Tales From The Crypt / Vault Of Horror (Blu-ray Review)
Rated: PG/Region A/1:78/1080p/Number of Discs 2
Available from Scream Factory
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Directed By: Freddie Francis
Starring: Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ralph Richardson
When five unwary travelers with dark hearts stumble into a series of catacombs, they find themselves in a cavern with no way out. But the horror’s only just begun as a mysterious figure appears to reveal to each person the shocking events that will lead to their well-deserved, untimely (and unavoidable) demise. Starring Joan Collins (Empire Of The Ants), Peter Cushing (Horror Of Dracula), Patrick Magee (A Clockwork Orange) and Sir Ralph Richardson (Rollerball), and directed by Freddie Francis (The Creeping Flesh), Tales From The Crypt is the original, gets-right-under-your-skin creepfest!
While both these movies are inspired by the E.C. Comics of the same name, this one just to happens to contain segments that would be remade for the extremely popular Tales from the Crypt HBO Series that would come later. Still, this is a true to the comic (for stories that were in the comic) dark and pretty creepy little horror anthology here. The movie is driven on atmosphere and with its collection of great actors like the great Peter Cushing. Each story never stays too long to wear out its welcome and there is some nice makeup work and effects for a film of this time. Don’t let the age of the movie fool you, there are things here that will make your skin crawl. You also can’t look over the original version of All Through the House. This would be one of the most popular episodes in the Tales from the Crypt series and its cool to see it in its original live action form here.
Our Crypt Keeper is also eerie and haunting in both tone and performance. Ralph Richardson plays it straight and plays it in a human form, unlike what we’d see with the series later. If the closing moments when he looks to the screen to viewer doesn’t get you just a little bit, then I’m not sure what will. While I can do nothing but praise this film for being as strong as it is for 1972, the look of this Blu-ray is just outstanding. The film doesn’t have bright and popping colors, but the detail are all here and everything looks crisp and clean. This is an HD transfer worth bragging about for Scream Factory.
- None
The Vault of Horror (1973)
Directed By: Roy Ward Baker
Starring: Terry-Thomas, Tom Baker, Daniel Massey
Available uncut for the first time on home video! Five unsuspecting hotel guests step into an elevator, which leads them into an underground vault. Trapped with no way out, each guest shares a gruesome tale of an encounter with death. But as the stories unfold, the men begin to suspect that their presence in the vault is no coincidence, and that the only way out…is death. Starring Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Denholm Elliott (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), Curt Jurgens (The Mephisto Waltz) and Michael Craig (Mysterious Island), this ferociously entertaining film is a worthy sequel to Tales From The Crypt!
The movie once titles Tales from the Crypt 2 is a nice sequel in the sense of being a solid follow up to the other film. I wish we still had a Crypt keeper, but what we have doesn’t at all suck and is right in line with other Anthology films of the time. This time around we also have more blood than we’d have probably expected to get. That is a nice bonus to the film and it also has some of the same strong makeup work as the other movie. I don’t think I’d call the segments as strong overall as Tales from the Crypt, but I won’t complain because if nothing else it does manage to maintain some of the same mood that made the other film so enjoyable. As a result, this one is fun and creepy just not as much as before. Still, it holds up better than you might think and tops a lot of what we’d see at the time.
The Vault of Horror gets the respect it deserves in this release. We have a film that gets two cuts and due to the content found while producing the disc gets a whole extra disc dedicated to just it alone with the alternate cut. That even adds more fun to the overall Vault of Horror experience. We have the same great acting as before and with the added blood makes this one another must see for fans of horror anthology films. The transfer here is another great affair. I don’t think it is as great as the Tales from the Crypt transfer, but I’d say it still gets all the praise I gave that one, just a notch below. The same could be said about the movie in general. Together, this is a must have release for all horror fans this year.
- Alternative Title Opening
- Contains Bonus disc with 1:85 Theatrical Cut and 1:33 Open Matte Uncut Version
