Season 2 Episode 6
A musician in a creative slump buys a revolutionary machine that reads the thoughts of a person and transforms it into music. However, the piano comes with a very high price, one which the musician may not be willing to pay. Story by Carl Richard Jacobi, adapted by John Harrison. Guest-starring Michael Warren and Lisa Bonet.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, November 3, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The Satanic Piano” premiered”Season 2 Episode 5
A misanthropic old man torments trick-or-treating children and is visited by a terrifying goblin demanding candy. Written by Michael McDowell, directed by Tom Savini. Guest-starring Roy Poole.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 27, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Halloween Candy” premiered”Season 2 Episode 4
A young couple learns that their tenant is a voodoo practitioner. The wife sees the tenant as a danger and attempts to drive him out of the building, blaming him for various mishaps. Written by Carole Lucia Satrina. Guest-starring Adolph Caesar.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 20, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Parlour Floor Front” premiered”Season 2 Episode 3
A man sentenced to Death Row for a murder tells his story of a redhead… from another dimension. Based on the short story by John D. MacDonald, adapted by Ted Gershuny. Guest-starring Penelope Ann Miller and John Heard.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 13, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Ring Around the Redhead” premiered”Season 2 Episode 2
An unhealthy corporate executive is offered a life-saving medical device with a price.
Written by Michael P. Kube-McDowell, based on his own short story of the same name. Guest-starring Bill Macy.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 6, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Lifebomb” premiered”Season 2 Episode 1
The government brings in a failing comedian to try to communicate with an alien. Based on the short story “Impersonations” by M. Coleman Easton, adapted by Haskell Barkin and guest-starring Chuck McCann.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, September 29, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The Impressionist” premiered”Season 1 Episode 23
Cassie Pines, a superstitious woman, travels by bus to Texas on the advice of a psychic machine. Before she reaches her destination, however, she comes across another machine that warns her against continuing on her way. Written by Jule Selbo and guest-starring Ronee Blakley.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, August 4, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The False Prophet” premiered”An elderly woman makes one request of her unsympathetic family, who want to put her in a nursing home against her will.
Written by Jule Selbo.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, June 16, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Grandma’s Last Wish” premiered”Season 1 Episode 21
Mr. Bigalow wakes up in a replica of his apartment, overseen by an addiction counselor who will allow him to leave only if he quits smoking.
Written by Michael McDowell.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, June 9, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Bigalow’s Last Smoke” premiered”Season 1 Episode 20
A laundromat offers to wash away the sins of its clients.
Written by Harvey Jacobs.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, May 26, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “It All Comes Out in the Wash” premiered”Season 1 Episode 19
A teenager goads a once-famous magician into performing his greatest feat of levitation, with disastrous results.
Based on a short story by Joseph Payne Brennan and adapted by David Gerrold.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, May 19, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Levitation” premiered”Season 1 Episode 18
Politician Bo Gumbs checks into a hotel to prepare for a speech. After he tells the hotel wait staff that politics is all showmanship, they help him prepare for his best show ever.
Co-Written by Armand Mastoianni and David Gerrold, directed by Mastroianni, starring Dick Shawn.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, May 12, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “If the Shoes Fit…” premiered”Season 1 Episode 17
A wife and her friend plot to scare a rich man to death in the cursed “Madness Room.”
Written by Thomas Epperson and guest-starring Stuart Whitman.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, May 5, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Madness Room” premiered”Season 1 Episode 16
A young woman who can’t stop crying meets a man who collects tears.
Written by Geoffrey Loftus and John Drimmer and guest-starring Jessica Harper and Victor Garber.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, February 24, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The Tear Collector” premiered”Season 1 Episode 15
A ringing telephone with a life of its own bothers a woman in the room next door.
Written by Michael McDowell.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, February 17, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Answer Me” premiered”Season 1 Episode 14
Confident that he is about to win the lottery, a man studying the black arts quits his job, only to find out that he has lost to a woman.
