"Tales from the Crypt" Retro Recap: "Abra Cadaver"

Written by Scotty

Can a joke go too far?  I would never think that it could, but there are some people that cannot take a joke and take it too seriously.  While I try to keep a good joke running until it fails to get a laugh, I have been told that it is being taken too far.  While some people do the same thing, it is hard to imagine that anything that we think is funny may not be for the person that is being tormented by it. 

Doctor Martin Fairbanks is trying to help out his little brother with a crash course in anatomy before his big test.  As the two search around the residential morgue, Martin tries to make sure that his little brother will be set, but Carl has a different plan.  Checking out all of the cadavers, Carl picks out a very attractive dead woman and starts making obscene remarks about what he can do with her.  While touching her body, Carl sees a skin reaction and Martin jumps in to see if the woman is still alive.  The woman jumps from the table and attacks Martin while all of the other corpses in the morgue come to life.  Carl has played the best practical joke on his brother, but he did not expect for what happened next.

Martin is working in his brother’s lab, on experimental research having to do with death and how long the brain can survive after the body gives out.  Coming up with nothing over the past several months, Carl wants to shut down the lab and get his older brother a teaching job which he rightfully deserves.  But Martin is still upset about the joke his little brother has played on him that cost him his career in medicine.  Martin had a heart attack after the practical joke came to light and was not able to continue in the field of his dreams, and has been waiting for the perfect opportunity to get even.  Carl knows that what he did was wrong, but with Martin refusing to give up with his research, he will have no choice but to cut his finances. 

But Martin has come up with a breakthrough and after visiting Haiti, he has found the secret to keeping the mind alive long after the body dies.  Needing to show this to his brother, Martin spikes a glass of scotch and sends his brother into cardiac arrest.  Injecting Carl with his serum, the truth behind what he is doing to his brother comes to light and Martin is bent on revenge.  Keeping his brother in the bowels of the medical clinic, Carl is trapped inside of his body and unable to do anything to stop the torment of being medically dead.  Seeing and hearing everything going on around him, he finds out that his brother's research is more than accurate, but with no way to applaud him for it, he will have to wait until the next life to confront him once again.  But is Martin a stone blooded killer or is he just trying to get the attention of his benefactor?

This is a clever story as the two brothers are trying to help each other out.  Carl is trying to make up for the mistake he made some time ago that has cost his older brother the opportunity to become a surgeon, while Martin is trying to make his little brother money.  Seeing how the two interact, it seems like Carl is unwilling to listen to new ideas concerning what happens after the body dies, especially when it comes to the brain, but Martin is not willing to give up on proving to him that people are still alive long after their bodies have stopped working.  With Beau Bridges playing Martin and Tony Goldwyn paying Carl, the two show such distrust for each other on the screen, really bring the story to life.  Until next time kiddies, Stay Scared!

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