Based on William Gaines’ ground-breaking comic book titles The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, Tales From the Crypt, and Shock SuspenStories, HBO adapted some of the titles’ best shockers for television back in 1989. It lasted for seven seasons, and nearly a hundred episodes (93 including the final cartoon).
The best and scariest episodes of Tales From The Crypt are all amazingly horrific, so our Curator lists the Top 10 in the order they originally appeared on television.
Top 10 Scariest Episodes:
And All Through The House (S01:E02)
Originally presented in Vault of Horror #35 (1954), This story of a murderous Santa (and wife) was the inspiration for Silent Night Bloody Night, Black Christmas, and a host of imitations, possibly enough to comprise a horror subgenre.
‘Til Death (S02.E04)
A scoundrel of a land developer uses Voodoo to win the heart of a wealthy woman. “One drop she’ll be your wife, two drops she’s yours for life.” He uses the whole bottle. Effects in this episode are straight out of Creepshow! The story of magic bringing an everlasting revenge is sickly sweet. (I have trouble with the way the episode portrays his ex-’s religion, so take the horror with a grain of salt… in the wound. It could just as easily have been told with any jilted witch’s magic.)
Lower Berth (S02.E14)
One of the best stories of both the comic books and the television series. The two-faced man from a carnival sideshow develops a crush on a well preserved mummy. But the mummy bears a curse. There is also an origin story for the Cryptkeeper himself!
Television Terror (S02.E16)
Morton Downey Jr. plays the role of a sensationalist TV show host as if it was his actual vocation. This show explores a haunted house live on television, and they see ghostly impressions! Is it a hoax for ratings? Are there truly murderous spirits? [Based on an idea from Suspense radio’s “Ghost Hunt”.]
Abra Cadaver (S03.E04)
A wise guy plays a practical joke on his brother, causing him to have a heart attack, so the brother, whose career was ruined, takes a twisted revenge. Reminiscent of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock (“Breakdown”), but with a bone saw! [Based on Tales From The Crypt’s “Dead Right”, but the series already features an episode from #25 with that title.]
What’s Cookin’ (S04.E06)
Christopher Reeves plays a failing squid chef, until a drifter from The Breakfast Club stops in for some Meatloaf, again. (No, really, Meatloaf guest stars.) It is the Soylent Green motif, (they did it on The Price of Fear,) but they take it a step further, and it’s oh so fun to watch!
The New Arrival (S04.E07)
A radio child psychologist takes on the worst case he’s ever encountered. Is it really a child or the alter-ego of a psychotic woman? This one gets creepy. And it has a ceiling fan with steel blades!
Forever Ambergris (S05.E03)
A war photographer is jealous of his protegee, who is getting better pictures than the past-his-prime veteran. So the weathered photo journalist sends his friend to an infected village, where he contracts a disease and dies. The disease is horrifically depicted as his body disintegrates.
Came the Dawn (S06.E13)
I love me some arctic horror. Two ex-military visit Alaska to bag an endangered bear. The guide they hire has no problem with poachers, being ex-military herself, but she has a bit of a surprise for the C.O. that ordered the shelling that killed her. Likely an inspiration for 30 Days of Night.
Report From The Grave (S07.E08)
Although it has some vague points, this is one of the better written episodes. An evil Svengali has trapped the souls of his victims in the afterlife. A mad scientist invents a machine that can read the memories of the dead. (Soft tissue after a decade? That’s a reach.) When it succeeds… his wife has the headset on and gets an earful. She dies, but the scientist (with some subconscious help from the dead occultist,) designs a machine to bring her back. Guess who she brings with her?
All done watching the Top 10? Need more, but don’t know which episodes are worth your time, and which would be better to put off until after you’ve watched the best of Tales From The Darkside? Don’t worry, monster kids. In order to choose the best episodes, Awake At Midnight re-watched the entire series! Here are our reviews of HBO’s 1989-1996 masterpiece Tales From The Crypt!
Season 1
The Man Who Was Death (S01.E01)
When the state outlaws the death penalty, a modern executioner goes vigilante. It’s all about the electric chair. Fortunately irony is a good conductor.
And All Through The House (S01:E02)
Originally presented in Vault of Horror #35 (1954), This story of a murderous Santa (and wife) was the inspiration for Silent Night Bloody Night, Black Christmas, and a host of imitations, possibly enough to comprise a horror subgenre.
Dig that Cat… He’s Real Gone (S01.E03)
A sideshow performer is granted nine lives when a mad scientist discovers how to transfer them from a cat to a human. He seems rather uninspired since he keeps performing death-defying carnival acts rather than coming up with a more lucrative scheme. If you’re paying attention, the twist is pretty obvious.
