PR in the Philippines

(SeaPRwire) –   For a long time, Tales from the Crypt has been the ultimate unattainable prize for streamers. The HBO horror anthology and its host, The Crypt Keeper—a wisecracking puppet resembling a mummified corpse with the delivery of a classic comedian—wielded massive influence on 1990s pop culture, spawning several movie spin-offs, a wealth of merchandise, and even a Crypt Keeper Christmas album in 1994. However, after its last episode in 1996, the crypt shut for good and remained sealed.

Despite originally airing on HBO, Tales from the Crypt has never been offered on HBO Max for streaming, not even in its earlier iteration as HBO Go. All seven seasons saw DVD releases in the 2000s, with some reissued in the early 2010s, but a Blu-ray version has never materialized.

An effort by M. Night Shyamalan to resurrect Tales from the Crypt as a 10-episode premium cable limited series in 2016 also collapsed. In 2017, then-TNT president Kevin Reilly cited “a very complicated underlying rights structure” as the reason. (The specifics are murky, but it relates to each episode being adapted from stories in the original EC Comics, which have separate rights holders.) Following this, the widely held belief was that the iconic show was dead.

Therefore, it was a major surprise when the Shudder streaming service announced recently that it obtained exclusive streaming rights to all seven seasons. Resolving the rights for every episode likely required years of effort, and the agreement highlights the commitment of Shudder’s former SVP of acquisitions, Sam Zimmerman. He secured the rights as a farewell to the service before moving to a development role at Blumhouse-Atomic Monster.

This news was shared at the horror-focused Overlook Film Festival, where voice actor John Kassir took part in a panel discussing the show’s history. (One interesting tidbit from the stage: Kassir claims he, as the Crypt Keeper, originated the tagline, “it’s not TV, it’s HBO.”) The full panel is available to watch above.

Whether you hold nostalgic feelings for it or not, Tales from the Crypt is a seminal series deserving of attention. Alongside the Creepshow films, it epitomizes the “EC Comics” style visible in horror movies such as Late Night with the Devil or Trick ‘r Treat, merging gruesome plot twists and kitschy dark comedy into warped moral fables where villains receive their grim comeuppance.

Arriving a decade before Masters of Horror and well before the era of “prestige TV” blurred lines between film and television, Tales from the Crypt also drew major directing talent. Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future), Richard Donner (Superman), Tom Holland (Fright Night), and Walter Hill (The Warriors) all directed several episodes. Tobe Hooper, William Friedkin, Tom Hanks (!), Kyle MacLachlan (!!), and Arnold Schwarzenegger (!!!) each directed one. The guest star roster included everyone from Demi Moore and Brad Pitt to Dan Aykroyd and Meat Loaf.

The first season of Tales from the Crypt begins streaming on Shudder May 1, with subsequent seasons rolling out weekly. Every episode in season one is superb, but for an entry point, try “And All Through the House,” a genuinely unsettling and shockingly brutal Christmas horror tale about a mother protecting her child from an escaped mental patient believing he is Santa Claus.

In the words of the Crypt Keeper: It’ll open up a whole BOO world of SCREAMING terror tales! AHHHHhahahahahaHAHA!

Tales from the Crypt Season 1 is now streaming on Shudder.