with this film and I was left pretty disappointed. It's good enough on a merely "moving wallpaper" scale, in that it holds your attention, but afterwards there is nothing to consider, it says nothing, it just tries to be clever and isn't. On reflection all of the stories are filmed in the dark which gets quite annoying. There is nothing which lifts this film above average, which is a shame. Consider this a missed opportunity.
The alternative (competitor?) to the Twilight Zone movie but not quite in the same league in my opinion. The film consists of three stories within a wrap around story told by a boy who is going to eaten by a witch of all things.First tale see's a man use a 3000 year old mummy to kill a few select people (an adaptation of a Arthur Conan Doyle short). Not a bad story and handled reasonably well with good makeup on the mummy and some bloody deaths dealt out. Big cast names in this story with Buscemi and Christian Slater and a nice ending make this tale the second best of the three.Second tale is an adaptation of a Stephen King story and the weakest of the three, an old man is sure he is cursed by a cat which is trying to kill him after it supposedly killed his sister. The reason behind this being the old mans pharmaceutical company killed many thousands of cats in testing a new drug. Pretty lame story really which isn't particularly spooky in the slightest. The cat is obviously some sort of demon which is cool and this is shown in the way it kills the hit- man who has been hired to get rid of the cat, I just think it could of been more scary or eerie basically.Third and final tale stars James Remar and is about a guy who witnesses the death of a man by a gargoyle type creature. The creature lets the witness live if he promises not to tell anyone of what he saw. Easily the best story even though its not explained too well and leaves you asking various questions by the end. Some great makeup and effects in the finale as we see a transformation similar to finale in 'The Fly' with Jeff Goldblum, really nicely done without the use of CGI, no surprise with Dick Smith being involved.Overall not as good as 'Twilight Zone: the Movie' and a bit more adult with its content, more blood 'n' gore on show and some creepy monsters lend itself to some light scares. Still two of the stories are solid and quite sinister which I'm sure fans will enjoy if you like these type of horror anthologies. The overall quality just doesn't quite match the Twilight Zone standard that raised the bar originally.6/10
Tom Savini once famously stated that he considered Tales from the Darkside: The Movie to be the official second sequel to the Creepshow franchise. This view reflects that of the majority of fans, even to this day. The reception of the first Creepshow film categorised it as being a box office success which resulted in Laurel Entertainment, the production company behind the first two Creepshow films, toying with the concept of creating a Creepshow horror anthology television series. Following a period of negotiations and changes due to complications with the holder of the rights, a decision was agreed to change the series title from Creepshow to Tales from the Darkside. The series was well received by its audience and three years following the commercial release of Creepshow 2, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie was released in 1990, sharing many of Creepshow's production team, making it the successor of Creepshow and its first sequel.The film in question follows three individual stories; Lot 249, Cat from Hell, and Lover's Vow. These three segments are all orientated around a wraparound story which focuses on a little boy being held captive by a middle aged woman who intends on roasting and serving him at a dinner party. In order to prolong the wait for him being put in the oven, young Timmy reads short horror stories to Betty, the woman who has imprisoned him. This is where the individual stories are incorporated into the film.The first segment, Lot 249, focuses on an ancient mummy being resurrected from the dead and participating in a killing spree. Initially, this story is rather slow but once the resurrection takes place, some considerably grisly killings occur that you can't help but cringe at. This is followed by an interesting series of events which ultimately leads to a rather bleak ending, in a typical horror anthology fashion. Lot 249 has a strong cast in the form of Christian Slater, Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi in which the slow opening can be forgiven through their performances. The atmosphere present throughout this piece is significantly unnerving which makes the conclusion come across as being even more chilling.The second segment, Cat from Hell, focuses on the assassination of an evil cat with a mysteriously murderous past. This story was written by Stephen King and adapted for screen by George A Romero, the two minds behind the original concept for Creepshow. This story was initially going to be featured in Creepshow 2 but due to issues with financing and the budget of the film, it was scrapped. Although this piece has a slow, nonlinear structure, an interesting eerie atmosphere is featured throughout and has a similar feel to film noir, only a killer cat is featured as opposed to a femme fatale with a pistol. In comparison to the cast of Lot 249, Cat from Hell mainly focuses on the characters portrayed by David Johansen and William Hickey. Halston, played by Johansen, has an irritating factor to his character which makes him somewhat unlikeable and therefore, partially ruins this segment. Like with Halston, William Hickey's character, Drogan, also has an irritating factor to his character which also makes him somewhat unlikeable. Combining these two characters together into one episode results in the whole piece not being as strong as potential would allow. However, the reoccurring bleak endings throughout the film make this particular story worth watching.The third and final segment, Lover's Vow, is by far the most powerful story featured in the film. The storyline focuses on a man falling in love with a woman who isn't what she seems. The beginning and the end of the segment presents itself as being of the horror genre but throughout the middle of this piece, it's a romantic drama. The codes and conventions of the romance genre make this piece somewhat addictive to watch as you feel compelled to follow the relationship of the characters of Preston and Carola. However, this makes the conclusion of the segment all the more heart-breaking. Whilst Tales from the Darkside: The Movie doesn't always take itself seriously, Lover's Vow is definitely the darkest piece as explores the deepest of human emotion. Not only this, but the ending is genuinely creepy and is enough to send shivers down your spine.Overall, I feel that Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a highly underrated horror film that's due more credit than it receives. Although it isn't as mainstream as the original Creepshow films, it could be argued that Tales from the Darkside is a stronger film in terms of narrative and acting in comparison to the second Creepshow film.