Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
by John Harrison
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christian Slater, David Johansen, Deborah Harry, Matthew Lawrence, William HickeyDirector: John Harrison
Brand: MOORE/HARRY/SLATER/BUSCEMI/JOH
Producer: David R. Kappes
Producer: Mitchell Galin
Producer: Richard P. Rubinstein
Writer: Arthur Conan Doyle
Writer: George A. Romero
Writer: Michael McDowell
Writer: Stephen King
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-25
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Movie Review: Not really unique, but very well presented!
Summary: 5 Stars
Now we've all seen movies like this before, haven't we? A horror movie with three different tales in it. Tales of which usually consist of revenge, love, or some animal out on a rampage. I've watched many movies like this and I actually like them, to be honest. Why? Well, mainly because they aren't restricted. In regular horror movies, the plot is restricted because it had to string together and it had to make sense. In movies like this, you can just tell random tales of horrors, so it allows for much less restriction. Anyway, moving on, I said I've seen many movies like this and I have, but Tales From The Darkside is one I particularly like.
In the movie, we start off with a woman doing grocery shopping. As she is driving home, we are given clues that she is well liked by the community. However, it turns out she has a secret. That secret is that she's the mythical "witch in the woods", except she lives in the city. You all know what kind of witch that is, don't you? It's the kind Hansel and Gretal met. The witch that likes fattening up children so she can eat them. Well, it's the same here, except it's only with a single young boy here. The boy is, of course, bitter about her desire to eat him, so in an attempt to stall her, he decides to tell her three separate stories.
Let me list the stories and their attributes.
The first one is called "Lot 249" and it is about a college student named Bellingham who hates two particular lovers. No, it's not because of jealousy, but because they have framed him for stealing an artifact. They thought he didn't know, but it becomes apparent that he does, so in an act of revenge, he decides to purchase a mummy. The mummy comes with a scroll that allows it to be resurrected for any desire Bellingham wants. The plot is the usually revenge stuff, but I like how it was done. Bellingham wasn't a raving maniac, but a rather articulate man. He did things rather casually and he always seem to be one step ahead of other people. The other characters are nice, but Susan seemed rather unrealistic. I don't know about everyone else, but if I saw a rotting mummy about to kill me, I wouldn't exactly be calm about it. I must say, though, the ending is terrific. When I first saw this movie, I honestly did not expected that kind of ending.
The second story is called "Cat From Hell". The title sounds corny and you can easily guess the story from there, but the story is presented very well. Drogan is an old, rich man who hires a hitman named Halston in order to kill a cat. The cat is the cause of the deaths of his butler, his sister, and her best friend already and Drogan knows he is next, so he is willing to pay $100,000 for Halston to kill it before it gets him. Halston is rightfully skeptical, so Dragon told him why the cat is killing everyone. It turns out the cat is a form of revenge. Revenge for the 5,000 cats Drogan killed during the 4 years of testing it took for his drug or perhaps...it's actually all the people Drogan has destroyed with his medicine that helps an aging heart (at the cost of a lot of money and the risk of addiction). Now, while the story is rather cliche, I just this particular story. Why? Well, it's because William Hickey's acting is simply incredible and the scene transitions are beautiful. Aside from that, though, the plot could be a little better. For one thing, why does Halston try to kill the cat with a syringe to begin with? He could have easily used his gun right from the beginning. That's seem unrealistically inefficient for a high price hitman. He could have attempted to immediately kill the cat and spend the rest of the time playing pool and drinking while waiting for Drogan to return. Other than that, the story is very good.
The third story is called "Lover's Vow" and I really liked this because it adapts a neat ancient tale. The story is about a struggling artist named Preston who's just got dumped by his agent (well, not exactly his agent). Angry, he decides to get drunk out of his mind, so the bartender named Jer decided to take him home. Well, as Preston was taking a piss, Jer suddenly gets mauled and decapitated by a gargoyle and Preston witnessed everything. Well, the gargoyle decided to let Preston live as long as he keeps the promise that he will never tell what happened that night. Well, Preston's troubles was quickly met with good fortune as he ran away and into the arms of a beautiful woman named "Carola" who falls in love with him. A decade later, it seems like everything turned out alright for Preston. He is married with the woman, he has children, and due to her connections, he has success. However, he is as obsessed with the gargoyle as those first few days he met it, so can he still keep the secret? I really liked this story. While the ending differed from the tale it was adapted from, it was still very good. One thing I have to asked is why did the gargoyle killed Jer? It didn't eat him or anything. It just seemed to do it for no reasons. Of course, you could deduct a number of reasons, but deductions are not a good substitute for plot holes.
Anyway, that was the last story, but much like all other movies similar to Tales From The Darkside, there is always an extra tale. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as good as the ones that were told (Lets just say it's of the Hansel and Gretal type), but hey, what can you expect? I highly recommend this movie! I give it 5 stars!
Summary of Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
A collection of horror stories.No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: MOORE/HARRY/SLATER/BUSCEMI/JOH
Title: TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE
Street Release Date: 09/25/2001
Genre: HORROR
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