"Tales from the Crypt" Retro Recap: "Mournin' Mess"

Written by Scotty

Sometimes in life, you have to do things that you don’t really believe in doing.  It happens more often than not, as you pretty much have to have a job to pay your taxes and health insurance or else you get into trouble.  There are some people that embrace this, as they are able to go into any position and come out on top without any issues, while others are not able to keep their personal life out of the office and all of their problems spill over making it next to impossible to get their job done, or live a happy life.  There has to be a balance when it comes to this, or you will never be happy, you have to remember that there is much more to life than just paying taxes. 

Dale Sweeney is a down on his luck journalist that is barely hanging onto his job.  With a new bottle and woman every night, he is still good at getting the inside scoop, if he is on time.  Arriving at his latest assignment late once again at the Grateful Homeless Cemetery, he is still able to get the hard hitting questions asked and the other reporters’ onsite want the same answers as well.  Returning to the office, Dale gets hammered by his boss for showing up late and not having anything on the homeless killer story that he has been assigned too.

Getting fired, Dale finds his solace in the bottom of the bottle once again, but there is someone waiting in his apartment for him, the accused Homeless Killer, man named Robert.  Wanting to be cleared for the crimes he did not commit, Robert forces the reporter to go back to the cemetery once again and see what happens there when the sun goes down.  With the promise of a huge story that includes some of the top city officials, Dale is willing to take a look but when he returns to the graveyard, he runs into the speaker for the Grateful Homeless Society, Jess Gilchrist whom he woos and takes back to his place to pump her for information.

When Jess finds out what is going on, she storms off in a huff and Dale goes back to the alleyway to find Robert has been attacked.  Attending the funeral for the alleged Homeless Killer, Dale sticks around the cemetery all night to see if there is anything really happening there.  As the sun goes down, Dale watches as the fresh grave starts to slide down and he has to get to the bottom of what is going on.  Digging into the fresh earth, Dale finds a door where the coffin should be that leads him to an underground cavern that is retrofitted as an above ground dwelling.  Trying to investigate what is happening below the cemetery, another door opens and the occupants come searching for the new addition to their world.  Trying to hide from whomever is coming to get him, Dale jumps into one of the new coffins, but when he sees who is in it, he begs to be let free.  Being released on the center of a large table, Dale is surprised to see who all is a part of the underground society, but will not be able to escape, as he is the guest…meal of honor.

Talk about a twist that you would never see coming, there is so much going on in the city with the Homeless Killer on the loose that a cemetery has to be opened just to house all of the dead homeless peoples bodies. Thinking that this is strange, Dale asks the right questions, but does not get the truth behind why such a memorial has been resurrected, well, at least not one he can take public.  I enjoyed how the story took a turn for the worse in this episode, as Dale was already down on his luck and he just cannot seem to catch a break and when he does, he gets dragged down even further.  Starring Steven Weber as Dale Sweeney, Rita Wilson as Jess Gilchrist and Vincent Schiavelli as Robert, this is a classic showing of what people in power are able to do without anything being asked of them, especially when they have a hunger for something a bit more meaty than normal.  Until next time kiddies, Stay Scared.

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