Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) Review
In the early nineties, anthology horror was going as strong
as ever, with Tales from the Crypt on
TV and Tales from the Darkside on the
big screen. Contrary to Crypt, Darkside began as a TV series, created
by George Romero, and ran for four seasons. The movie is often cited as “the
unofficial Creepshow 3” because
though a third Creepshow was made, it
didn’t involve Romero or Stephen King and was critically panned, and Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
features a segment based on a story by King that was supposed to be in Creepshow 2 but got cut for budgetary
reasons.
Like Creepshow,
the movie begins with a narrative that bridges the segments, called the Wraparound Story, which follows a woman
who seems nice, but is actually executing a sinister plan. I won’t say what it
is, because if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s more effective going into it
not knowing, but I will say it involves a kid, and he reads three stories to
the woman out of the Tales from the
Darkside book.

This is based on a short story by Sherlock Holmes creator
Arthur Conan Doyle. At first, it seems like it’ll be a generic story about a
mummy coming to life and killing people, and at first, that’s what it is. The
effects for the mummy look okay, but it’s shown too much to really be scary.
However, it becomes apparent as the segment proceeds that the mummy isn’t the
real main threat here. The story has enough twists and turns to be
unpredictable and avoid falling into cliché, and has a great, unexpected
ending.

This middle story is absolutely hilarious. It’s an
incredible little slice of comedy-horror that looks like it’s going in one
direction, then goes in a completely different one. This is not a story to be
taken seriously. I won’t spoil the best moments, but one of the cat’s
dispatching methods is to cling to a person’s face like a facehugger and
suffocate them. The ending, like the first segment, is great, and genuinely
shocking.
The final segment is Lover’s
Vow, and at this point, has a lot to live up to when compared with segments
one and two. It follows a down-on-his-luck artist who witnesses the brutal
murder of a bartender at the hands on a grotesque gargoyle, who warns the
artist if he ever talks about what he saw to anyone, he’ll pay. So the artist
says nothing. He moves on with his life, and the ending, as you might be able
to guess, has to do with telling someone about that night with the monster, and
the consequence of doing so.

The wrap-around story adds yet another unexpected twist of
an ending to the mix, so you could call this the movie of great endings, but
the greatness extends beyond just the endings. I would certainly call this the
true successor to Creepshow. In fact,
I’d say it’s as good as the first Creepshow,
if not better. It has that same mix of horror and humour, and is more ambitious
than Creepshow 2 ended up being.
Tales from the
Darkside: The Movie is underrated and a must-see for horror fans. Even if
you’re like me and don’t love anthology horror, you’ll still enjoy it. The
stories are all great in their own ways, the pacing is excellent, and it’s
wholly entertaining.
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