Ask any horror fan about the genre films of the ‘80s and the response is likely to be polarized. A lot of viewers detested the copy-catting and endless slasher sequels to the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchises, and the watering-down of the grittier ‘70s horror scene. Others minded less, embracing the dumbed-down gorefests and appreciating them for what they were. One of the areas upon which most horror fans agree is that the phenomenon of horror television in the ‘80s was of generally great quality and unequalled before or since. There was also a hell of a lot of it. In addition to the film franchise spin-off’s Friday the 13th: The Series (which was not related to the films in the slightest), and Freddy’s Nightmares starring Robert England, there were a slew of horror-anthology series. Sure there was the revival of The Twilight Zone in 1985, as well as The Outer Limits, but also creative original programming like Monsters, Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside and, most popular, HBO’s Tales from the Crypt.

It was Crypt that stood out above the pack. Unlike those other series, Crypt had a surprising ability (and budget) to attract some great actors and filmmakers, supplying us with entertaining stories full of gore (and sometimes even some nudity).

Based off the widely popular comic books published by EC in the ‘50s, every episode of the television series was packed with the same unique brand of humor, violence, morality, and irony featured in every four-color comic. What's more, all of the episodes in the first season are taken directly from the illustrated page. In addition to Tales from the Crypt, they also borrowed stories from The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear (in fact, only the premiere episode of this season was from the titular comic). Taking another theme from the comics is our host, The Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir). This inspired, animatronic character was the show's comic relief. He uniquely joked about the dark humor you would soon be presented with and closed each show with morbid humor, blatantly pointing out any of the irony you may have missed. He was the Elvira of the late 80s; the character you wait for.

This first six-episode season is considerably shorter than the season that followed, but it certainly started out with a bang. Here is what The Crypt Keeper has in “gore” for you this time…

The Man Who Was Death. Directed by Walter Hill – (The Warriors, Streets of Fire)
Bill Sadler (of a plethora of b-films) plays Niles Talbot. Niles works for the state as executioner, performing the switch-pulling for the apparently high number of electrocutions in his area. When the death penalty is removed from practice, Niles is removed from his job. But he doesn’t feel removed from his obligations of punishing the guilty though. There are plenty of criminals still on the streets, and he is quite skilled with electricity. Sadler is in top form here as he narrates his story in a nice comforting tone, going from good-ol’ country-boy, down on his luck, to unrepentant serial killer.

And All Through the House. Directed by Robert Zemeckis – (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump)
It’s Christmas Eve and a woman (Mary Ellen Trainor, Romancing the Stone) decides that it is time to kill her husband. While attempting to dispose of the body, she fails to hear the radio announce that a man (Larry Drake, Dr. Giggles) has escaped the mental asylum and is murdering his way in her direction ... while dressed as Santa Claus. Unable to call the police without exposing her guilt, she will have to deal with the lunatic on her own, and help her daughter (who really wants to meet Santa). This is probably the strongest of all the episodes, with convincing acting in both leads and a very generous dose of artistic style and humor. This is a great example of the show to introduce someone to what the series is all about.

Dig That Cat… He’s Real Gone. Directed by Richard Donner – (Superman, The Goonies) - In perhaps the most bizarre story of the season, Joe Pantoliano stars as Ulric the Undying. Through flashbacks, we are shown how he started out as a homeless bum who is soon offered a lot of money to undergo a unique surgery by an unscrupulous doctor. He wants to inject the gland of a cat into his brain, thus allowing him to have nine lives. To make even more money, he works the carnival circuit, killing himself in front of a large audience only to be resurrected shortly thereafter. But does he really know how many lives he has? The real fun here is in the stylish direction and creative ways in which Ulric meets his end.

Only Sin Deep. Directed by Howard Deutch – (Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors) - Lea Thompson, from the AWESOME Howard the Duck, stars in a modern voodoo tale as a prostitute focused only on being rich and in the company of fine men. After killing a pimp and attempting to sell his possessions, the manager of the pawn shop offers to give her $10,000 to pawn her “beauty.” She needs the money, but greatly underestimates the consequences of not making her payment on time. This is territory tread in many stories over the years, but still fun because of Lea’s out-of-place casting and inspired direction. A lesser episode for sure, but still worth seeing. You just won’t be going back here that much.

Lover Come Hack to Me. Directed by Tom Holland – (Fright Night, Child’s Play)
Newlyweds Peggy (Amanda Plummer) and Charles (Stephen Shellen) are en route to their honeymoon destination when their trip ends prematurely by a downed tree during a storm. Forced to stay in an abandoned house for the evening, they “consummate” their love. After doing so, Charles dreams of Peggy’s mother killing her husband after their first sexual encounter many years earlier. Is this a mere dream or a premonition? This episode is very funny for several reasons. First, it is full of classic horror clichés -- sex equating to death, the abandoned and possibly haunted house, the murderous spouse, etc. The script, particularly in the climax, has some great one-liners. In an unrelated note, we also get to see the origin of Rose, a nearly identical character that Amanda plays in Mike Myers’ film So I Married an Axe Murderer.

