Tales from the Crypt (1972)

Five individuals are led down a large underground crypt to a crypt-keeper who tells them all five stories about what is going to happen to them giving them a warning about their shockingly violent fates as punishment for overt and dubious crimes they will commit in the future. The central premise is great and the five stories that follow it are all extremely strong: following a woman who plans to murder her husband, a man who abandons his family for another woman, two snobbish men who torment an old neighbor, a re-telling of the monkey's paw story and a pretty nasty final story regarding a blind home and its new uncaring manager. This is one of rare Amicus anthologies in which all the stories are well-written, compelling and quite horrific in general, Amicus did make some other great anthologies (Asylum, Dr Terror's House of Horrors, House that Dripped Blood, and From Beyond the Grave) and two very poor ones (Torture Garden and Vault of Horror); whilst the best ones did have at least one weak story within their anthologies, Tales from the Crypt are all consistently good. The DVD transfer is really good (full frame anamorphic print-that looks remastered and restored), just a minor gripe would be misleading cover art on back of the DVD and front feature images not actually in the film (like the skull on the front with the eye is not in the film and on the back there is a picture of grotesquely looking Crypt-keeper from the 1980s Tales from the Crypt TV Series not from this 1972 film version); other than that the DVD release is perfect. There is a real darkness to the five stories as we wonder whether the punishment actually fits their crimes; sometimes what is inflicted on the characters can seem ten times worse than what they actually did-for example in the final story, the consequence of his actions are more sadistic and just much more evil than his crime. I guess that just adds to tone of the horror that pervades the story; like the Monkey's Paw tale which is very sadistic punishment when the crime itself was not sadistic or overtly evil. Its dubious but its still dark and compelling to watch. The only time the film actually puts a foot wrong is the ending which felt like a tacked-on attempt to add some forced horror to proceedings. They needed a twist horror ending in tone with the original EC Comics but the one they chose was not really scary but felt rather forced in overall context of the stories and the central premise. It would have been fine to stick to what was established in the beginning which would have left the audience and characters with a sense of introspection, fear and dark foreboding leaving the punishment and belief up to the characters themselves rather than contrived plot twist. Other than that its Amicus's best anthology horror and just absolutely beautiful to look at with sumptuous technicolor cinematography with an incredibly vibrancy and intense colour like a visual painting much like the classic Hammer Horror films of the period. Definitely a film to watch.

