When I was a kid we didn’t get HBO in Canada, so the only time I ever got to watch the channel was on family vacations to the United States. This wasn’t so bad because HBO wasn’t always the bastion of awesome television that it is now. In the late 80s there was no Oz, no Sopranos, no Deadwood, and no Game of Thrones. It used to be a bunch of sports events and documentaries about hidden cameras in taxicabs. But in 1989 HBO created a new series that adapted the classic EC comics horror stories and Tales From the Crypt was a hit.
The series had a different cast every episode but used established stars (such as Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, Joe Pesci) and directors (Robert Zemeckis, Walter Hill, Arnold Schwarzenegger). A puppet of the Crypt Keeper introduced each episode, which, because it was on cable, had a healthy dose of violence, sex, and curse words.
In short, it was exactly the type of TV show that a young Anthony would find compelling. I watched as many episodes as I could while on vacation and taped them all on VHS for future viewing. I loved each creepy, weird story for the terrifying plots and the horrific comeuppance. This was also at the time when I was seriously getting into collecting comics, so it was only natural that I would search out the source material.
The original issues weren’t easy to find, but luckily Gemstone Publishing started to reprint some of the issues at that time. And really that is how I got introduced to EC horror. Since then there have been a series of reprints, collected editions, 7 seasons of the HBO TV show, a kids cartoon, 1 good movie, and 2 awful movies.
Most recently, Fantagraphics Books has reproduced a series of amazing hardcover collected editions. The books are collected in black and white and contain a series of stories by a single artist. The works also include essays that talk about the artist and the history of EC comics. These editions are a horror fan’s dream.
I have the 3 volumes that correspond to my favourite EC artists: Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, and Wallace Wood. Each has a very different style that allowed them to create their own unique brand of horror and indelible mark on horror comics.
The stories themselves can at times be dated. They can be sexist (wives are either harpies or gold-diggers) or filled with the casual racism of the era (several stories deal with Africa as a dark continent). However, they are also prime examples of perfect pacing, twist endings, and memorable imagery. The dialogue wasn’t always terribly strong but the detail of images like a desiccated corpse by Craig or a ravenous werewolf by Davis more than make up for any little bit of inelegant prose.
This time of year we turn our attention to the macabre and our minds are filled with thoughts of gore and candy. It is a time of year when I re-watch Ghostbusters and The Bride of Frankenstein. Now I can add a new tradition to my Halloween season of re-reading these dusty tomes and I would suggest that they find their way to your shelf as well. All good boys and ghouls should read them before bedtime.
Tales was such an awesome show. Can’t forget about the kids’ version one! Loved that cartoon
Didn’t know about that Jack Davis collection. I’m going to have to check it out since Fantagraphics always seems to do a stellar job on their collections.
Need a Graham Ingels collection!
I think the HBO series started earlier. I remember watching it around 1985-1986 ??
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO’s Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from June 10, 1989 to July 19, 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO for seven seasons with a total of 93 episodes. Source.
It’s coming: Sucker Bait And Other Stories.
Ed, you might be thinking of Tales From the Darkside. It was a similar horror anthology show (created by George A. Romero) and ran from 1984-1988.
1 good movie, and 2 bad ones?
Which one was good, and which two were bad?
Personally… I thought Bordello of Blood was great. What other movie featured Dennis Miller… besides Joe Dirt (which is another cinematic classic).
Demon Knight was a solid horror movie with a strong cast. Bordello of Blood rested solely on Dennis Miller and he doesn’t quite pull it off. The last movie Ritual, was DVD only in North America.