Only Sin Deep (S01.E04)
A woman sees her beauty as a ticket to a wealthy life. But she has to sell it to get the price of entry to the game. When it turns out her beauty is truly fading away just four months later, getting her face back will cost her a murder rap. Filmed with a lack of eye to detail. There were 10 rounds in a little derringer, then the woman breaks into a pawn shop in the dead of night, and just seconds later a cop walks in the open front door at lunchtime.
Lover Come Hack to Me (S01.E05)
A groom discovers that the woman he has married for her money has some strange wedding night traditions. The twist is revealed slowly, and remains thrilling even though you know what’s coming!
Collection Completed (S01.E06)
A husband who just retired learns to cope with his wife’s animal collecting tendencies by taking up a new hobby. It’s something that is horrifyingly cruel and simply unpalatable for her. Taxidermy. She tells him to get stuffed.
Season 2
Dead Right (S02.E01)
A fortune teller gives a woman hope of inheriting a fortune… but the guy she has to marry is disgusting. Madam Vorna is never wrong. Cathy marries him. But can you believe it? There’s a little twist to how she’s expecting it all to end for her!
Cutting Cards (S02.E03)
Two high-rolling gamblers, one with a real nice hat, decide to settle their differences once and for all with a deadly game of Russian Roulette, except they are both standing after all six rounds are fired. So they try “chop poker.” Nice EC ending, but there was a lot more potential with this setup.
‘Til Death (S02.E04)
A scoundrel of a land developer uses Voodoo to win the heart of a wealthy woman. “One drop she’ll be your wife, two drops she’s yours for life.” He uses the whole bottle. Effects in this episode are straight out of Creepshow! The story of magic bringing an everlasting revenge is sickly sweet. (I have trouble with the way the episode portrays his ex-’s religion, so take the horror with a grain of salt… in the wound. It could just as easily have been told with any jilted witch’s magic.)
Three’s A Crowd (S02.E05)
A couple is invited to an old friend’s cabin for an anniversary present, but Richard gets jealous of his friend’s money and the way Alan and his wife seem to be hitting it off. And secretly talking about a new life. Well, he’s got a surprise for them. (And he’s got one in store for him too!) This episode’s a psychological kick in the nards.
The Thing From The Grave (S02.E06)
An abusive jerk kills the guy his girlfriend is cheating with. When she catches on to what he did, he abducts her so she can’t turn him in. But… a magic charm allows for revenge! Pretty standard EC fare.
For Cryin’ Out Loud (S02.E08)
A sleazy nightclub owner steals the take from a charity fund-raiser, but finds himself being blackmailed. Not for long. (Features a sexy Peg Bundy (Katey Sagal), the voice of Sam Kinison as the owner’s overactive conscience, and a guest appearance by Iggy Pop!)
Four-Sided Triangle (S02.E09)
An abducted runaway takes a knock to the head when the farmer holding her captive gets “friendly,” and falls in love with a scarecrow. This one skirts the ratings with its implications and delivers an ending we are thirsting for.
Fitting Punishment (S02.E12)
Classic EC. A cheapskate mortician loses his temper and cripples his nephew. Uncle Ezra then kills him, having become a burden, but has to cut off the young man’s legs to fit his tall body into a cheap pine box. Pretty grisly, and a cruel enough act to raise the dead. Nothing too original here, though.
Lower Berth (S02.E14)
One of the best stories of both the comic books and the television series. The two-faced man from a carnival sideshow develops a crush on a well preserved mummy. But the mummy bears a curse. There is also an origin story for the Crypt Keeper himself!
Television Terror (S02.E16)
Morton Downey Jr. plays the role of a sensationalist TV show host as if it was his actual vocation. This show explores a haunted house live on television, and they see ghostly impressions! Is it a hoax for ratings? Are there truly murderous spirits? [Based on an idea from Suspense radio’s “Ghost Hunt”.]
Season 3
Carrion Death (S03.E02)
A convict kills the cop who’s handcuffed to him after an escape, but finds that the corpse is a real drag. Especially through the desert. The comic book version of this far outshined the TV storytelling, (definitely one that will stay with you,) but it’s a chilling concept definitely worth the watch.
Abra Cadaver (S03.E04)
A wise guy plays a practical joke on his brother, causing him to have a heart attack, so the brother, whose career was ruined, takes a twisted revenge. Reminiscent of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock (“Breakdown”), but with a bone saw! [Based on Tales From The Crypt’s “Dead Right”, but the series already features an episode from Shock Suspenstories #25 with that title.]
Easel Kill Ya (S03.E08)
A failed artist finds inspiration in morbid artwork after painting the corpse of his downstairs neighbor. After killing him. So then he kills his landlady and sells her portrait, painted in her own blood. But Jack’s new girlfriend finds the polaroids, and is hit by a car running away. She needs expensive surgery. Jack told her his dark side was gone… but he needs a hundred thousand dollars. This plot sounded familiar, and I discovered a similar storyline in the Old Time Radio show The Mysterious Traveler‘s episode “Dark Destiny”.
