Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

Summary

“…and that sealed our destiny.”

Shout! Factory has recently released the anthology film Tales from the Darkside: The Movie on Blu-ray. Released into theaters in 1990, the film featured an excellent cast with writing based on stories by Stephen King and Arthur Conan Doyle and screenplay credits featuring George Romero and Michael McDowell. Michael McDowell had written twelve episodes of the television show and was a perfect choice to write the majority of the film. The director of the film John Harrison was also a good choice because he had capably directed six episodes of the show. He had also composed music for the excellent Romero/King collaboration Creepshow and lent his musical talents to the compositions in the segment Lover’s Vow. This film owes a lot to the film Creepshow in terms of the overall feel and quality of the anthology and the influence of Romero and King. While it may not eclipse Creepshow, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is definitely one of the better anthology films from the era and is very worthy of receiving the deluxe treatment by Shout! Factory.

The wraparound story that interweaves the three segments in the film stars Deborah Harry as a modern day witch living in suburbia who has captured a paperboy (Matthew Lawrence) that she plans to cook for herself and some company. The paperboy begins to read her stories from the book Tales from the Darkside in hopes of extending his life.

The first story is Lot 249. Based on a story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a graduate student named Edward Bellingham (Steve Buscemi) has been wronged by two classmates, Susan (Julianne Moore) and her boyfriend Lee (Robert Sedgwick.) They framed him for the theft of an object from the school, killing his chances of winning a prestigious scholarship. In response, he orders a large package to be delivered to his dorm. His upstairs neighbor Andy (Christian Slater) helps to carry the package into Bellingham’s room. Inside the box, lot 249, is a mummy that Bellingham soon resurrects for purposes of revenge.

The second story is Cat From Hell featuring a screenplay by George Romero based on a short story from Stephen King. The premise involves a rich pharmaceutical magnate named Drogan (William Hickey) that is wheelchair bound. He hires a hitman named Halston (David Johansen) to kill a murderous black cat that seems to be seeking revenge for Drogan’s sins.

The third story is Lover’s Vow. In New York City, struggling artist Preston (James Remar) goes to a bar to meet with his agent (Robert Klein.) He receives some terrible news. All of his art will be removed from a nearby gallery for lack of interest. Despondent over this news, he drinks heavily at the bar. Leaving the bar with the bar owner, they encounter a monster that resembles a gargoyle. The bar owner is killed, but the monster for reasons unknown spares Preston. The request the monster makes is simple – never under any circumstances can he ever tell anyone what he has seen. Preston agrees and runs from the monster with a scratch across his chest. He bumps into a beautiful woman named Carola (Rae Dawn Chong) and grabs her in an attempt to keep her from the alley where the monstrous attack has occurred. They soon find themselves in a relationship and his fortunes reversing for the better.

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie has always been linked to the excellent anthology film Creepshow for good reason. While this film was never intended to be a sequel to Creepshow 2, it did feature the segment Cat from Hell which was originally written for inclusion in Creepshow. The film has a similar feel to that anthology, but it is really its own well-crafted anthology thanks to the efforts of director John Harrison and writer Michael McDowell. The film is much less uneven than most anthologies. The first and third segment stood out as the best to me, but the middle segment still provided a solid entertaining premise. The film benefits from a tremendous cast of excellent character actors with great turns by basically everyone involved. The strongest segment of the film is Lover’s Vow, which features a really well written and well acted relationship between James Remar and Rae Dawn Chong. That segment is as good a segment as I have seen in any anthology film and cemented the reputation of the film. Anthology films for the most part get less love than other types of films, but when done correctly deservedly amass large fan bases. Fans of anthology films should definitely not skip Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, which I consider to be one of the better anthology films to have been released.

Video

Shout!Factory have provided a good looking transfer of the film using an MPEG-4 AVC codec in 1080p with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. From what I have read, the scan itself is not from a new source, but I found the film’s visual presentation pleasing throughout the entirety of its runtime. The film is varied in its approach to its visual stylings and the cinematography by Robert Draper shines on the Blu-ray. Overall fine detail is solid and the print seemed to be in good shape. 

Audio

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie features a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track that works well. The film uses surrounds fairly effectively, but in a mostly restrained way. The film opted to use different composers for each story so the overall feeling of the picture varies in terms of tone. I did not notice anything with the track that would detract from the experience.

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary #1 – this new commentary features co-producer David R. Kappes.
• Audio Commentary #2 – director John Harrison and co-writer George A. Romero have a pleasant conversation about the making of the film.
• There are six new featurettes by the acclaimed Red Shirt productions which focus on every single aspect of the film and feature excellent interviews with John Harrison, cinematographer Robert Draper, actors James Remar and Rae Dawn Chong, creature effects specialists Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, and many more. Due to the great work that Michael Felsher and his team has always done regarding George Romero’s legacy, these features are a great treat. Fans of the film are going to love watching the nearly two hours worth of content.
  • “Tales Behind the Darkside: From Small Screens to Big Screams”
  • “Rising Stars and the Walking Dead”
  • “That Damn Cat!”
  • “A Vow to Keep”
  • “The Order of Things”
  • “The Test of Time” 
• Behind the Scenes – some home video footage from on-set
• Image Gallery 
• KNB Gallery
• Radio Spots 
• T.V. Spots
• Theatrical Trailer 

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is an excellent anthology film that ends on a great note thanks to the final segment Lover’s Vow, which is as strong a final piece as one can ask for in an anthology. The direction by John Harrison fits the film perfectly and should please any and all fans of the original television series. The film also hosts an impressive cast of character actors. The Shout!Factory release of the film features a good looking transfer of the film and solid audio. The supplemental features are really impressive thanks to the excellent work done by Michael Felsher and Red Shirt Productions. The decision to use this group makes great sense because of Felsher’s friendship with George Romero and his work as director for the film Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow. The supplemental features seal the deal and make this a really attractive release.