Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A lamentable attempt at resurrecting the flailing bandwagon of horror anthologies, this arrived on the tail end of such '80s "classics" as CREEPSHOW and CAT'S EYE. The first story is an incredibly clichéd tale about a mummy that kills people (like we haven't heard that before). The film is supposedly based on a tale by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but, having read the tale in question, I'm afraid that it's a long way away from the Victorian story. However although the story is rather clichéd there are a couple of enjoyable performances from Christian Slater, in his typical "nice but slightly deranged" role and Steve Buscemi as the spooky student. Also there are a couple of neat death sequences where a man has a coat hanger shoved up his nose and his brain pulled out, and another sequence where Julianne Moore (to make up for her atrocious acting in THE LOST WORLD) gets cut open and flowers stuffed inside her body! In the end though we've seen this kind of thing before so it doesn't hold too many chills.The second story is much the same. The plot is atrocious - a lame story about a cat killing people (anyone remember THE UNCANNY? I thought not). Although the plot is atrocious, the final ten minutes of the episode are quite entertaining with the hit man battling the cat. The various weapons he uses - knife, lethal injection, and finally pistol all fail to kill the cat which appears to have teleportation skills! Unfortunately the PREDATOR rip-off "cat vision" is rather less impressive. However this battle finally climaxes in an excellent sequence where a cat climbs into the hit man's open mouth and into his stomach! This effect is truly 'stomach churning', blood everywhere, an excellent spectacle which pretty much makes the episode. However apart from this there isn't much to hold your attention apart from a few supposedly atmospheric 'man running about in darkened rooms' scenes.The third story is quite old-fashioned in the way that all of the loose ends are tied up and it all comes across as rather fitting. The acting is adequate but the episode benefits from some good special effects in the form of the demon, especially when Rae Dawn Chong herself turns into it at the end. This episode is the best as it aims for something more than the tepid chills of the previous efforts - it's a tragic love story. That said, it's still strictly pedestrian in its structure.The wraparound story too is very average about the witch and the boy. Really there is nothing to get excited about with this film and I was left pretty disappointed. It's good enough on a merely "moving wallpaper" scale, in that it holds your attention, but afterwards there is nothing to consider, it says nothing, it just tries to be clever and isn't. On reflection all of the stories are filmed in the dark which gets quite annoying. There is nothing which lifts this film above average, which is a shame. Consider this a missed opportunity.

The alternative (competitor?) to the Twilight Zone movie but not quite in the same league in my opinion. The film consists of three stories within a wrap around story told by a boy who is going to eaten by a witch of all things.First tale see's a man use a 3000 year old mummy to kill a few select people (an adaptation of a Arthur Conan Doyle short). Not a bad story and handled reasonably well with good makeup on the mummy and some bloody deaths dealt out. Big cast names in this story with Buscemi and Christian Slater and a nice ending make this tale the second best of the three.Second tale is an adaptation of a Stephen King story and the weakest of the three, an old man is sure he is cursed by a cat which is trying to kill him after it supposedly killed his sister. The reason behind this being the old mans pharmaceutical company killed many thousands of cats in testing a new drug. Pretty lame story really which isn't particularly spooky in the slightest. The cat is obviously some sort of demon which is cool and this is shown in the way it kills the hit- man who has been hired to get rid of the cat, I just think it could of been more scary or eerie basically.Third and final tale stars James Remar and is about a guy who witnesses the death of a man by a gargoyle type creature. The creature lets the witness live if he promises not to tell anyone of what he saw. Easily the best story even though its not explained too well and leaves you asking various questions by the end. Some great makeup and effects in the finale as we see a transformation similar to finale in 'The Fly' with Jeff Goldblum, really nicely done without the use of CGI, no surprise with Dick Smith being involved.Overall not as good as 'Twilight Zone: the Movie' and a bit more adult with its content, more blood 'n' gore on show and some creepy monsters lend itself to some light scares. Still two of the stories are solid and quite sinister which I'm sure fans will enjoy if you like these type of horror anthologies. The overall quality just doesn't quite match the Twilight Zone standard that raised the bar originally.6/10

.... one of the best , I have seen in recent weeks, I loved it! The movie start with A witch who ready to Cook boy but want to read some scary stories from the book called Tales from the DarksideFrist story Lot 249Is about student, Bellingham who whats Revenge after being framed from two people in Class and at he finds A mummy which he bring to life to kill them The mummy didn't look too bad at all, I did not expect the Kills to be a bloodily as they were. some really decent Kills scenes in this parts. This segment flowed really well and The twist, I did not see coming at all, loved that twist of the story, also found it really funny.8 out of 10 first story! The second Story Cat from Hell Which I think was the best out of 3 Old man in wheel chair hires a Hit-man to Kill a Evil Cat. The cats scenes were really well done, They did make the Black Cat look evil with the hissing sound and the attacks were not to bad at all, yeah, they may look a little bit dated now. Some of effect this story were great, I love the cat come out body, gross, I am sure that be stuck in head for few days after this movie. 10/10 Lover's Vow Weakest one This started of really well, the creature was very strange but it didn't look scary at all but Kill scenes were really well gory and bloody again, which i really liked Then the story got a little predictable and new twist, 10 years before it happened, I could hide it a bit more. I liked how the twist came out, very nasty gory scenes, really well made .7 out 10 The ending of the movie, I find that ending very cheesy, it kind of felt out of place a little This as got to be my favourite anthology so far I give this one 9 out of 10 , one of the best , I have seen in recent weeks, I loved it!

Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi, David Johansen, William Hickey, James Remar, Rae Dawn Chong and Matthew Lawrence star in this 1990 horror anthology film based on the TV series. This begins with a witch (Harry) preparing dinner to be made of her boy prisoner (Lawrence). He stalls her by reading 3 chilling tales from her favorite book, "Tales from the Darkside." "Lot 249" features a college student (Slater) discovering an ancient mummy being resurrected by an antique dealer (Buscemi) exacting revenge on his sister (Moore) and best friend. "Cat From Hell" features a wealthy old man (Hickey) hiring a hit-man (Johansen) to kill an evil cat, but it's no easy task. "Lovers Vow" features a struggling artist (Remar) who makes a promise to a gargoyle, but can't keep it to the woman (Chong) he loves. This is a good anthology flick with a decent cast, eerie score and gruesome effects.