Season 3 Episode 12
When a down-on-his-luck alcoholic reporter (Richard Jordan) swears to give up drinking in order to get his old job back, he soon meets a woman (Marg Helgenberger) and the two begin having a fling. Also starring Richard Herd and Jon Polito.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, August 14, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Deadline” premiered”Season 3 Episode 11
A beautiful but loose barmaid (Michelle Johnson) marries a rich lumberjack (Brion James) who offers her a comfortable lifestyle. When the marriage soon turns sour, especially in the bedroom due to her husband’s violent jealous streak, she brings him over the edge when she begins seducing another lumberjack (Billy Wirth) in order to relieve her boredom. Also starring Rita Wilson, Ally Walker, and Vincent Schiavelli.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, August 7, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Split Second” premiered”Season 3 Episode 10
A down-on-his-luck reporter (Steven Weber), who is currently investigating several bizarre homeless murders, soon discovers that the murders themselves may in fact be related to an organization called the Grateful Homeless Outcasts and Unwanted Layaway Society (G.H.O.U.L.S.), whose charitable façade hides a horrific secret. Also starring Rita Wilson, Ally Walker, and Vincent Schiavelli.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, July 31, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Mournin’ Mess” premiered”Season 3 Episode 9
A group of young local kids (Jason Marsden, Scott Fults, Aron Eisenberg, and Jonathan Ke Quan), aspiring to be horror filmmakers, break into the local mortuary in order to see a real dead body. However, they soon stumble upon a sinister conspiracy of murder and greed involving the town’s pharmacist (Graham Jarvis) and a local mortician (John Glover), in which the boys themselves plan to expose by taking the law into their own hands and film evidence of the mortician’s murderous dealings, all whilst the situation itself becomes quite very personal for one of the boys as he seeks to avenge his late father, who had died in the past from poisoned asthma medicine.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, July 24, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Undertaking Palor” premiered”Season 3 Episode 8
An artist (Tim Roth) who can’t seem to sell any of his work soon encounters a mysterious collector of morbid artwork (William Atherton), but he has to keep producing ghoulish artworks in order to satisfy his new customer, which soon leads him down a dark and dangerous path.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, July 17, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Easel Kill Ya” premiered”Season 3 Episode 7
A vampire (Malcolm McDowell) eschews the tradition of attacking mortals, satiating his need for blood by working as a night watchman at a blood bank, but the owner (George Wendt) soon realizes that his own business is being sucked dry and warns of bankruptcy. The vampire must return to his old ways in order to replete his “embezzlement”, so he tries to solve his quandary by attacking dangerous criminals, all whilst struggling with the romantic advances of a cute secretary (Sandra Dickinson).
Also starring Michael Berryman and Paul Gleason.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, July 10, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Reluctant Vampire” premiered”Season 3 Episode 6
A thug (James Remar) who’s working for a plantation owner (John Rhys-Davies) teams up with the owner’s mistress (Vanity) in order to steal a highly valuable black pearl. He later double-crosses the mistress only to be double-crossed himself by a mysterious priestess.
Also starring Whoopi Goldberg as the mysterious priestess who also appears as herself in the outro being interviewed by the Crypt Keeper.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, July 3, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Dead Wait” 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.
Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, June 26, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Top Billing” 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”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”.
Read more “Horror History: Saturday, June 15, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Trap” 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.
Read more “Horror History: Saturday, June 15, 1991: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Carrion 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”Season 2 Episode 18
A 12-year-old young orphan (Mike Simmrin) is adopted by a rich childless couple (William Frankfather and Grace Zabriskie) who harbor a dark secret. However, the couple themselves do not realize that the young orphan too has a dark secret of his own. Also stars Larry Drake, Georgann Johnson, Stella Hall, and Gary Schwartz as the voice of the werewolf.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, July 31, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Secret” premiered”Season 2 Episode 17
The relationship between Siamese twin brothers (Timothy Stack and Jonathan Stark) becomes strained when the good twin doesn’t want to be separated from the bad twin. When the later resorts to murder, the former finally changes his mind. Also starring Jessica Harper.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, July 24, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “My Brother’s Keeper” premiered”Season 2 Episode 16
A tabloid news show host (Morton Downey, Jr.) and his camera crew investigate an abandoned house which is allegedly haunted by the ghost of a woman who had killed seven men. The host and the crew get more than they bargained for when a chain of supernatural happenings indeed begin taunting and haunting them. All of this is aired on live TV.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, July 17, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Television Terror” premiered”Season 2 Episode 15
After witnessing a brutal murder, a woman (Patricia Clarkson) goes mute and is cared for by a psychiatrist (Richard Thomas) who had committed the murder himself and soon finds out that this woman had witnessed the murder (and wants the woman to be silenced forever).
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, July 10, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Mute Witness to Murder” premiered”Season 2 Episode 14
A two-faced circus sideshow freak (Jeff Yagher) falls in love with a 4000-year-old mummy which is said to be cursed.
