Horror History: Thursday, June 27, 1991: The Pit and the Pendulum was released in theaters

In the quest to save souls, the Spanish Inquisition will stop at nothing and knows no boundaries for evil. Under the direction of Torquemada (LANCE HENRIKSEN – “Alien,” “Pumpkinhead,” “Millennium”) the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, Maria, a young baker’s wife, is falsely accused of witchcraft and dragged before the Inquisition and the Cardinal (OLIVER REED – “Gladiator,” “Three Musketeers”). Torquemada is enchanted by Maria’s beauty and subjects her husband Antonio to heinous tortures hoping to prove that his own desires for her are a result of her magic, that she has “bewitched him.” With the help of Esmeralda, Maria’s cellmate and confessed witch, Maria must find the power to save Antonio from Torquemada’s ultimate machine of torture: the inevitable, razor sharp PENDULUM poised over the inescapable PIT of hell.

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Horror History: Wednesday, June 26, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Top Billing” premiered

Season 3 Episode 5

A struggling actor (Jon Lovitz) kills off his competition (Bruce Boxleitner) in order to secure a part in a strange production of Hamlet, only to discover that the actors are escaped mental patients (and criminals) and that instead he’s to play the part of the long-deceased Yorick — for real.

Also starring John Astin, Paul Benedict, Kimmy Robertson, Louise Fletcher, and Sandra Bernhard.

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Horror History: Wednesday, June 19, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Abra Cadaver” premiered

Season 3 Episode 4

A doctor (Tony Goldwyn) who plays too many pranks soon finds out that revenge can be a harrowing event when his brother (Beau Bridges) (also a doctor) makes him the guinea pig of a new serum that mimics death.

Note: Based on the story “Dead Right!” renamed for television

Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, June 19, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Abra Cadaver” premiered”

Horror History: Saturday, June 15, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Trap” premiered

Season 3 Episode 3

A scheming jerk (Bruce McGill) who cannot hold down a job and is verbally and physically abusive to his wife (Teri Garr) hatches a plan to fake his own death and collect his life insurance money, unaware that both his long-suffering wife and brother (Bruno Kirby) are planning to double-cross him.

Michael J. Fox, who directed this episode, plays the prosecutor, and James Tolkan plays a policeman investigating the “murder scene”.

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Horror History: Saturday, June 15, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Carrion Death” premiered

Season 3 Episode 2

An escaped con (Kyle MacLachlan) who is running for the Mexican border ends up killing a state trooper (George Del Hoyo), but in the process is cuffed to him (after he has swallowed the key) and has to drag the heavy corpse across the desert to freedom whilst being stalked by a hungry vulture.

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Horror History: Saturday, June 15, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Loved to Death” premiered

Season 3 Episode 1

A writer (Andrew McCarthy) has a neighbor (Mariel Hemingway) who is his own object of personal desire. He is aided by his landlord (David Hemmings) who gives him a love potion. He finally gains over the woman’s affections, only to regret his choice after the woman’s obsessive love and their torrid affair becomes too much for him to take and handle.

Also starring Kathleen Freeman as the next door neighbor.

Read more “Horror History: Saturday, June 15, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Loved to Death” premiered”

Horror History: Monday, May 20, 1991: Omen IV: The Awakening debuted on television

The antichrist returns, this time as a little girl in this telefilm sequel, when a prominent couple unknowingly adopts the daughter of Damien from the original Omen.

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Horror History: Tuesday, May 7, 1991: Sometimes They Come Back premiered on TV

Jim Norman moves back to his hometown with his wife Sally and son after accepting a teaching job at the local high school. The town holds dark memories for Jim who moved away years earlier following the murder of his brother. The young men responsible for the murder met with their own horrific deaths and now those restless spirits have come back for revenge. Based on a Stephen King short story.

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Horror History: Friday, February 22, 1991: Bride of Re-Animator was released in US theaters

Doctors Herbert West and Dan Cain discover the secret to creating human life and proceed to create a perfect woman from dead tissue.

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Horror History: Friday, February 22, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” final episode “New Blood” premiered

Season 6 Episode 20

An actress proves that she is willing to do anything for a shot at the big time.

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Horror History: Friday, February 15, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Secrets” premiered

Season 6 Episode 19

A cuckolded husband is the victim of a murder-for-insurance-money scheme at the hands of his wife and her lover.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, February 15, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Secrets” premiered”

Horror History: Thursday, February 14, 1991: The Silence of the Lambs was released in theaters

Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins deliver sensational, Oscar-winning performances in this “shockingly powerful thriller” (New York). “Stunning” (Los Angeles Times) and “spellbinding” (The Hollywood Reporter), this terrifying masterpiece garnered five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. A psychopath nicknamed Buffalo Bill is murdering women across the Midwest. Believing it takes one to know one, the FBI sends Agent Clarice Starling (Foster) to interview a demented prisoner who may provide clues to the killer’s actions.

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Horror History: Friday, February 8, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Offspring” premiered

Season 6 Episode 18

A meek and mild-mannered young man allows his mother to dictate life to him and embarrass him, until he finally snaps.

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Horror History: Thursday, February 7, 1991: Puppet Master II was released direct-to-video

You can’t keep a good man down or a Puppet Master buried as Tunneler, Leech Woman, Pinhead and the rest of the puppets return to exhume their beloved creator in Puppet Master II, the sequel to the hit horrorfest, Puppet Master. This time, the little devils are after the special fluid that keeps them alive, which is only found in…You guessed it…human brains.

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Horror History: Friday, February 1, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “A Whole New You” premiered

Season 6 Episode 17

A man in Witness Protection becomes more and more paranoid that he’ll be found, and goes to a plastic surgeon to change his face.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, February 1, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “A Whole New You” premiered”

Horror History: Friday, January 25, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Made In Paris” premiered

Season 6 Episode 16

A boss who does nothing for his employees soon finds himself the victim of their black magic.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, January 25, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Made In Paris” premiered”

Horror History: Friday, January 18, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Living a Lie” premiered

Season 6 Episode 15

When a bartender takes a stolen shopping card on a shopping spree he realises that sometimes the best life to live … is one’s own.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, January 18, 1991: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Living a Lie” premiered”

Horror History: Friday, December 14, 1990: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Tourist Trap” premiered

Season 6 Episode 13

A Parisien con artist meets his match and learns that there is no such thing as the perfect con.

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Horror History: Friday, November 30, 1990: Misery was released in theaters

Based on the novel by Stephen King. Successful romantic novelist, Paul Sheldon, who just had his life saved by his No.1 fan…now lives to regret it. When Ann Wilkes discovers that her favorite character, Misery Chastain, has been killed off in his latest novel she’ll do anything to make sure he brings her back to life. Now Paul Sheldon must write as if his life depended on it…because it does.

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Horror History: Friday, November 30, 1990: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Working Girl” premiered

Season 6 Episode 11

After a housewife shoots her philandering husband, she goes after the other woman.

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Horror History: Friday, November 23, 1990: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Windows” premiered

Season 6 Episode 10

After spending all of his time with his paintings, an artist begins to believe that his art and life are melding together.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, November 23, 1990: “The Hitchhiker” episode “Windows” premiered”

Horror History: Wednesday, November 21, 1990: Predator 2 was released in theaters

A police chief discovers that an invisible creature — an extraterrestrial big game hunter known as the Predator — is killing off criminals and cops and has targed him as its next victim.

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Horror History: Sunday, November 18, 1990: Stephen King’s It debuted on television

A fanged monster that won’t stay on the movie screen. Something ominous lurking in the basement. No matter what your biggest fear is, no one knows It better than Stephen King.

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