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List Price: $26.98 | | Label: Home Box Office (HBO)
Salesrank: 8393
Released: July 12, 2005 |
| Our Price: $9.99 |
| Used Price: $8.95 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Based on the legendary and gruesome EC Comics from publisher William Gaines, this horror anthology featured stories of murder, the super natural, gore and humor and always had a twist ending of sorts. Some of Hollywood's biggest names took part, either working in front or behind the camera. Hosting duties fell to everyone's favorite decaying corpse, the Cryptkeeper. The success of this series spawned a Saturday morning cartoon series (Tales From the Cryptkeeper), a short-lived Saturday morning game show on CBS (Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House) and lots of merchandise. Two feature films (Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood) were also produced and released in the late 90's. The TV series originally aired on HBO, but was later syndicated to Fox, the Sci-Fi Channel, and most recently AMC. Despite being a short season (only 6 episodes), Season 1 enjoyed the highest ratings in its HBO airings.
Description of Tales from the Crypt - The Complete First Season:
Here's some grisly good news for fear fans: the first season of HBO's long-running TV horror anthology Tales from the Crypt, based on the notorious '50s-era E.C. comic books, emerges on DVD in a two-disc set that's sure to have 'em shrieking (with joy, of course). Shepherded by a host of top Hollywood producers and directors (including Joel Silver, Richard Donner, Robert Zemeckis, and Walter Hill), the Tales from the Crypt series brought together major talent both in front of and behind the camera to give life to E.C.'s over-the-top stories of gruesome revenge and ghastly terror. Season 1 offers six star-studded spooktaculars, including Donner's "Dig That Cat… He's Real Gone," with The Sopranos' Joe Pantoliano as a carnival performer with a knack for surviving horrible endings; Zemeckis's "And All Through the House," with Larry Drake as a homicidal Santa Claus terrorizing a woman who has just killed her husband (this story was also adapted in the 1972 theatrical version of Crypt); and Hill's "The Man Who Was Death," featuring a topnotch performance by William Sadler as a jailhouse executioner who takes the law into his own hands. Comic purists may decry liberties taken by updating the original stories (and current audiences may find elements in some episodes out of date, most notably Mary Lambert's "Only Sin Deep"), but the blend of gore and black humor should keep most horror heads happy, as should the chattering presence of the animatronic Crypt Keeper (well-voiced by John Kassir), who serves as the show's ghost host.
The two-disc set's chief extra is an interesting documentary about the original comics, featuring interviews with co-editor Al Feldstein and legendary artist Jack Davis, as well as directors and authors inspired by the comics like George Romero, John Carpenter, and R.L. Stine. The Crypt Keeper also weighs in with a new intro for the DVD, as well as his reminiscences of the first-season episodes, complete with plenty of behind-the-scenes production photos. In short, pleasant screams are ensured for all. --Paul Gaita
Tales from the Crypt - The Complete First Season Reviews:
Short but Oh So Sweet! 
2009-08-17 - Now here's a series that taught the world a little bit about what you could do on cable television. Blood, gore, action, suspense and unfortunate circumstances happening to a bunch of people that just plain had it coming. There's just not enough anthology horror series' out there. And honestly, I always thought that this one should have stayed with us a little bit longer. Oh well. Behold the glory of the Season box set. Where we can revisit these timeless classics over and over again. And although this season is short, (only six episodes!), it absolutely does it's job. The crytpkeeper never looked so good. So grab you're favorite ghoul and hold onto your vomit bag, because this is good horror.
Tales from the Crypt - 1st Season - Completely Grueling! 
2009-08-16 - The particular season as with all the rest are very interesting and suspenseful. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11.
Memory Lane
2009-08-05 - Man I remeber watching TFTC when i was about 6 yrs old. And since then ive been hooked. It is one of my favorite shows of all time. And this is the first ever dvd of TFTC ive purchased. I have to say that this Dvd is just perfect. All of the 6 terror tales are great. So If your a TFTC fan you have to have this dvd!!
tales from the crypt season 1
2009-07-13 - I loved to watch this series on tv. I couldnt find it on tv anymore so I ordered the whole series. I have enjoyed them all
This was the stuff that nightmares were made of...
2009-06-22 - Unless you were too young to remember this show when it aired or lived under a rock, you'll remember that Tales from the Crypt was one of THE horror shows of the late 80s & early 90s. It was like the cool older brother of 'The Twilight Zone', 'Monsters' & the 'Outer Limits'. I remember staying up late just to watch it and bonding with my horror movie loving family members.
This long awaited DVD box set collects the entire first season of this fantastic show. The episodes range from a homicidal Santa Claus to a beautiful young prostitute selling her looks to a gypsy. You can see great performances from some of the most popular actors of the day as well as early performances from some would would later catch a bit of fame. The episodes can either be frightening or somewhat morbidly funny, which was the beauty of the show. Sometimes you'd be at the edge of your seat hoping for the characters to survive while other times you'd be rooting for the bad guy.
An interesting point to note is that presumably there were new segments & introductions filmed for this season. As it had been a while since I'd seen the show, I can't really tell the difference. I totally recommend this series to anyone who loves a good horror tale.