Also starring Lewis Arquette, Stefan Gierasch, and Mark Rolston as his abusive captors.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, July 3, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Lower Berth” premiered”Season 2 Episode 13
An employee of the Tales from the Crypt comic (Harry Anderson) is put-upon by his shrewish wife (Colleen Camp) to take potent fertility pills. After a series of weird and bizarre monster attacks, an attractive policewoman (Cynthia Gibb) saved from a rapist (Richard Schiff) from a monster that emerged from a washing machine interrogates the cartoonist, believing that he is somehow making his stories come true. The cartoonist must figure out the cause of the threat while also struggling with his own personal feelings for the policewoman.
Tom Woodruff Jr. performs the utility monsters.
The Cryptkeeper makes a reference to Tales from the Crypt starting out as a magazine at the beginning of the episode.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, June 26, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Korman’s Kalamity” premiered”Season 2 Episode 12
A funeral home director (Moses Gunn) cuts corners when it comes to his own line of work. Following a tragic car crash, he is made the legal guardian of his teenage nephew (Jon Clair). The nephew is eventually made as an apprentice mortician in order to earn his room and board and soon comes to resent the mean-spirited behavior and stinginess of his uncle. For the uncle, it may come full circle when he quotes the Bible often.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, June 19, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Fitting Punishment” premiered”Season 2 Episode 11
An elderly witch (Frances Bay) posing as a cosmetic salesman visits the home of a young vain and eccentric couple (Brian Kerwin and Carol Kane) and convinces the wife to try on a magic necklace that switches the wife’s body with hers.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, June 12, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today” premiered”Season 2 Episode 10
A young ventriloquist (Bobcat Goldthwait) wants to improve his craft and seeks out help from his old hero (Don Rickles), but he soon finds out about his own hidden secret.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, June 5, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Ventriloquist’s Dummy” premiered”Season 2 Episode 9
A young farmhand (Patricia Arquette) suffers a head injury and soon believes in a delusional state that a scarecrow is her lover.
Also starring Chelcie Ross and Susan Blommaert as her abusive employers, one of whom also tries to have an affair with the pretty farmhand.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, May 29, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Four-Sided Triangle” premiered”Season 2 Episode 8
A greedy rock promoter (Lee Arenberg) plans to run off with all of the donation money that was raised and accumulated from within a series of “Save the Amazon Rainforest” charity benefit concerts, but things unexpectedly get complicated when it turns out that his hearing problems were nothing more than his own hidden conscience (voiced by Sam Kinison). To make matters worse, a greedy banker (Katey Sagal) soon blackmails the promoter. He has to get rid of her and then confesses his mistakes to a cop.
Also starring Iggy Pop as himself.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, May 22, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “For Cryin’ Out Loud” premiered”Season 2 Episode 7
An insurance agent (Kevin Kilner) kills his obnoxious client (Don Hood) in a plot to take his money and his wife (Kim Delaney). He soon finds out however that this will be quite very difficult for him when someone (Michael Ironside) shows up to blackmail him for the murder.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, May 15, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Sacrifice” premiered”Season 2 Episode 6
A supermodel (Teri Hatcher) and her photographer (Kyle Secor) fall in love. When the model’s abusive boyfriend (Miguel Ferrer) learns of their affair, he sets out to kill the two of them. However, he soon gets a nasty surprise as love proves to be quite very strong, even in death itself.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, May 8, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Thing From the Grave” premiered”Season 2 Episode 5
A down-on-their-luck couple (Gavan O’Herlihy and Ruth de Sosa) are invited to a cabin owned by their wealthy former best man (Paul Lieber), but the unstable husband is convinced that his wife is having an affair. He finds that he was wrong about many things, towards the end of the show.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, May 1, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Three’s a Crowd” premiered”Season 2 Episode 4
A land owner (D. W. Moffett) woos a haughty rich woman (Pamela Gien) with a potion from a voodoo priestess (Janet Hubert) that contains a deadly warning. Things go awry when he does not listen to the warnings.
Also starring Aubrey Morris.
Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, April 24, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “‘Til Death” premiered”Season 2 Episode 3
Two rival gamblers (Lance Henriksen and Kevin Tighe) face off in a series of gruesome games in order to see on who’ll leave town when all is said and done.
Also starring Roy Brocksmith.
Read more “Horror History: Saturday, April 21, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Cutting Cards” premiered”Season 2 Episode 2
A rich elderly bachelor (William Hickey) wants to impress a young woman (Kelly Preston) and meets up with a doctor who helps him switch his body with a younger man (Rick Rossovich). He realizes his mistake at the very end.
Also starring Ian Abercrombie, Mark Pellegrino and Roy Brocksmith. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who directed this episode, appears in the cold open with the Cryptkeeper introducing the story.
Read more “Horror History: Saturday, April 21, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “The Switch” premiered”Season 2 Episode 1
A gold-digging secretary (Demi Moore) follows the advice of a fortune teller (Natalia Nogulich) and marries a slob of a man (Jeffrey Tambor) after being told that he will die shortly after inheriting a large sum of money, but the fortune teller’s prediction comes true in a way that the gold-digger herself does not see coming.
Also starring Kate Hodge and Linda Cohn.
Read more “Horror History: Saturday, April 21, 1990: “Tales From The Crypt” episode “Dead Right” premiered”
