Tales From The Crypt, one of the most influential horror anthologies of the fifties has an even eerier show. Most episodes are based on stories from the comics. With so many we could be here a while. So Instead, we’re going over three episodes that appear on just about every best episode list. By comparing them to their source material, we’ll see how the creatives made their stories even better. Strangely enough, all three of these episodes come from the anthology The Haunt of Fear. Not to be confused with the adaptation from 2019, we might go over that another Halloween.
What Is Tales From The Crypt?
The bi-monthly series from the 50s was one of the anthology comics sold at newsstands. It was one of EC Comics best titles competing with the likes of Creepy and Eerie magazines with its sister series The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror. Between the three of them were three horror hosts: The Old Witch, The Vault Keeper, and naturally The Crypt Keeper. Naturally the Seduction of the Innocent influenced witch hunts got the series banned. Fortunately decades later, fans and publishers brought them back in one form or another. Dark Horse in particular releases the original series through the EC Archives.
As for adaptations there were several including definitely not limited to HBO’s TV series. Hosted by the puppet Crypt Keeper and voiced by John Kassir, the series would adapt stories from the comics. But to make room for the half-hour time slot, the stories would be expanded if not changed. Based on the many lists of best episodes about two or three episodes appear in all of them. Let’s go over why.
What’s Cookin’?
Probably the most overrated episode, not for lack of quality mind you.
The final story from The Haunt of Fear #12 is about two struggling restauranteurs named Herman and Charles meeting a business savvy stranger. The stranger Eric strikes up a deal with the cooks to remake their eatery into a chicken joint. It proves to be successful with Eric being a real go getter with marketing and building equipment. But Herman and Charles are unsatisfied that Eric gets the most income. So they decide to bind him to his house and set the place on fire. Only for the charred Eric to cook Herman and Charles alive as the police arrive with Eric dying from his burns.
Why It’s Overrated
The show meanwhile replaces the cooks with an optimistic married couple struggling to keep their integrity. Turns out a squid specialty isn’t the best idea for a restaurant. The husband, Fred is passionate about his ability as a cook and loves it as much as his wife Erma. That feeling is thanks in no small part to Fred’s actor Christopher Reeves. Reeves is a great actor, especially in this episode where he grapples with his loves. Fred felt like he was letting Erma down, and the audience can feel his guilt for keeping the secret of his newfound success from Erma. To make matters worse, audiences feel that he’s lost his abilities as a cook. The only problem is I have a feeling people only like this because of Reeves. When you have the actor synonymous with the original Superman movie, it’s a given.
But Still Great
But it also takes away from how tense the plot is. The business partner is the former bus boy Gaston, whose intentions feel dominating. Unlike the comic where a hard working and well intentioned business man meets a tragic end by his greedy partners, Gaston feels like a corporate con-man. He intelligently takes advantage of the couple’s situation with their landlord to make it look like they have a motive with their secret recipe. And he tries everything to cover his tracks and frame Fred should things go wrong. This is one character audiences love to hate.
Which is why the finale is notable. Gaston gets his comeuppance thanks to Erma still believing in Fred despite challenges. When a cop shows up learning the secret, and makes one last surprise twist, the tables turn on Gaston. It’s an insidious if cathartic development that leaves audiences thinking. Did the couple sell their souls to defeat an enemy? What would they do in a situation like this? It’s a great episode I hope people will appreciate for its quality more than just who stars in it.
Television Terror
In the second story of issue #17(3) (no time to explain), readers get a spooky look at an early version of Ghost Hunters.
News personality Al Hunt goes into a haunted house with a psychic to show his viewers the experience. Thanks to being looked at from the claustrophobic perspective of a video camera, readers can feel Al’s increasing anxiety. As things tend to go, paranormal activity seems to go on as Al awkwardly tries to deflect his nervousness. Until meeting a tragic end the same way the tenants did, presumably under the influence of ghosts or paranoia. Then the studio cuts the feed with music, perfect for a funeral.
As for the TV show, it gives the shock reporter Horton Rivers more of personality. In that Morton Downey Jr. presents him as a sleaze ball who got himself and his staff into show business by hook or crook. While he tells a dramatic story about the haunted house, the ghosts tell a better one. Either by flashbacks or taking the narrative away from Horton. Meanwhile Horton’s staff and the studio are all too eager to capture the spectacle. Even Horton’s tragic end doesn’t stop the feed, with the producer realizing too late how much Horton influenced her.
The New Arrival
The Haunt of Fear #25 story not by the Crypt Keeper is an odd one. It’s told from the perspective of a haunted house, watching events unfold and hoping in vain for the victim to escape. It does whatever little it can to drive a lost salesman away from it. Because its tenant is a disturbed old woman with an unusual baby. Readers can’t help but empathize with the house’s frustration at the salesman reasoning his stay. Especially when he sees that the baby is a physically and mentally arrested developed man dying with the mind of a baby. With the old mother replacing her dying child with the salesman.
The episode in Tales From The Crypt is full of surprises. The plot leaves audiences wondering what will happen next at every turn with intense suspense. It follows a self-absorbed radio psychologist trying to boost his ratings by visiting a fan with a troubled daughter. With him is his suffering producer and his boss (who more or less take the place of the comic’s house in reactions). The house is way more atmospheric and unfriendly compared to the comic. Thanks to Zelda Rubenstein’s height, audiences can genuinely feel it by looking upwards. That’s not even including all of deadly machines around the house. Or the daughter Felicity being masked; it makes her look more like a monster as she kills people like Michael Myers. Which makes Nora bringing psychologists around even more on point.
Tales From The Crypt: Making The Best of Adaptations
Tales From The Crypt remains a shining example on how a new perspective can change everything. By following the outline of a comic, the TV episodes become even more memorable. Whether it’s by fleshing out the characters or changing the direction while keeping the feels, it’s sure to excite everyone. Can’t leave out how the actors get a few screams for how they help make it so.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.
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