Love is a splendid thing, but so many things come into making it these days. With all of the problems in the economy, even love may not be able to trump the need for enough money to survive on.  It is a sad but true story when it comes to couples getting together, for happiness can be enough, as long as there is something else to keep the couples protected.

Peggy and Charles have just been married, much to the chagrin of Aunt Edith.  Edith knows that there is something wrong with Charles that her niece does not see, but the marriage is final now and she will have to hold her tongue. Peggy is ready to make her wedding night special, as she has been keeping herself pure for all of her years, waiting for the right man to come along, and with plenty of money in her account, she has found Charles is the love of her life.  Even with Charles’ love for Peggy, he is more interested in the funds Peggy has at her disposal.

On their drive away from the church, the couple winds up in a severe storm that is making it next to impossible to see where they are going.  When their car breaks down, they do not know what to do since the storm does not seem to be letting up at all.  Not wanting to wait it out in the car, not on their wedding night at least, Peggy and Charles start trekking through the woods and find an old abandoned house that would be perfect for them to rest in.  When entering the house, the couple notices how run down it looks, but it seems to be set up for the young lovers.  Lighting a fire that was prepped for them, Charles takes notice of a battle axe that is sitting above the fire place.

Wanting to make their first night together as a couple the most perfect night ever, Peggy urges Charles to do all in his power to make it so.  Finding a bed that appears to be made for them, Charles starts thinking to himself what all he will do with his new wife’s money, but Peggy will not give it one thought at all.  As Peggy comes into the bedroom with a drastically changed appearance, she will do anything to make the night perfect and she does. But while Charles sleeps after their marriage is consumated, he sees Peggy welcoming another man into the house.  While she has a different demeanor than she did before they made love, Charles gets upset and tries to step in, only to find out that the man and woman he sees are ghosts. But witnessing the murder of Peggy’s father has Charles shaken up and when he awakes from the nightmare he has fallen into, he discovers that it is all truth.  Peggy wants to freeze this perfect moment in time, forever and with the help of her battle axe, there is no way to stop her.

A great story about crossed motives, as Charles is looking for an easy way to get rich, and Peggy is looking to have a baby, the same way she was conceived.  Holding up the family tradition is all that Peggy requires and with her Aunt on her side, there will never be a chance of failure.  With the soft spoken Amanda Plummer playing Peggy and Stephen Shellen playing Charles, the casting was perfect for this tale and I could not imagine it being done by anyone better.  Until next time, Stay Scared.

Trying to create a new life for one’s self can be difficult.  The opportunity does not always present itself to us as it could take a lot of money, or loss of our family to move on completely. Sometimes it needs to be done, but how much of your past are you willing to part with to become someone else altogether?  As I believe it, someone’s past is what makes them into the person they are today, if it be good or bad.  But life experiences are what makes each one of us different in our own, unique ways.

Sylvia Vane is looking for a change, as a working girl, she knows that there is something better for her on the horizon.  Pining over a man that is always throwing parties in his penthouse apartment, Sylvia just needs to catch his eye once to make him fall in love with her.  Looking for a way to make some extra money quickly, without turning her usual tricks, she robs a local pimp and tries to sell his stuff in a pawn shop.  Although the pawnbroker will not give her what she is asking for, for all of the stolen goods, he has a different proposition in mind.

Offering Sylvia ten thousand dollars for her beauty, the young woman cannot find any reason to turn down the cash.  Talking a mold of her face, the pawnbroker makes sure she understands the terms of the deal, if she wants her beauty back, she will need to repay the loan in four months and not a day more. Thinking little of this, Sylvia takes the deal and the cash and works on changing her appearance.  Making it up to the penthouse, she is able to capture the eye of the man she has wanted for all this time and steal him away from his previous relationship.