Collection Completed. Directed by Mary Lambert – (Pet Sematary, Pet Sematary Two) - Obviously intended to be the most outwardly funny of the episodes, Mrs. Roper herself (Audra Lindly) plays Anita – ignored housewife who entertains herself by taking care of all the neighborhood's stray animals. While this may work fine for her, it annoys her husband Jonas something fierce. Now recently retired, Jonas has to contend with his extraneous “family”, his overly-friendly neighbor Roy, and his lack of having anything constructive to do. When he finally goes off the deep end he manages to think of something that can occupy his time… taxidermy. Probably the weakest of the season, its huge emphasis of humor over horror feels unbalanced. It does get points for being unique, however, and Audra makes for a fine Anita.

Presentation
Warner Bros. has put together something nice, but not spectacular, for the fans. Often times the video (presented in the original televised 1.33:1 aspect ratio) has speckles and dirt. This is most prevalent in external daytime scenes. Luckily, there aren’t too many of those, but a clean-up would have been nice.

Where the Brothers really should be commended is releasing these episodes in their uncut HBO form, as opposed to the cut versions (no nudity, lessened gore) found in the more recent Sci-Fi airings. Trading one for the other isn’t acceptable, but it isn’t cause for condemnation either.

The audio department is well transferred and original; there is no new remix. All episodes are presented in 2.0 Dolby surround sound and are clearly understandable at all times. There are subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. Sadly this is only on the episodes though, not any special features.

The episodes are presented without the famous Danny Elfman-scored intro. Instead this is used as the basis for the introduction to the main menu. This doesn’t really bother me, but I know there are completists out there that feel it is necessary to have it attached. What bothers me is that superimposed on the intro is a “Kill Intro” button. This ruins the feel of watching the true opening. I hope it is a problem rectified on future sets.

The menus are fun, with Elfman’s theme playing in the background. If you go idle, The Crypt Keeper will make wise-cracks at you: “Are you paralyzed with fear? Do something already!” Very well designed, and the second disc does not repeat the same jokes, so it won’t get too stale.

Extras
Disc 1 contains all six half-hour episodes, and therefore there is little room for extras. It does give us a few snippets of Crypt Keeper fun.

Introduction – (1:01) – The Crypt Keeper sings you a song and tells you a little of what to expect from this set. A fluff piece, but rare is an introduction that isn’t. It fits the theme of the show and is sure to be appreciated by fans like myself.

Easter Egg – (0:44) - To access this Easter egg, go to the features menu. Press down to light the previously unlit candle. This is nothing more than a cute little continuation of the introduction, cleverly shot.

Disc 2 is dedicated entirely to two bonus features. Sadly, they are not subtitled.

Tales from the Crypt: From Comic Books to Television – (50:18) - This near hour-long documentary is more filling than a big steak. Doing exactly as it describes, it tells of the rise and fall of the William Gaines era of EC comics and its employees during the ‘50s. It begins by telling us how EC was near bankrupt before they shifted their focus from “educational” Bible stories to pulp crime and horror stories. These were massively popular until comics fell prey to a witch-hunt investigation into juvenile delinquency. Soon, with the creation of the Comics Code, horror comics were all but banned - but their inspirations were not lost. You will learn all this, as well as hear from the people that owe their careers to these classic comic books. The author of the Goosebumps series of books, R.L. Stine, said he uses EC style in his books, only more subdued for the kiddies. Filmmakers John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog) and George A Romero (Night of the Living Dead and its sequels) also show up to explain how they were influenced by these books as children. The inspiration is obvious with Romero, whose Creepshow follows the same formula, complete with comic book transitions. Some discussion is had on the origins of the TV series. Much is made about making the Crypt Keeper of the television show into a pop-culture icon. All and all, this is a pretty nice documentary, and fits this collection well as the only dominant feature. The presentation is never boring. Interviewees are worked into panels of a comic book, often with the words they are saying in the bubbles above them. It is very, very clever.

Crypt Keeper’s History of Season One – (5:42) - A short, tongue-in-cheek chronicle narrated by the Crypt Keeper. There are some interesting bits about the show's production, followed by a breakdown of the six episodes in our host’s usual pun-heavy style. There really isn’t too much content, and it is a little too heavy-handed with the humor to make it very valuable.

Fin
The first release in the series of Tales from the Crypt has many merits - and plenty of curious deletions. As the episodes go, it is a great collection well worth watching, but the features are questionable. The fantastic documentary was released as the feature on a previous two-disc release. None of the features on THAT second disc are repeated here, which is kind of odd. I hope that they will be included on future episodes. There is also conflicting information in the features themselves. In the Crypt Keeper’s history lesson, he identifies the third episode as the first, and the main documentary identifies the second episode as the pilot. All material I could find with a modicum of research indicates they were shown in the order of their presentation on day one. It comes off as an odd discrepancy.

(Editor’s note – They may be referring to the actual production times instead of the order of their airings.)

But that is just nit-picking. When push comes to shove, all that matters is the episodes - and they range from good to fantastic. At the low price, there is no reason for you to not take a trip back to the crypt.

Recommended for all the “boils and ghouls.”