Interesting facts about the series “Tales from the Crypt” (16 photos)

Footage from the filming and some interesting facts about the creation of the cult horror series "Tales from the Crypt".







1. The series "Tales from the Crypt" is based on the comics of the same name, but the creepy crypt keeper himself appeared a little earlier.



The Crypt Keeper first appeared on the pages of the Crime patrol publication at the end of 1949, and the following year, as part of the War Crime comics, a certain collection of scary comics called “The Crypt of Terror” and “The Vault of Horror” was published, where our favorite guardian also featured.

Subsequently, the series "The crypt of terror" changed its name to "Tales from the crypt", that is, "Tales from the Crypt". But the numbering has not changed. that is why the Tales from the Crypt comic book series begins not with the first, but immediately with the 20th issue.



Creator of the Crypt Keeper doll - Kevin Yagner

2. Even before the series was released, two full-length Tales from the Crypt films were released in 1972 and 1973, each of which included five creepy stories. True, the film itself did not achieve fame, unlike the series, which became incredibly cult.

Although, it is worth noting that even in his youth, Robert Zemeckis simply adored these paintings. Perhaps this played a role in why he wanted to create this series.



3. One of the authors of the idea (there were five of them) of transferring comic books to the series format belongs to the famous director and producer Robert Zemeckis, who at that time was already known as the director of such cult films as “Back to the Future”, “Romancing the Stone” and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" By the way, he became the producer of the series and even directed an episode called “The Old House Sleeps Peacefully...” about a killer dressed as Santa Claus.



4. The Tales from the Crypt series featured a huge number of famous stars, such as Demi Moore, Joe Pesci, Patricia Arquette, Mark Dacascos, Tim Curry, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, Tim Roth, Kirk Douglas and others.



Demi Moore in the episode "Deadly Correct Prediction"

In addition, many celebrities have also been in the director's chair. For example, some episodes were directed by Tom Hanks, Frank Darabont, Michael J. Fox and even Arnold Schwarzenegger (the episode “The Replacement” about an old man who paid a lot of money to regain his youth).



5. In addition to the series, two full-length films called “Demon of the Night” and “Bloody Brothel” were released in the mid-90s. And if the film “Demon of the Night” with Billy Zane and William Sadler in the lead roles went very well with the audience and was even nominated for the Saturn Award as best horror film, then “Bloody Brothel” showed rather poor results.



Still from the filming of the film "Tales from the Crypt. Demon of the Night"

True, it is not clear why the film is called "Demon of the Night", because in the original it is called "Demon knight", which translates as "Demonic Knight" or "Demon Knight". However, when this film was shown on TV, our localizers translated it as “Devil Knight,” which, although not entirely true, is still closer to the original.



6. By the way, the cult film by Robert Rodriguez “From Dusk Till Dawn” could have become part of the “Tales from the Crypt” series, but the authors of “Tales” abandoned this film in favor of another film about vampires, namely “Bloody Brothel”. The fact is that they did not see eye to eye with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. As it turned out, they were wrong, because the film “From Dusk Till Dawn” became a real hit.

7. The same house that we see in the screensaver was not built to its full size. This is essentially a small set that was filmed using miniature cameras.



8. Initially, it was planned to film only three seasons of the series, but the show was so popular that it stretched over 7 seasons, which included a total of 93 episodes.



9. 6 puppeteers were responsible for the movements of the crypt keeper. Some of them were responsible for the movements of the entire body, legs and arms, while the other part was responsible only for the face and facial expressions.

Moreover, in the first seasons the keeper spoke rather slowly, while in subsequent seasons the speed of his speech was noticeably increased. And all because at the beginning of filming the first season, it was difficult for the puppeteers to make the guardian’s mouth open quickly. Over time, the series budget became larger, which allowed the doll to be improved, making its mouth much easier and better to control.



10. If the film "From Dusk Till Dawn" was not included in "Tales from the Crypt", then the film "The Scarecrows" by Peter Jackson, on the contrary, wanted to be included in the series. But the executive producer of The Scarecrows, Robert Zemeckis, who also produced Tales from the Crypt, flatly abandoned this idea, believing that the Scarecrows movie was too good to be part of a franchise, and it should certainly be an independent project.

11. The Crypt Keeper appeared in one scene in the film "Casper" (1995). This happens about 30 minutes into the film when Dr. Harvey looks in the mirror and sees in the reflection Clint Eastwood, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Gibson, and then our crypt keeper.



12. The Crypt Keeper was voiced by actor John Kassir. According to him, at the end of each shooting day he had to drink a glass of lemon juice with honey, since after dubbing his voice became unusable.



John Kassir - voice of the Crypt Keeper

13. Originally, the crypt keeper was supposed to have a nose. During the creation of the doll, many variants of noses were tried, but they all looked unnatural and not scary. Then Robert Zemeckis suggested removing the nose altogether, which was done.



14. In 1993, a departmental animated series called “Tales of the Crypt Keeper” was released. The Crypt Keeper himself was also voiced by John Kassir.

15. William Sadler and Billy Zane played not only in episodes of the series "Tales from the Crypt", but also in the full-length film "Tales from the Crypt: Demon of the Night", which many of us know under the name "Devil Knight".



16. In 2016, a reboot of the series “Tales from the Crypt” was announced, which was to be directed by M. Night Shyamalan, known for such films as “The Sixth Sense”, “Signs”, “Split”, etc. But in 2017 It was announced that filming would be canceled due to some legal reasons.