Undertaking Palor (S03.E09)
This one has a wholesome Stand By Me feel to it as three boys try out a new cam-corder while making a horror movie in a mortuary. When one of the boys’ fathers dies, something one of them overhears tips them off that it was murder… And they’re going to get evidence on tape. Gruesome and fun!(Appearances by Jason (Marsden) from Boy Meets World and Ke Huy Quan who played Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies.)
Split Second (S03.E11)
A seductive wife raises havoc in a lumber camp when the foreman brings her back to live in his cabin. He’s the jealous type, and she gets bored easily. There’s not much originality here, but the visuals at the end are EC perfection!
Season 4
None But The Lonely Hearts (S04.E01)
A man who marries rich widows for their money and then offers them poison wine, appears to be receiving blackmail notes. But it’s just the local gravedigger. He can hear the wives calling for their husband. There isn’t much of a story to this one, but the acting is great, and the setup pays off with great special effects.
Seance (S04.E04)
A heartless grifter and her boyfriend hold a seance to convince a widow to fulfill her husband’s financial commitments… after they’ve murdered him. Only, the late Mr. Chalmers plays a bait-and-switch.
What’s Cookin’ (S04.E06)
Christopher Reeves plays a failing squid chef, until a drifter from The Breakfast Club stops in for some Meatloaf, again. (No, really, Meatloaf guest stars.) It is the Soylent Green motif, (they did it on The Price of Fear,) but they take it a step further, and it’s oh so fun to watch!
The New Arrival (S04.E07)
A radio child psychologist takes on the worst case he’s ever encountered. Is it really a child or the alter-ego of a psychotic woman? This one gets creepy. And it has a ceiling fan with steel blades!!
Season 5
Death of Some Salesmen (S05.E01)
Stars Tim Curry in dual- no, triple roles, Ed Bagley Jr., and a cameo by Yvonne De Carlo. A scumbag salesman gets his comeuppance when he wanders into a country home owned by some Devil’s Rejects. This one has overt sexual themes and toplessness. I don’t know how Tim and Ed ever had coffee together straight-faced again.
Forever Ambergris (S05.E03)
A war photographer is jealous of his protegee, who is getting better pictures than the past-his-prime veteran. So the weathered photo journalist sends his friend to an infected village, where he contracts a disease and dies. The disease is horrifically depicted as his body disintegrates.
Two for the Show (S05.E06)
It’s easy to catch on that it’s the police investigator who was having an affair with a murderer’s wife. He killed her when she announced she was leaving him. When someone reports the scream, he dismembers her and puts her in a trunk to Chicago. But guess who’s also on the train. This seems to have been influenced by Hitchhcock’s classic noir, Strangers on A Train.
Oils Well That Ends Well (S05.E11)
A woman con-artist is double-crossed by her partner during a grift based on raw crude oil. Her ex-partner is played by the actor who voices the Crypt Keeper.
Season 6
Only Skin Deep (S06.E02)
“Molly” picks up a guy with anger issues at a Halloween party and brings him home to her… abandoned cellar. He doesn’t seem to mind until he has some “hair of the dog,” and finds himself with a woman who shows her true face. Atmospheric and creepy, but just a bit more backstory could have made Molly both more crazed and seem justified, adding tension to an EC twist ending. But we knew what was coming from the start. Of course, it de-livered well!
Whirlpool (S06.E03)
Rita Rudner completely owns this episode. Unfortunately her skills are wasted in a bad version of a murderous Groundhog’s Day.
Operation: Friendship (S06.E04)
A fun romp about a shy programmer who has an imaginary friend; his alter-ego or multiple personality. The outgoing personna struggles to bring out the stronger side of himself, but gets threatening when it looks like his main self no longer needs him. Not much of an ending.
You, Murderer (S06.E15)
This is a parody of film noir, with a man changed to look like Bogart being double-crossed by his wife. It has a lot of early CGI computerized personalities. It has a gruesome and satisfying ending, but it’s more Inner Sanctum fare than Tales From the Crypt.
Season 7
Report From The Grave (S07.E08)
Although it has some vague points, this is one of the better written episodes. An evil Svengali has trapped the souls of his victims in the afterlife. A mad scientist invents a machine that can read the memories of the dead. (Soft tissue after a decade? That’s a reach.) When it finally succeeds… his wife has the headset cranked and gets an earful. She dies, but the scientist (with some subconscious help from the dead occultist,) designs a machine to bring her back. Guess who she brings with her?
Confession (S07, E11)
A writer is nabbed for the decapitation of three women, but is he guilty? A noteworthy performance from Eddie Izzard. Unfortunately the twist is purposely projected at the beginning. It’s a fun watch, but no shocker.
