Movie Info
Movie Name: Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Studio: Laurel Productions
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): May 4, 1990
MPAA Rating: R
What’s the matter Blondie? Heart of glass?
A witch named Betty (Deborah Harry) holds a young boy named Timmy (Matthew Lawrence) prisoner in her home and prepares to serve him for her feast. Given a book called Tales from the Darkside, Timmy’s only hope is telling the tales to the witch. The story of the revenge of a scholar named Bellingham (Steve Buscemi) against his tormenters (Christian Slater, Julianne Moore, Robert Sedgwick), an old man named Drogan (William Hickey) who hires a hitman (David Johansen) to kill a cat, and an artist named Preston (James Remar) who finds success and a lover (Rae Dawn Chong) after a night of horror, might be the boy’s only hope.
Are you my mummy?
Directed by John Harrison, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie adapts the popular anthology series which ran from 1983-1986. The movie’s stories were penned by Michael McDowell (“Lover’s Vow” and “Lot 249”—from a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story) and Stephen King and George A. Romero (“Cat from Hell”). The movie was a moderate success and received average reviews.
Tales from the Darkside was always a second rate anthology series to me. Despite having a scary opening (which is truncated here), the stories always didn’t reach a level of even a Tales from the Crypt or a Night Gallery episode. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is often called the true Creepshow 3 due to a lot of crossover creators (and “Cat from Hell” was originally scheduled for Creepshow 2).
Cat’s out of the bag…
Though the cast is good, I think “Lot 249” is probably the worst of the three tales. This is always unfortunate when the story kicking off an anthology movie is dull (see Creepshow 2 for another example of this). Though I don’t think “Lot 249” is as bad as “Old Chief Wood’nhead”, it does feel a lot like an episode of the series (or even Tales from the Crypt). I just wanted more of a plot, and mummies have always been the least frightening monster to me.
The Stephen King and George A. Romero story “Cat from Hell” also has a few issues. The story really does feel like a E.C. horror comic complete with the demon cats and a hardboiled detective. The movie’s ending however is quite bad and the fake cat doesn’t inspire terror, but instead inspires laughs.
Smile!
The final story in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is the most memorable and the most fun. “Lover’s Vow” involves an artist being sworn to secrecy by a demon to never tell what he witnessed in the murder of a man. It appears his life turns around with a new lover and a new family, but SHOCK!, it turns out she is the demon…it is a bit predictable, but a fun twist and a fun monster.
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is an ok anthology but just isn’t the first Creepshow. It is tough to get a group of stories that all are good, and I find all the stories are so-so. I do think that movie does a good job with the wrap-around story by making it more involved and a bit more sinister (much closer to Creepshow’s wrap-around story). The movie however did not spawn a sequel and it appears that the Darkside’s underworld that is just as real, but not as brightly lit…has gone dim.
Related Links:
Tales from the Darkside—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Darkside—Season 2 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Darkside—Season 3 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Tales from the Darkside—Season 4 Review and Complete Episode Guide
