Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Genre: Horror
Duration: 92 minuten
Alternative title: De Griezelige Crypt
Country:
United States / United Kingdom
Directed by: Freddie Francis
Stars: Joan Collins, Peter Cushing and Roy Dotrice
IMDb score:
6,8 (14.779)
Releasedate: 9 March 1972
Tales from the Crypt plot
"DEATH LIVES in the Vault of Horror!"
Five people are accidentally locked in a dungeon and meet the mysterious Cryptkeeper, who lets them see into the future. It's hard to swallow though, because the future doesn't look very bright for any of the five...
Actors and actresses
Joanne Clayton
Arthur Edward Grimsdyke
Charles Gregory
Ralph Jason
Carl Maitland
George Carter
Enid Jason
Maj. William Rogers
James Elliot
The Crypt Keeper
Reviews & comments
Collins
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- 7523 messages
- 4478 votes
Five guilt and atonement stories based on the American horror comics by William M. Gaines. More films with the same title would follow, but without director Freddie Francis. He did make another horror anthology (Tales That Witness Madness (1973)) and directed one more episode of the TV series 'Tales from the Crypt' in 1996. And that was it.
Tales from the Crypt (1972) consists of a frame story with five separate episodes in which the duplicity in the human being is central. Five episodes in which things like hypocrisy, heartlessness and personal gain are exposed. The stories are built up calmly and work towards a climax with an 'unexpected' twist. Very entertaining. It is psychological horror that uses a calm tone, contains a touch of irony (after all, it is a British adaptation of the comics) and provides each story with a few venomous outbursts. One thinks of murder and manslaughter
Five great episodes. Yet there is one that stands out. Central to this omnibus, in my opinion, is the third episode, entitled 'Poetic justice'. In this episode, Peter Cushing plays a fine role that for once does not remind us of all those modest and sensible characters that he so often shapes. Here he plays a sweet older man with a lot of feeling and a lot of extroversion. The episode, together with the last episode, is a bit longer than the rest and can therefore pay a bit more attention to character development and tension building. And that is what happens. Incidentally, the last episode makes less good use of its length and is particularly notable for its slow pace of action that gets in the way of the tension building. The least episode. Yet even the least story is not boring.
It was fun. I saw five episodes with an old-fashioned macabre look full of old-fashioned charm. One a little better than the other, but all above average fun.
Translated from Dutch · View original
UmbraVitae
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- 4517 messages
- 4224 votes
Back to watching some older horror and this one couldn't be missed, I was really far away from this one. Entertaining omnibus film, with a wonderful hammer atmosphere, no hard horror, but you don't expect that here either. I do like the penance element. All five are nice stories, although the 4th was really too short and I found the 3rd (poetic justice) with a wonderful Peter Cushing as Grymsdyke and the 5th (blind alleys) with fantastic Patrick Lager (who I immediately recognized from A Clockwork Orange) as Carter, the blind man who takes matters into his own hands, really entertaining.
1. And all through the house 2.5*
2. Reflection of Death 3*
3. Poetic Justice 3.5*
4. Wish you were here 3*
5. Blind Alleys 3.5*
(The Crypt Keeper 3*)
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
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- 11674 messages
- 6867 votes
An earlier anthology.
Watched it because I really liked the later episodes of Tales from the Crypt, and although this movie doesn't seem to have much to do with it, it's still fun to look it up. The main difference between these three movies is that this one is a lot more serious and preachy. Also slower, but I can live with that.
By definition this is not a bad anthology, but the change of pace in this film is dramatic. In principle every story that is told here seems the same, but the build-up for each story is always very long. Each story ends very satisfyingly, which makes you eagerly await the next story, but if it has to build up from scratch every time you will unintentionally get bored.
That doesn't change the fact that the setup is fun and some stories are definitely good. Some stories are better than others, as some are a bit too short to leave a satisfying feeling. They are all macabre in their own way, although they also feel like short movies and not stories from someone who hides behind the name "Cryptkeeper".
Visually a bit outdated but the multiple film tricks know how to make up for this. The acting is however quite bad as a whole. In between there are good roles, but everyone is in overacting mode so that you can not take the more serious stories seriously. All the stories are serious, but some are also heavy, and that does not come across.
If the alternation between slower and faster stories had been a bit better, this film would have been a bit easier to get through. It is not bad, but it is outdated, sometimes a bit too slow and badly acted. Fortunately, you can still see a number of very strong parts, but together these parts are not enough to get the film to a sufficient.
Translated from Dutch · View originalPre- and sequels
Ritual
2001
Bordello of Blood
1996
Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight
1995
3 comments
The Vault of Horror
1973
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