Bloodtype Online

    Many genre fans realize that the horror genre was on life support during the 1990's.  The slasher craze had pretty much died a horrible death by that time, there weren't too many films being brought to theatres that were for the hardcore fans, and generally Hollywood wasn't green lighting horror projects like they used to.  But there was one saving grace during the decade of the 90's that I feel doesn't get enough credit for bringing something to horror fans that they could appreciate.   That saving grace was HBO's television series, "Tales from the Crypt".  Not only did the show bring something to hardcore fans, it was also a revival of one of the most influential things in the history of the genre….the EC comics.   Sure it had been done prior to that with George A. Romero's "Creepshow" as well as other EC films like "Tales from the Crypt" (1972), but this was happening in a decade where not much else was for horror.   Which in turn not only solidifies it's standing in importance to fans and as a staple in horror, but also vested new interest in the original EC comics as well.

    Season Six of "Tales from the Crypt" actually really surprised me when I was watching them.  Certainly I watched the series during this time, but it had been years literally since I've seen them.   For some reason before hand I thought that season six was one of their worst seasons, but apparently I was mistaken there.  I was shocked at how many really good episodes there were, and not only that but they really packed this season with unlikely stars at the time.   This three disc set has every episode from the sixth season so in all you are getting a total of fifteen episodes.  On the first disc you get six different episodes including "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime" starring Catherine O'Hara (Home Alone, SCTV) about a women who is a sleazy lawyer only to have to defend herself in a backwards town.   Also you have "Only Skin Deep" directed by William Malone that is one of my favorite all time episodes.  It's about a man obsessed with a strange women he meets at a costume party.   There in lies a deep dark secret about the woman that makes the end of this episode a must see!  You have a very cool episode entitled "Whirlpool" that stars Rita Rudner and is directed by Mick Garris.   This is also one of my favorite episodes that actually centers the story around an office where the "Tales from the Crypt" comic book was being made.   On this disc you also get "Operation Friendship", "Revenge is the Nuts", and another really cool one with Terry O'Quinn (The Stepfather) called "The Bribe". 

    Disc Two has another six episodes with director John Harrison's "The Pit", "The Assassin", "Staired in Horror" with D.B. Sweeney and R. Lee Ermey, "In the Groove" with Miguel Ferrer in one of my favorites about a shock jock, "Surprise Party", and another really good episode called "Doctor of Horror" with country singer Travis Tritt.  

    Disc Three has only three episodes on it including "Comes the Dawn" with Michael Ironside (Scanners), "99 & 44/100% Pure Horror" directed by Rodman Flender (Leprechaun 2), and "You, Murderer" which is the infamous episode in which computer generated images of Humphrey Bogart and was directed by Robert Zemeckis.

    There isn't much to mention as far as special features go, but it does have a "Virtual comic book" from the episode "Whirlpool".   To be honest with you the only negative thing I could say about this set whatsoever is the lack of extras.  Now, you can look at that one of two ways.   You can either be happy with the set and call it a day, or you could have had it with more extras, although I'm sure that would've added a few dollars to the price of the set.  But I would honestly say that this set is more than sufficient for fans of the series that will definitely want to pick these up. 

    There's no doubt that "Tales from the Crypt" is one of the most influential television shows of my generation, and without it there wouldn't be shows today like Showtime's Masters of Horror series.   Although I thought that there could still be "Tales from the Crypt" even going today, it's nice to revisit the series on occasion.  Like I said earlier, I always enjoy watching these as they are part of my childhood.   There's also no doubt that it kept my horror fire burning when it looked like the pilot light could go out at any minute in the 1990's as well.  For that alone the series should be commended, but outside of that this is a damn fine collection of episodes that I would recommend for fans and newbie's as well.

Rating - ***

-Ed Demko