Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Tales from the Crypt’ (1972)

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​Perhaps the true beauty of the horror genre, is the sheer fact that it is able to evolve its message and design in order to continue on from generation to generation. It knows exactly how to prey upon our modern fears and how to properly reflect the zeitgeist of the time and that allows for horror to bring forth new ideas and concepts to terrorize us with. But, despite the constant evolution of this dynamic genre, there are a handful of stories and franchises that have managed to endure the test of time without any alterations to their design.
 
One such franchise that falls into that category, is Tales from the Crypt. Because this storied saga, which began in comics in the 1950’s, has seen all sorts of different iterations through the years. It’s been a wildly popular television show on HBO. It brought forth a modern classic in cinema by way of Demon Knight, which in turn spawned a few sequels of its own, and it was even adapted for British cinema in 1972 and that particular film is what we are going to talk about today, because it is living proof of how this storied saga has managed to endure by preying upon our most primal fears. 
 
Case in point, the opening story in this film, ‘…And All Through the House’. A tale in which a disenchanted wife murders her husband before being terrorized by a blood thirsty murderer dressed as Santa Claus, and while it’s hard to like the main character, Joanne, in this tale since she’s offing her husband for a lovely insurance payment, the core of this story is undeniable. This is a tale about isolation and fear, where help isn’t coming, and that makes for a supremely tense tale that leaves your heart racing and reminds us all that sometimes our own imagination has dreamed up scenarios similar to this from time to time. 

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But the relatable fear doesn’t end there. There are plenty other stories in this saga that prey upon our guilty consciences and our greediness and most importantly, the cruelty of man. In fact, ‘Poetic Justice’ and ‘Blind Alleys’ do the finest job of getting that point across since they feature awful human beings who do indeed get their just desserts, but force us to watch their evil machinations before they do and these tales serve as the finest reminder that man is and will forever be the most vile of monsters when it comes to the horror genre.
 
However, as is often the case in horror, great acting is what truly sells the scares and thankfully that’s present in this film as well since it features a pair of screen legends in Joan Collins and Peter Cushing and they just, for lack of a better phrase, kill it in this film. Joan gives us a wide range of emotions as Joanne in the opening story and her fear when the killer comes around feels genuine and Peter, who plays Arthur Grimsdyke, delivers when it comes to his portrayal of a broken man, courtesy of his neighbor’s grizzly actions.
 
Yet, while we only focused on a handful of the tales present in this film, please bear in mind that all of them are disturbing and delightful and filled with plenty of gore and guts in that classic 70’s style and that really makes this motion picture a must see. It’s simply horror at its finest, especially when one considers that the TV series adapted several of these stories for the small screen and those respective episodes were still able to produce the same emotions present in this movie and if by chance you haven’t seen it, seek this one out as soon as you can, you’ll be glad you did. 

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