Being in the perfect relationship with Ronnie Price, Sylvia has all that she could ever desire.  But time is ticking and her four months are slowly coming to an end.  As wrinkles slowly start appearing on her face, her doctor is not able to explain what is happening to her, and she remembers the deal that got her here in the first place.   Getting back to the pawn shop, she tries to buy her beauty back from the broker, but being a day late, the price has gone up drastically to a hundred grand.  Needing to find a way to bring her aging face back to the youthfulness that has always become her, Sylvia tears through the penthouse and takes all of the gifts Ronnie has showered her with over the past months.  But when Ronnie comes home unexpectedly, he gets shot by the love of his life.  Only caring about her looks, Sylvia makes a deal to take her beauty back, and while taking her face mold out of the pawn shop, she gets a rude awakening while walking down her former streets.

A story that is on the up and up for Sylvia as she is able to get everything that she wants, but as everything comes with a price, she finds out what that really is.  Selling the only thing that she had, that anyone wanted seemed like a great deal, but she never expected what would happen when the deal was over.  With Lea Thompson as Sylvia and Brett Cullen as Ronnie Price, this show has more than enough to keep you occupied with the lookers, and more than you bargained for when it comes to the story.  A frightening thought that someone would sell something that they value so much in life, but not recognize that it would leave them suffering for the rest of their life.  Until next time, Stay Scared.

Every once in a while an opportunity of a lifetime presents itself to you.  It is your decision if you decide to jump at it or not, since you never know if it will present itself to you again.  If you decide to take it, it will change your life and you will be better or worse off for doing it, but you have to take it to find out.  There are repercussions for everything we do in life, but if you don’t take a chance once in a while, you will never know what you have missed.

Doctor Emil Manfred is out looking in the gutters, trying to find someone that he can experiment on with his new theories.  Finding Ulric sleeping in a box, Manfred has found the perfect person to perform his tests on.  Promising fame and fortune, Ulric is willing to hear the doctor out, but is curious about what would happen if the experiment goes awry.  With promises that he will not suffer, Ulric allows the doctor to perform the surgery that will change his outlook on life for the rest of his days.

Doctor Manfred is convinced that with the nine lives that cats have been known to have, he can transplant the small part of the brain to a human and allow a person to have the same longevity in life.  When Ulric wakes up, he is not convinced that the surgery was a success, so the doctor shows him first hand.  Shooting Ulric in the head, the newly rich homeless man awakes from his death and is set to make fortunes of his own.  The doctor has a plan ready to make money to fund his research and has sold the idea to the carnival to have a man killed and resurrected before the audience’s very eyes.  A new idea, but the owner agrees and Ulric the Undying has been born.

With his first death in the carnival being a success, Ulric becomes a phenom and people from miles around come and pay top dollar to see him die and come back to life in the same night.   Although there is no specific time frame for his resurrection, Ulric comes back every time.  With plenty of money coming in, Ulric wants more since he is the main attraction, but with more money, he gets a target painted on his back.  Killing Doctor Manfred in an auto accident, Ulric is happy with his new relationship with Coralee, but she wants what he wants, all of the money and ends up killing him in their love nest.  With nine lives to start with and down to one left, Ulric who is now broke will need to make the most money he possibly can with his final death and demands one hundred percent of the take for it.  But while waiting for death to come to his door once again, Ulric remembers that the cat had to die to give him his lives, and instead of starting his new life with nine lives, he only had eight.

As story of love, greed and never having to pay the consequences for ones actions.  This is a great story that sticks in your head, as if you are offered something that is too good to be true, it probably is, only if you can keep count that is.  With Joe Pantoliano as Ulric and one of my favorites, Robert Wuhl as Barker who is running the carnival, it is hard to go wrong with any aspect of the story.  With plenty of laughs…or attempted laughs from a salesman’s pitch, it is just a wonderful ride down the worm hole to see a man that has taken his life for granted. Until next time, Stay Scared.

The holiday season puts all kinds of unwanted stress on people.  Although you like to think of it as a merry time, most people get stressed out of the things that are really not that important.  Take my word for it as I have worked retail for many years of my life, it really does.  But the only thing that you need to worry about during the holidays is finding time to be with your family and friends, as that is really the most important thing of all.

