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80%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #3,236
...out of 20,698 movies
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Tales of horror based on the gruesome E.C. comic books of the 1950s presented by the legendary Crypt Keeper, a sinister ghoul obsessed with gallows humor and horrific puns.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: November 5, 2006
The DVD releases for Tales From The Crypt are starting to wind down now that we're down to a mere two seasons to go, and let me tell you, the bonus feature on this disc really shows it. Yes, I said "feature" and not "features", as there's only a single bonus tacked on for this season. As I keep saying in each of my reviews, I don't expect an entire disc devoted to bonus goodies for each season, but c'mon - a single ten-minute item is the best that they could do here?
Season Five Episode List:
1. Death Of Some Salesmen (directed by Gilbert Adler)
2. As Ye Sow (directed by Kyle MacLachlan)
3. Forever Ambergris (directed by Gary Fleder)
4. Food For Thought (directed by Rodman Flender)
5. People Who Live In Brass Hearses (directed by Russell Mulcahy)
6. Two For The Show (directed by Kevin Hooks)
7. House Of Horror (directed by Bob Gale)
8. Well Cooked Hams (directed by Elliot Silverstein)
9. Creep Course (directed by Jeffrey Boam)
10. Came The Dawn (directed by Uli Edel)
11. Oil's Well That Ends Well (directed by Paul Abascal)
12. Half-Way Horrible (directed by Gregory Widen)
13. Till Death Do We Part (directed by W. Peter Iliff)
Whereas the last season was packed with top-notch directors and big-name actors, this one features... well, Rodman Flender (Leprechaun 2) is here, and that's about as big as it gets on the directors side of things. The actors are a little better, as we get some appearances from Steve Buscemi, Tim Curry, Adam West, Ernie Hudson, Brad Dourif (better known as the voice of Chucky), Martin Sheen, Billy Zane, Brooke Shields, and Clancy Brown. Sure, there's not a lot of huge Hollywood stars there, but it's a perfectly acceptable list considering it's a television horror series. Also turning up in an acting role is John Kassir, who happens to be the voice of the Cryptkeeper. I have to admit that he made a very interesting addition to his episode (I won't say which), and it was nice to see the creators insert that sly sort of "wink-wink" moment for the audience.
As is always the case with these seasons, the episodes found within are hit or miss. There are a few, such as Death Of Some Salesmen, People Who Live In Brass Hearses, and Two For The Show that are fantastic and truly represent what the series was all about, but a large chunk of the episodes are just sort of there. What I mean is that there's nothing bad about them and they were technically on par with the rest, but there was simply nothing new to be found; there's only so many times that we can see the basic "guy murders someone, the corpse comes back to life, corpse kills his killer" storyline before we need a little something extra thrown in for variety. Although the corpse part of that statement only applies to one episode, the general principle applies to far more than it should.
Then, we have the one episode of the bunch that I absolutely hated. I won't say which because to do so would spoil its "twist" ending, and as much as I'd like to do that, I can't find it in my heart to ruin it for potential viewers. The reason I hated this episode is twofold; first, it simply wasn't Tales material. It's one of those true crime deals, and while I normally have no problems with those, this one just felt particularly out of place. That alone wouldn't have prompted me to single this episode out though; no, that honor is awarded due to the ending. Now, each episode of Tales wraps things up with some sort of twist or ironic ending, but apparently, the director of this particular episode didn't quite get that concept as he went with the "it was all a dream" ending that us horror fans just love so much. There's nothing quite as wretched as sitting through a half-assed episode only to find out that none of it really took place, but I just wish that the same could be said about that half hour of my life being wasted.
Finally, there's that single bonus feature that I mentioned: a "virtual comic book" rendition of Death Of Some Salesmen. This features a reading of the story by John Kassir as well as the original artwork from the comic, which is slightly animated through the use of computer magic. It's actually a much better bonus than what the other seasons offered, and to be honest, I'd probably plunk down some cash for a disc consisting of nothing but these virtual comics - it was that damned interesting. However, I still can't help but feel let down by the lack of material here, especially when compared to some other TV-on-DVD releases.
Once again, it's nice to get another season on DVD and fans of the series should pick it up for the episodes alone, but it would be nice if the powers-that-be would put a little more thought into these releases.
Season Rating: 5/10.
DVD Package Rating: 4/10.
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#1:
Dametria
- added August 23, 2007 at 2:49am
Death of Some Salesmen was proabably one of the
coolest episodes....ever. Watching Tim Curry play
every member of the creepy family was amazing!
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