I love short stories and probably spend more time reading them, all told, than I do novels. It stands to reason then that the anthology format, both in film and especially on TV where it is more prevalent, is one of my favourite things. New characters and situations with each story, no continuity, and a promise that if you're not really into this particular story, stick around because the next one might be up your alley. Night Gallery, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Thriller, hammer House of Horror, and even a more contemporary example like Black Mirror -- that's my bag. So naturally, I was eager to check out all these Amicus productions from the 70s. They're all pretty entertaining, even if the story quality isn't consistently high, and although I still haven't seen two or three of them, I'd rank Tales from the Crypt as one of the best of the series, along with Beyond the Grave (probably my favourite) and The House that Dripped Blood.Here we have five short tales connected by a fairly standard but ominous framing device. There's a strong cast, nice 70s décor, and even some pathos. A lot of these movies have the predictable theme of jerks getting hit with justice of one kind or another. Thus, it's sometimes hard for this viewer to see them as true horror, since true horror involves bad things happening to people who don't deserve it. Nevertheless, one thing I like about these pictures is that despite everything they often impart a good degree of sympathy toward their characters, even, sometimes, the more despicable ones. And I'm not going to say unreservedly that everyone here deserves their fate. Anyway, watching this is like having a night of detailed and somewhat scary dreams. You know they're connected in some way but they're all different, yet seem like takes on the same or similar themes. The order and progression of the tales is well-chosen and I think the direction is solid, sometimes verging on the artistic. Here are some thoughts on the individual stories.All Through the House:Well, I view this one as a mere introduction to what's to come. A lady kills her husband in cold blood and is then informed by the radio (in an interruption of dire christmas music) to be on the lookout for a Santa suited maniac. I guess the creators of Silent night, Deadly Night probably saw this. Anyway, there's barely any dialogue at all and we have to listen to the most dreadful, enervating christmas choral music for the duration. It was probably sapping Joan Collins's character's will to live, anyway. It's ok, but just a teaser that is ultimately quite meaningless."Reflections of Death":This was much better. It got to me, anyway, because I hate these kind of scenarios, with dreams within dreams and a person appearing to wake up and not being sure of what is reality. This happens to me sometimes, especially if I'm having a bad night for whatever reason, and always leaves me feeling disassociated and unsure of my place in the world. So, to me, this was a real nightmare. Sure, it's been done before, but that didnt' diminish its effectiveness, for me. Poor Ian henry didn't get very far, did he?"Poetic Justice":This is a story about the consequences of bullying. The bullied person this time round is not a child, but a sweet, kindly old fellow played by Peter Cushing, who loves animals and children, but is resented by his rich, rotten neighbours. The worst of the neighbours, a father and his loathsome son, mount a campaign of terror against the old man, to make him miserable and drive him away from the neighbourhood, or maybe worse. Their taunts and besmirching of the old man's character drive him over the edge, but there's poetic justice to be had against the perpetrators. I liked this one a lot, mostly because Cushing's portrayal was so good, and, well, sincere. My heart-strings were definitely pulled. I do kind of feel that the supernatural element wasn't entirely convincing. I mean, if all bullied suicides could come back and exact revenge! -- yet he did seem to practice a form of ritualistic witchcraft, and while ouija boards are silly and always make me laugh, I get where they were going with this and i can't honestly think of a non-supernatural solution that would have been as satisfying."Wish You Were Here":A painful and rather depressing short take on thee always popular "three wishes"/"Monkey's Paw" type scenario. It struck me as surprisingly grim, especially as Richard Greene's character was probably the one guy here met with "justice" who didn't at all deserve such suffering. Jeez. It made me feel bad, and that's good, if that makes sense."Blind Alleys":This one was really tense and well-directed. And hey, it's Patrick Magee! Always a pleasure to find him in something. nevertheless, all that stuff he said about blind people is utter nonsense. And they go from powerless figures of pity to the most powerful people in the room in a matter of seconds. Which one is it? if they were so clever and resourceful, why suffer at the major's hands for so long? Nevertheless, it's true that the disabled were often locked up in such "homes" with terrible conditions, and it's true that people were sometimes forgotten about and basically left to rot in such establishments. I think such things were mostly done with by 1972; This seems more like a place out of Dickens, but hey, the notion has its heart in the right place. Incredibly, by the end they managed to wring some sympathy out of me for the major, who after all was probably just in the wrong job, although looking at it from that angle, the story could also be considered a sort of commentary on the nepotism and abuse flagrant in the army, where the officers can live like kings while those in the bottom file have to contend with dish- water and near starvation rations. Again, I don't think any contemporary army in the west operates like this today, but certainly the screen-writers here probably experienced some horrors in their own camp during World War II. Anyway, good story despite some reservations. I really felt sorry for that poor dog, though.These movies, paradoxically, are quite nice. What I mean by this is that despite dabbling in the macabre and such, they're rather low-key compared with most modern horror, and make for an evening well-spent, possibly even with younger family members (although I haven't tried this myself and maybe most young people brought up with today's fast-paced fare would have a hard time). It's really difficult not to like them, though, and they are great for people who don't necessarily have the attention spans for long gothic melodramas or whatever yet still enjoy seeing some of the trappings. I still think Beyond the Grave is probably the best one, but you really ought to give Tales from the Crypt a go, too.

This is a collection of five different stories. All of them are so slow paced that you tend to go to sleep. It is slow paced even for the 1970s standard. No horrible getup is used anywhere though the poster shows a horrible skull with a single eye. Even the music is dull. A waste of time. Good actors are wasted. Though the movie is about "as you sow so you reap", in the fourth story, we wonder if the protagonist really deserved what he got.

I don't get why this is so highly rated. I thought the stories were bland and had nothing really to recommend them. I guess the comics they are based on are classics or something. But I don't see why anyone would bother to make them into film. The stories aren't very interesting, the images are neither beautiful nor grotesque, and it just isn't very entertaining to watch.