After testing the waters with six episodes, HBO renewed Tales From The Crypt for another season due to its popularity. And while there are a few "dog" episodes here and there, this release of all eighteen episodes from the series second season (originally airing in 1990 and given here uncut) is a solid collection of black humoured chills packed with enough morbid laughs, decent creature effects, and twisted storytelling to not only please longtime fans of the show, but also to introduce newcomers to a show that should receive credit as being the resurrection of "anthology" series on television (up to its point nothing could touch Rod Serling's original Twilight Zone).

All episodes are introduced and closed out by Kevin Yagher's Cryptkeeper creation (the skeletal, wisecracking hosts) and while his antics can get a bit tiring, along with all the double entendres such as "Greetings boils and ghouls...", the episodes within make for an entertaining bunch and continues the series trend of adapting the controversial 50's E.C. comics for its tales.

Running the gamut of jilted lovers, revenge seeking zombies, freaks, monsters, and outright psychos this follows the Tales From The Crypt rulebook of telling stories mostly about someone getting their comeuppance and while such episodes as the Arnold Schwarzenegger directed "The Switch", the uninspired "The Sacrifice", and the pretty awful "For Cryin' Out Loud" (with grating late comedian Sam Kinison as a voice of reason) are a waste of time there's more entertaining episodes here than not with stories packed with such absurd black humour and nuttier twist endings you can't but help and smile.

Packed with tons of familiar faces and contributions by many of the "name" directors of the time, Tales From The Crypt was the top-rung of late 80's-early 90's horror anthology series leaving such mediocre fare as Tales From The Darkside and the dismal Monsters and Freddy's Nightmares in the dust. And you can see why as most of the shows contained in this collection (which comes on 3 discs with 6 episodes a disc) are made by people with obvious love for the source material - and a yearning to do brief little slabs of twisted horror, things they don't get a chance to do in their films.

Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Second Season isn't perfect, but the shows gain a lot of steam in the second half of the set with the best moments here being "'Til Death"'s cool zombie effects, the insane puppet craziness of the Don Rickles starring "The Ventriloquist's Dummy", the pleasing morbidness and finale of "Fitting Punishment", and the satirical "Television Terror" (with Morton Downey, Jr. - who at the time had a reputation for being an big-mouthed TV commentator with a bad attitude).

Send your friends a greeting from the Cryptkeeper, CLICK HERE. (Chris Hartley, 10/30/05)

Directed By: Various.
Written By: Various.

Starring: Various.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: The transfers here are pretty solid with only a handful of specks noticeable in some episodes and some mild edge enhancement from time to time. But overall it's a decent looking collection even if a few episodes don't seem as sharp as the rest.

Extras: The first season set had a great documentary entitled "Tales From The Crypt: From Comic Books To Television" and unfortunately this season can't come up with anything even close to that in quality as there'sa brief featurette about the show's move to a radioplay (that aired in 2000) and an okay featurette about the second season featuring interviews with some of the producers and directors involved (such as Kevin Yagher who made his directing debut with the episode "Lower Berth".