Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
R | 04 May 1990 (USA)
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Trailers

A young boy tells three stories of horror to distract a witch who plans to eat him.

Reviews
TaryBiggBall

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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Cooktopi

The acting in this movie is really good.

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Humaira Grant

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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Portia Hilton

Blistering performances.

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Sam Panico

The success of Creepshow led to thoughts of making it into a TV series. Warned Brothers owned some aspects and Laurel Entertainment, who produced the film (its George Romero's company) opted to create their own version. Two episodes of the show, "Word Processor of the Gods" and "Sorry, Right Number," were based on King stories.Starting with the intro "Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But...there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit...a dark side," and ending with "The dark side is always there, waiting for us to enter - waiting to enter us. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight," the show was a dark journey into the supernatural. It was followed up by Monsters, another anthology show of somewhat lesser quality (although several of the episodes are great fun and there's a King written episode, "The Moving Finger").Several people, including Tom Savini, think that this movie is the real Creepshow 3, but his quote may be referring to the similar nature of the movies and the involvement of King and Romero.The movie begins with Debbie Harry of all people, playing a housewife who is preparing the main course for a dinner party - Timmy (Matthew Lawrence, brother of Woah! Joey). As the film progresses, they will be our framing device as Timmy reads from the actual book Tales from the Darkside.In Lot No. 249, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story and adapted by Beetlejuice writer Michael McDowell, a grad student named Edward (Steve Buscemi has never looked so young!) has been framed for a theft which ruins his scholarship. He wants revenge on Susan (Julianne Moore in her screen debut) and Lee (Robert Sedgwick, brother of Kyra) and gets it by reanimating a mummy to kill them both.Susan's brother Andy (Christian Slater, Untamed Heart, Robin Hood) kidnaps Edward and brings the mummy to kill him. At the last moment, he can't do it and releases him. He probably shouldn't have done that, as Edward soon sends the reanimated versions of Susan and Lee to kill him!The next story, The Cat from Hell, is based on a King story and was adapted by Romero. A black cat is bedeviling Drogan (William Hickey, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), a pharmaceutical owner whose latest drug has killed over 5,000 cats in testing. One by one, the cat has killed everyone in his house, so he hired a hitman named Halston (New York Dolls frontman David Johansen, who is also Buster Poindexter).After a comical battle, the cat goes down Halston's throat (seriously, this special effect is insane and kudos to the special effects crew, which includes KNB) and then emerges to kill the old man.The third story is also written by McDowell and is based on the Yuki-onna, a spirit in Japanese folklore. Preston is a drunken and depressed artist played by James Remar (Raiden from Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) who witnesses a gargoyle kill a man. The monster swears to not kill Preston as long as he never tells anyone what happened.Starting with that night, his life changes for the better. He meets and marries the gorgeous Carola (Rae Dawn Chong, Quest for Fire) and they have two children. He becomes a famous artist. He even wins back Robert Klein as his agent. All is well, but he can't forget the monster.On their tenth anniversary, he decides to tell his wife, which was the wrong idea. She was the monster all along and their children are also monsters (!). At the end, they all fly away after she kills him.Finally, Timmy escapes by throwing the woman into the oven, then looks directly at us and says, "Don't you just love happy endings?"There was an announced sequel to this movie that was never filmed. A screenplay was written by McDowell and Romero, along with Gahan Wilson. Segments would have included an adaptation of Robert Bloch's "Almost Human," as well as Stephen King's "Pinfall" (originally planned for Creepshow 2) and "Rainy Season." Sadly, it never was filmed.This is a pretty well-done film. I miss the Creepshow framing device, but it's a great way to get more stories into one film. I remember catching the end of the third film as a teen and being freaked out by it. It's still pretty powerful nearly thirty years later.

