TALES FROM THE CREEP

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)
dir: Freddie Francis

TALES FROM THE CREEP
Spoof #2, November 1972
w: Marv Wolfman
a: Marie Severin & Jon Costa

Anthology film from Amicus, a British production company that released dozens of horror films, based on the EC comic book from the 50s. The movie adapted five of the stories used in the comic, this parody used three.

The movie has five people who find themselves wondering where they are. They are in the Crypt of Terror and each one is revealed the reason they are there in a story told to them by the Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson) about how they will die.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Willard were two horror movies.

In the first story a woman (Joan Collins) has killed her husband for the insurance on Christmas Eve. She also hears a report that a homicidal maniac dressed as Santa Claus is on the loose, and finds herself trying to dispose of her husband's body and hide from the killer at the same time. Her daughter, who she thought she'd put to sleep, wakes up thinking the killer actually is Santa Claus and invites him in.

The next story is a retelling of The Monkey's Paw. A man (Richard Greene) is financially ruined, but his wife (Barbara Murray) discovers a statue and wishes for more money. The couple comes into money and upon going to get it, he dies in a car crash. She wishes he were still alive and he comes back badly mutilated.

The final story in the movie is about a man who runs a home for the blind and lives in luxury with his German shepherd while the residents all keep getting increasing financial cuts in meals and heat, which leads to one of their deaths. They get revenge by first luring his dog into the basement, thenthrowing him into a room next door. They eventually let him out but to exit he has to get through a series of mazes which include walls covered with razors and a hallyway with his dog that has been starving for two days.

Here he's portrayed as Hitler running a concentration camp that's actually a camp. The real story is in the video below.

The Crypt Keeper reveals they're all in the afterlife.

HBO 1989-1995

TALES FROM THE CREEP
Cracked #250, December 1989
w: Archie Falbo (Lou Silverstone)
a: Bill Wray

It later became a series on HBO, also using the same pool of stories from the comic book.

This comic is about the rivalry between MAD and Cracked. Before MAD, Bill Gaines had been publisher of Tales from the Crypt. Cracked was aware of his business practices in keeping and hoarding original art and though paying well, earning dollars on every penny the creator made. It was a coup for Cracked when they were able to poach long-time MAD contributor Don Martin, luring him by allowing him copyrights on his material and giving back his art. MAD writer Lou Silverstone was writing for Cracked simultaneously under a pen name before eventually becoming editor himself, and Bill Wray became one of the regulars at MAD.

The signature parodies “Ghastly”, the way Graham Ingels signed his work.

This also parodies the story And All Through the House that was used in the movie. (original story below) The Crypt Keeper is portrayed as Gaines. Jack Davis' signature is parodied in the upper left, while the story mimics the art of Johnny Craig.