In the 50's publisher William N. Gaines and his EC Comics crew published a series of horror books that depicted all sorts of macabre, and horrifying, stories of revenge, monsters, and the undead with such titles as "The Vault Of Horror", "Haunt Of Terror", and (of course) "Tales From The Crypt". They were extremely popular with youngsters only for them to come under fire from parents and the government as a senate hearing would eventually lead to Gaines discontinuing the publication of his horror titles and shifting his focus to his humour magazine, "Mad".

Over the years the books garnered a cult following, so much so that a group of filmmakers (Joel Silver, Walter Hill, Richard Donner, David Giler, and Robert Zemeckis) got together to create an anthology series based on the stories appearing in the pages of the comics they grew-up loving. The show soon went into production for cable channel HBO and went on to be a successful series that ran seven seasons and managed to spawn not only tons of merchandise, but also a cartoon series.

The premise of the series was quite simple, each week bring the viewer a twisted tale that is introduced by the skeletal "Cryptkeeper" (a creation of Kevin Yagher who also did the Freddy Krueger make-up on the Nightmare On Elm Street films) who would later return to crack a series of jokes. Most of the shows focused on revenge or "come-uppances" or one sort or another and now Warner Brothers brings the first season to us on DVD.

There have been previous themed video releases of the series and a DVD collection of episodes directed by Robert (Back To The Future) Zemeckis, but now we get all six shows from the 1989 season of the show. Most of them maintain the demented quality of the source material and despite only one of the stories ("And All Through The House") managing to be suspenseful viewing, the rest of the shows have enough dark humour and pleasing twists to make for a watchable set.

The definite highlight of the first six episodes is Zemeckis' contribution, "All Through The House" which is about a woman who's just killed her husband being menaced by an escaped mental patient in a Santa suit. The story also appeared in the 1972 film version of the comics but it works just as good here as the only straight-ahead horror tale of the six with Larry Drake giving a stellar performance as the maniac (and his performance may be the reason he was cast as the villain in later movies Dr. Giggles and Dark Asylum). But all the episodes here work for one reason of another.

"The Man Who Was Death" works because of Bill Sadler's above average performance, Ry Cooder's effective score, and a good ironic twist. "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone" contains plenty of moments that are morbidly funny (and has Joe Pantoliano to boot!). "Only Sin Deep" works alright thanks to Lea Thompson and a story that punishes those who are too "vain", even if the make-up is pretty so-so. "Lover Come Hack To Me" has Amanda Plummer giving another nutty performance (you may remember her from 1993's Needful Things) and slings the most blood, but it just seems a bit too scattershot and is the weakest episode here. And, "Collection Completed" benefits from M. Emmet Walsh and Audra Lindley (Mrs. Roper on Three's Company) in the leads and a story that's definitely not meant for animal lovers!

Overall, the first season of Tales From The Crypt is an enjoyable time and while the last three episodes can't quite keep up the strength of the first three shows it's still a good start to the series and leaves the viewer wanting more season sets from Warner - who are releasing a "Season Two" set sometime in October. (Chris Hartley, 7/13/05)

Directed By: Howard Deutch, Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Tom Holland, Mary Lambert, Robert Zemeckis.
Written By: Terry Black, A. Whitney Brown, Battle Davis, Randolph Davis, Fred Dekker, Walter Hill, Michael McDowell, Robert Reneau.

Starring: Bill Sadler, Lea Thompson, Joe Pantoliano, Larry Drake.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: Considering the age of the first episodes and the fact the budgets weren't extremely high Warner has brought the show to DVD with a decent transfer. There's a little bit of grain scattered throughout and there's a few fuzzy moments, but overall it looks pretty good.

Extras: There's not a ton of extras here as we're given an all-new introduction by the Cryptkeeper (but they keep the head in bandages in order to not have to pull out the old animatronic prop), a recap of season one by the Cryptkeeper (basically a brief synopsis of the season with lots of jokes thrown-in), and a documentary that makes owing this set completely worthwhile, "Tales From The Crypt: From Comic Books To Television". This is one great featurette as it traces the history of E.C. Comics and the rise of their horror themed books, it's a good history lesson for those of us who didn't grow-up in the 50's and it's also one interesting story. I would've liked more focus on the television aspect of it all (it only gets the last 10 minutes of the 50 minute run time), but what's here is still stellar and I like how they've taken the original art and added narration and animation to it all.