This is How Movies Should Be Made

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is one of the scariest movie of all time. The show is scarier. But this is very scary. Scariest then silence of the lambs ever could be. The Exorcist is better. But still this a great movie. A Nightmare on elm street (1984) is better. still this a very good movie. A lot better then Hannibal or Hannibal rising. This is better then Saw. This has great story lines. It also has great acing. It also has great special effects. It is very scary. It is one of the scariest movie you will ever see. It is better the Saw II. It also better then Saw III. If this movie does not scary you then no movie will. It is very scary. If you like good horror stories. Then you need to see this movie.

Funny how these horror anthology films all manage to include a black cat somewhere in the proceedings. I'm thinking of Vincent Price's "Tales of Terror" from 1962, and 1985's "Cat's Eye" based on a trio of Stephen King short stories. Actually, King wrote the middle story here, "Cat From Hell" with a screenplay treatment from George Romero, a couple of horror masters. No need to get into the individual stories, a fair amount of reviewers on this board have already done that. The final one of the trilogy, 'Lover's Vow' probably had the coolest twist, although if you've watched enough horror flicks you might have seen it coming. The opener is notable for featuring a handful of actors before they became well known like Christian Slater, Julianne Moore and a rather geeky and very young Steve Buscemi. The finale of the second story was rather gross in it's execution, with the titled cat from hell going to extreme lengths to pay back hit-man Halston (David Johansen) for his attempts to take him out. To say that the cat got his tongue would be bordering on the cliché, but no more so than little Timmy (Matthew Lawrence) getting the drop on Debbie Harry at the close of the wraparound story. Don't you just love happy endings?

This film is not to bad - it's pretty good entertainment for fans of horror. It will liven up any 'dead' evening with a few laughs and thrills."Lot 249" is a fun Mummy story - pretty creepy but quite fun to watch. "Cat from Hell" is really good. I love cats and have three of my own but I don't think I want a cat like this one. "Lover's Vow" - Gargoyles. I love Gargoyles - and you don't see them as living horror creatures in films very often so this story gives the film a bonus point for me.If you like short story horror films (anthologies) like "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" then you might enjoy similar type of film anthologies such as "Creepshow", "Twilight Zone: The Movie", "Cat's Eye" or even "Gallery of Horror".7/10

Tom Savini once famously stated that he considered Tales from the Darkside: The Movie to be the official second sequel to the Creepshow franchise. This view reflects that of the majority of fans, even to this day. The reception of the first Creepshow film categorised it as being a box office success which resulted in Laurel Entertainment, the production company behind the first two Creepshow films, toying with the concept of creating a Creepshow horror anthology television series. Following a period of negotiations and changes due to complications with the holder of the rights, a decision was agreed to change the series title from Creepshow to Tales from the Darkside. The series was well received by its audience and three years following the commercial release of Creepshow 2, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie was released in 1990, sharing many of Creepshow's production team, making it the successor of Creepshow and its first sequel.The film in question follows three individual stories; Lot 249, Cat from Hell, and Lover's Vow. These three segments are all orientated around a wraparound story which focuses on a little boy being held captive by a middle aged woman who intends on roasting and serving him at a dinner party. In order to prolong the wait for him being put in the oven, young Timmy reads short horror stories to Betty, the woman who has imprisoned him. This is where the individual stories are incorporated into the film.The first segment, Lot 249, focuses on an ancient mummy being resurrected from the dead and participating in a killing spree. Initially, this story is rather slow but once the resurrection takes place, some considerably grisly killings occur that you can't help but cringe at. This is followed by an interesting series of events which ultimately leads to a rather bleak ending, in a typical horror anthology fashion. Lot 249 has a strong cast in the form of Christian Slater, Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi in which the slow opening can be forgiven through their performances. The atmosphere present throughout this piece is significantly unnerving which makes the conclusion come across as being even more chilling.The second segment, Cat from Hell, focuses on the assassination of an evil cat with a mysteriously murderous past. This story was written by Stephen King and adapted for screen by George A Romero, the two minds behind the original concept for Creepshow. This story was initially going to be featured in Creepshow 2 but due to issues with financing and the budget of the film, it was scrapped. Although this piece has a slow, nonlinear structure, an interesting eerie atmosphere is featured throughout and has a similar feel to film noir, only a killer cat is featured as opposed to a femme fatale with a pistol. In comparison to the cast of Lot 249, Cat from Hell mainly focuses on the characters portrayed by David Johansen and William Hickey. Halston, played by Johansen, has an irritating factor to his character which makes him somewhat unlikeable and therefore, partially ruins this segment. Like with Halston, William Hickey's character, Drogan, also has an irritating factor to his character which also makes him somewhat unlikeable. Combining these two characters together into one episode results in the whole piece not being as strong as potential would allow. However, the reoccurring bleak endings throughout the film make this particular story worth watching.The third and final segment, Lover's Vow, is by far the most powerful story featured in the film. The storyline focuses on a man falling in love with a woman who isn't what she seems. The beginning and the end of the segment presents itself as being of the horror genre but throughout the middle of this piece, it's a romantic drama. The codes and conventions of the romance genre make this piece somewhat addictive to watch as you feel compelled to follow the relationship of the characters of Preston and Carola. However, this makes the conclusion of the segment all the more heart-breaking. Whilst Tales from the Darkside: The Movie doesn't always take itself seriously, Lover's Vow is definitely the darkest piece as explores the deepest of human emotion. Not only this, but the ending is genuinely creepy and is enough to send shivers down your spine.Overall, I feel that Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a highly underrated horror film that's due more credit than it receives. Although it isn't as mainstream as the original Creepshow films, it could be argued that Tales from the Darkside is a stronger film in terms of narrative and acting in comparison to the second Creepshow film.