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utgard14

Horror anthology movie spun-off from the Tales from the Darkside TV series. It features three stories plus a bookend piece. The first story is "Lot 249" about a nerd (Steve Buscemi) who is cheated out of a scholarship by an evil girl and her boyfriend (Julianne Moore, Robert Sedgwick ). He seeks revenge by using an ancient scroll to send a mummy after them. Christian Slater plays Moore's brother and is an inconsistently written character. Buscemi is enjoyable though and it's nice to see an old-school mummy.The second story is "Cat from Hell" about an elderly millionaire (Wiliam Hickey) who hires a hit-man (Buster Poindexter) to kill a cat. This is the weakest story of the bunch. Hickey and Poindexter are fine but it's kind of obnoxiously dark and I didn't really care what happened to anybody, including the cat. The third story is "Lover's Vow," about an artist (James Remar) whose life is spared by a gargoyle as long as he never reveals he saw the monster. He falls in love with a woman (Rae Dawn Chong) and after many years together the temptation to share his secret becomes too great. This story pretty much rips off the "Woman of the Snow" story from the superior horror anthology film Kwaidan (1964) but is still well done and probably the best story in the movie.The bookend linking story is a take-off on Hansel & Gretel, with a witch (Debbie Harry) preparing to cook a little boy (Matthew Lawrence). To stall for time, the boy tells her stories from his favorite book, which leads into the three other tales. This is an amusing and enjoyable part of the film, though nothing exceptional. Overall, it's a surprisingly enjoyable film, helped in large part by a good cast. The stories aren't particularly strong, but somehow it manages to keep you entertained. The acting, directing, and special effects are pretty good and make up for the writing as much as they can.

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FlashCallahan

The first segment features a mummy stalking selected student victims, the second tale tells the story of a "cat from hell" who cannot be killed and leaves a trail of victims behind it.And the third story is about a man who witnesses a bizarre killing and promises never to tell what he saw, and the wraparound story is of a woman preparing to cook her newspaper boy for supper.....It's an enjoyable anthology of horror short stories, but if you'd come into the film just at the start of the final story, you really wouldn't be missing a lot.The other two stories are just okay for seeing stars slum it a little and star in decidedly dodgy stories. Slater, Buscemi, Moore and the bloke from Die Hard 3 look glum as a mummy stalks them, and Hickey and the ghost of Christmas past try and kill a cat.The final story is pure gold, and almost makes up for sitting through the other two lame stories. Remar and Chong are great as the ill fated couple, and as the narrative progresses, you do sort of forget the main connotation of them getting together.And the twist knocks you for six.The wraparound story is quite enjoyable, but the first two stories really drag the whole film down and really make it a little mundane.

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atinder

.... one of the best , I have seen in recent weeks, I loved it! The movie start with A witch who ready to Cook boy but want to read some scary stories from the book called Tales from the DarksideFrist story Lot 249Is about student, Bellingham who whats Revenge after being framed from two people in Class and at he finds A mummy which he bring to life to kill them The mummy didn't look too bad at all, I did not expect the Kills to be a bloodily as they were. some really decent Kills scenes in this parts. This segment flowed really well and The twist, I did not see coming at all, loved that twist of the story, also found it really funny.8 out of 10 first story! The second Story Cat from Hell Which I think was the best out of 3 Old man in wheel chair hires a Hit-man to Kill a Evil Cat. The cats scenes were really well done, They did make the Black Cat look evil with the hissing sound and the attacks were not to bad at all, yeah, they may look a little bit dated now. Some of effect this story were great, I love the cat come out body, gross, I am sure that be stuck in head for few days after this movie. 10/10 Lover's Vow Weakest one This started of really well, the creature was very strange but it didn't look scary at all but Kill scenes were really well gory and bloody again, which i really liked Then the story got a little predictable and new twist, 10 years before it happened, I could hide it a bit more. I liked how the twist came out, very nasty gory scenes, really well made .7 out 10 The ending of the movie, I find that ending very cheesy, it kind of felt out of place a little This as got to be my favourite anthology so far I give this one 9 out of 10 , one of the best , I have seen in recent weeks, I loved it!

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