Written by Howard Smith and Tom Allan. Guest starring Carol Kane.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, February 10, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Snip, Snip” premiered”Season 1 Episode 13
An elderly couple take in a girl escaping from her boyfriend, just in time for their 25th anniversary dinner. Unfortunately, the couple plans on serving a very specific-and revolting-dish…
Story by D.J. Pass, adapted by James Houghton. Guest starring Alice Ghostley.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, February 3, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Anniversary Dinner” premiered”Season 1 Episode 12
Catherine is a tarot reader who attracts business by giving out only good predictions, but she soon finds herself stuck with a new deck of cards – one which makes terrible predictions come true.
Written and directed by Ted Gershuny.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, January 27, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “In the Cards” premiered”Season 1 Episode 11
An answering machine with a will of its own helps out a television writer and gradually begins to take over his life. Written by Haskell Barkin and guest-starring Harry Anderson.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, January 20, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “All a Clone by the Telephone” premiered”Season 1 Episode 10
A comedic story in which a couple finds a lamp which turns out to hold a genie, who is extremely annoyed at being trapped for thousands of years. He punishes them with plagues and problems, but the wife offers a simple solution to his problem. Based on a story by Harlan Ellison and adapted by Haskell Barkin and guest-starring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the genie.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, January 13, 1985: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Djinn, No Chaser” premiered”Season 1 Episode 9
Grandpa refuses to believe that he is dead. Written by James Houghton, based on a short story by Robert Bloch and guest-starring Christian Slater as Jody, Brent Spiner as the Reverend and Eddie Bracken as Grandpa.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, December 2, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “A Case of the Stubborns” premiered”Season 1 Episode 8
A man discovers his new word processor, a gift from his deceased nephew, is more powerful than he could ever have imagined: everything he types into it becomes real. Based on the short story by Stephen King and adapted by Michael McDowell.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, November 25, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The Word Processor of the Gods” premiered”Season 1 Episode 7
A young woman takes up board in an elderly man’s house and insists that there is something lurking inside of the small, locked closet in her bedroom.
Directed by Tom Savini and guest-starring Fritz Weaver.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, November 18, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Inside the Closet” premiered”Season 1 Episode 6
A man discovers that he is literally slipping from existence. Based on a short story by Michael Kube-McDowell, adapted by Mark Durand and guest-starring David Patrick Kelly.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, November 11, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Slippage” premiered”Season 1 Episode 5
A teenage girl discovers that her recently deceased twin brother’s spirit lives on in a computer, but no one will believe her. When she tries to fulfill her brother’s last wish by inputting data into his computer, her parents begin to get worried. Guest starring Justine Bateman and Tippi Hedren, written by Dan Kleinman.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, November 4, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Mookie and Pookie” premiered”Season 1 Episode 4
A bookie who never turns down a bet meets the luckiest man he may ever know (Tom Noonan), who is determined to break the bookie at any cost. The bookie ends up wagering on the time of his death, and must outsmart a man who has never lost. Written and directed by James Sadwith and guest-starring Danny Aiello.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 21, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The Odds” premiered”Season 1 Episode 3
A henpecked husband (Lou Jacobi) who suffers from excruciating backaches visits a doctor (Farley Granger) who prescribes a drastic cure.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 14, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Pain Killer” premiered”Season 1 Episode 2
An offer to buy a friend’s soul goes a bit too far, especially when the seller returns to finalize the deal. Written by Mark Durand and David Spiel and guest-starring Keenan Wynn
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, October 7, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “I’ll Give You a Million” premiered”Season 1 Episode 1
Alan Coombs, a bad-tempered recovering alcoholic, meets a young man named Jerry who claims to be his son. Coombs insists that he’s never seen or met Jerry before, but Jerry says otherwise.
Based on a short story by Barbara Owens, adapted by Mark Durand, and guest-starring Vic Tayback.
Read more “Horror History: Sunday, September 30, 1984: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “The New Man” was released in theaters”Pilot
A rich and spiteful old man named Gideon Hackles whose obsession for documenting and exploiting debts owed to him, annually offers trick-or-treaters the chance to search his house on Halloween night for their parents’ IOUs, only to terrify them with animatronic “ghosts”. In the course of this night’s events, Mr. Hackles finds himself terrified by real ghosts… or in this case, demons. Guest starring Barnard Hughes as Gideon Hackles, and Max Wright, written by George A. Romero.
Read more “Horror History: Saturday, October 29, 1983: “Tales From The Darkside” episode “Trick Or Treat” premiered”
