I can still recall as a kid in the 80’s older kids in my neighborhood talking about the show Tales from the Darkside as if it was scariest thing ever. Considering that we only had one small video store in the neighborhood with a limited and inaccessible horror selection to us (run by my soccer coach) it probably very well was. At that time I remember seeing bits of the show on my grandparents TV, but never more than a second as my Mother and Grandparents were never into scares, and were definitely not into scary stuff FOR ME.

When I did finally see Darkside it was years later when the show would re-run on the Sci-Fi channel in the late 90’s, and just the legend and build up around it made me love it more. Now, of course, I can see the seams around it, and some episodes work wonders for me, while others less so, but the show is no less magic. When I was around 12 years old, however, I remember wandering the racks at my local Video Library, and discovered a tape of Tales from the Darkside – the Movie. I had no idea the show had spawned a film, but immediately I grabbed it and took it home. There are certain films, I can remember my initial youthful appraisal of, this is not one of them.

Oddly, I remembered Clive Barker’s “The Yattering and Jack” being part of this film rather than being an episode of the series proper. But the same video store also had episodes of the series which I must have also rented at one time or another. Now, we have Scream Factory releasing Tales from the Darkside the Movie on Blu-ray giving me my first opportunity to revisit the film in nearly 2.5 decades. Needless to say I am shocked watching it now that I haven’t gone back to it much sooner.

Tales from the Darkside is basically an extension of Creepshow bringing Stephen King, George Romero, and producer Richard Rubenstein together in an anthology format. In many ways the Darkside movie could be considered an unofficial Creepshow 3 from a certain perspective, and like Creepshow 1 and 2 it features a wraparound story. This one featuring Debbie Harry as Betty an upper crust housewife who is preparing a special feast, that feast being young man played by Matthew Lawrence who is trapped in a dungeon adjacent to her kitchen, who is keeping Betty distracted by telling her stories from her favorite Darkside anthology book. These stories compromise the tales of the film.

The first story is Lot 249 an adaptation of a Conan-Doyle story with all star cast of Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater that involves a vengeance seeking college student who lost out on a grant, who resurrects a mummy to get that revenge. The second segment is “The Cat from Hell” and involves a black cat out to get revenge on a pharmaceutical executive and super rich fella who made his fortune on the back of feline testing his drugs. The story co-stars William Hickey, and David Johansen of the New York Dolls. The segement reminded me a lot of the Peter Weller starring feature film Of Unknown Origin, and that is not a bad thing. The third segment is called Lover’s Vow and involves an artist viewing a friend’s death by gargoyle. He is told he can live just as long as he does not tell what happened that night. He does create art of it, and soon after he meets a wonderful woman, and becomes a huge success in the art-world. However, after a decade that night still haunts him.

Tales from the Darkside -The Movie is a wonderful anthology horror experience. The stories are fun, they each have a sting to them, and the effects are truly marvelous. As an aside one of the child gargoyles in the film can be seen at the Museum of the Weird in Austin, TX.

Scream Factory presents Tales from the Darkside in a spectacular 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer that looks clean, well-detailed and without issue. Audio is presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and sounds clear and well balanced. Extras include a commentary with director John Harrison and George A. Romero, there are also interviews with the director producer, and much more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Director – John Harrison
Cast – Debbie Harry, Christian Slater
Country of Origin – U.S.
Reviewer – Scott MacDonald