As a husband and wife are sitting quietly by the fire on Christmas Eve, the wife is contemplating her future.  Wanting to move on she pulls the fire poker from the stand and bashes her husband in the head, making it a very Merry Christmas for her.  Making a call to her new lover, telling him it is done, she has one more problem in the house, her daughter that is waiting for Santa.  With the blood soaked poker, she puts her daughter to bed and contemplates her next move.

Moving her husband’s body out of the house and wanting to drop him down the well outside, she is not strong enough to move him the way she desires, but there is something else moving around the trees that will keep her from accomplishing her goal.  A mental ward Santa has escaped and is on a killing spree of his own.  As Santa makes his presence known, the wife is trying to find a way to protect herself, her daughter and get rid of the evidence of her murdered husband.  Being able to escape the clutches of the evil Santa Claus, she calls the police for help, but before they get to the house, she has to make it look like Santa killed her husband.

Taking blind shots at her late husband’s head, she is finally able to make contact, but the killer Santa is on the hunt once again.  Getting locked in the closet while pulling down her husband’s gun, the wife is forced to watch Santa climb a latter up to her daughter’s room.  Her daughter is unaware that this is not the real Santa Claus and is invites him into the house for milk and cookies, hoping to get her presents.  Mom knows what horrors the evil Santa will bring and tries to rescue her daughter before time runs out.  But when Santa is in the house, there is only one question left to ask, Naughty or Nice?

Talk about a Christmas story that will leave you wanting to hug and kiss everyone in the house.  With a mother that is looking to move on to another life, she is still stuck in this one with the choices that she has made and will do anything to take care of her daughter.  With a great cast featuring Mary Ellen Trainor (Wife), Marshall Bell (Husband) and the great Larry Drake (Santa), the spirit of the season, along with the spirit of a classic horror story are brought to life. Until next time, Stay Scared. 

Growing up in the eighties, I was privy to being around when horror industry was at the top of its game and HBO produced a great series called Tales From the Crypt.  Although I was too young to partake in watching this series, it has fallen in my lap once again and I would do anything to see this kind of series return to television.  I am very happy to have all of the episodes at my disposal and will bring them all to you in my Tales From the Crypt Retro Recaps.

Having the perfect job is one thing, but loving what you do could be something completely different. Niles Talbot is a man that loves his job, being an electrician by trade, he has moved up the ranks at the prison and has become their one and only executioner for the past twelve years.  With the power of lightning at his disposal, he knows that he is doing right by God and the state.  With every man that has been sentenced to death sitting in his chair, Niles has been sure to look each one of them in the eyes, as he is not afraid of any repercussions.

When a heavy hitting news report hits the airways, condemning execution, Niles is let go by the prison that he has dedicated his life to. Without even an option to get his old job back, Niles is forced to look for work elsewhere, but he wants to continue his work that he has exceled at for the past twelve years.  Staying close to the court house, Niles sits in during trials and sees murderers let free due to incorrect paperwork.  Knowing that this is not right, he takes it upon himself to make sure that justice is served.

Running ten thousand volts through the guilty is all he has been good at in the past and now without any direction, he is able to enforce his punishments without a care in the world.  Knowing that there are more people involved in some of these murderous situations, he is able to take his job to the next level as everyone that is guilty gets the jolt of electricity, not just the ones that would have been placed in his chair by the state. As time goes by, Niles punishes the guilty, but trying to take it too far has landed him in the prison where he had worked so faithfully. 

As he walks down death row, not as a jailor, but as a prisoner, Niles knows that he will be treated differently as he has been upholding the law on the streets.  As the death penalty has been reinstated for his actions, Niles knows that the governor will call and give him a pardon for all of the hard work he had done in the absence of capital punishment.  Screaming for his life, Niles is put back in the place where he belongs as the switch is dropped and the electricity that he loves so much courses through his veins.

As an opening episode of the series, the Tales From the Crypt crew created something magical that captured many people’s imaginations. As there has not really been a horror comic book brought to life, much less on air ways, they have struck gold.  Bringing a seasoned actor like William Sadler into a series like this was just genius as he has been very strong with his performances, especially with the roles that actually require someone to show no regret for their actions. Until next time, Stay Scared.