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.

STAR BLECCH IV: THE VOYAGE BOMBS

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986)
dir: Leonard Nimoy

MAD #271, June 1987
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Mort Drucker

The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (Deforest Kelley), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Sulu (George Takei), Chekhov (Walter Koenig), and Scotty (James Doohan), is stranded on the planet Vulcan after the last movie. They returned Spock to his home planet to be revived, stealing the Enterprise against orders, then blowing it up when the Klingons were on it and then stealing their ship to get to Vulcan, Now they face court-martial.

Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt appear briefly as Spock's parents.

As the crew is returnung home, there is an alien life form destroying the power of all vessels in uts path and issuing a signal that cannot be deciphered, and must be answered in order to be stopped. Spock determines the sound is the song of the humpback whale, a now-extinct species.

The crew must travel back in time to find two whales to duplicate the alien sounds, They go back to 80s San Francisco, and split into groups. Spock wears a headband to hide that he's an alien with different ears.

Kirk pawns possessions so everyone can have money, and he and Spock take a bus out to a zoo in Sausalito, where they find to whales, George and Gracie, when they are on a tour given by biologist Jillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks). Kirk keeps asking too many questions about the whales, Spock has dove into the tank to study them and determined one is pregnant. The two of them are dismissed as kooks and kicked out of the park. After work, Jillian sees them walking by the side of the road and she offers them a ride. She and Kirk end upgoing out on a date, where he admits he came from the future to take the whales and save the planet. Scotty and Dr. McCoy went to a plexiglass factory to get material for a tank to put the whales in, but in order to get it, had to pose as scientists.

Jillian beamed herself up into space with all the others, having no life on Earth without whales. The Enterprise crew goes to trial and their charges are all dropped because they saved the Earth. Except the penalty of disobeying a superior officer, for which Kirk is demoted from Admiral to Captain again. Jillian has become science officer in a different branch of Starfleet.

STAR DREK IV: THE VOYAGE BACK HOME TO THE FUTURE
Cracked #228, July 1987
w: Mort Todd
a: Bill Wray

Wendy Pini was the artist for a comic in the 80s called ElfQuest.

There was a bit where they noticed everyone was swearing, so they decided to swear too to blend in, but got it all wrong.

There's a scene where Chekhov is injured while trying to collect energy and taken to the hospital, and Kirk, McCoy, and Jillian pose as doctors to break him out.

SINGLE LOUTS

SINGLED OUT
MTV 1995-1998

SINGLE LOUTS
MAD #350, October 1996
w: Mike Snider
a: Bill Wray

Singled Out was similar to shows like The Dating Game, but dirty.

Bill Wray had directed many episodes of Ren & Stimpy.

The show was hosted by Chris Hardwick and his sidekick was Jenny McCarthy.

The first contestant was brought out wearing a blindfold, and there were fifty potential dates that person was unable to see. They'd eliminate them one by one through different categories shown to them on a board.

”The Rachel” was a particular hairstyle in the 90s named after Jennifer Aniston's character on Friends

“Round Two” involved the finalists going through stunts that could be anything from mock sports to simulating oral sex. The contestant would not see them, but Jenny McCarthy would relay the results. If their results were not satisfactory, they were dumped.

The finalist who were dumped would be publicly humiliated by being forced to wear something like a toilet seat or a sign around their neck.

After it was narrowed down to three finalists, “Round Three”, involved them answering questions and taking one step forward for each correct answer and one step back for each wrong one.

After MTV, Jenny McCarthy went on to be the anti-vaxx queen, but before that she was a Playboy bunny and centerfold many times.

PREDECESSOR

PREDATOR (1987)
dir: John McTiernan

PREDECESSOR
MAD #276, January 1988
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Jack Davis

Dutch Schaffer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a squad that consists of Al Dillon (Carl Weathers), Sgt. McEliot (Bill Duke), Poncho Ramirez (Richard Chavez), Blain Cooper (Jesse Ventura), Billy Sole (Sonny Landham), and Rick Hawkins (Shane Black). Dutch is unaware of the mission until getting there, which is to stop a foreign invasion in Guatemala, one that a previous troop of Green Berets had been sent in for before and hadn't been heard from since. McEliot is always shaving and Cooper is always spitting chewing tobacco.

They capture one of the remaining insurgents, Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) who they don't think speaks English but may have information they need. They find that the previous soldiers there have been skinned alive. They realize they are being watched by something that only exists in plasma form and can identify them by thermal imagery. Hawkins tries to find it and gets killed un the process.

Tammy Faye Bakker was a TV host and former preacher known for excessive makeup. Jesse Ventura had been a pro-wrestler and Carl Weathers was Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies.

The monster doesn't recognize Dutch when he gets covered in mud. He realizes this and sets out to kill it. In the climax, the monster (Kevin Peter Hall) reveals itself in concrete form and during hand-to-hand combat, Dutch is able to destroy it by outsmarting it. As it's destroyed it's able to set off the self-destruct devices attached to it which will make everything within its vicinity explode. Dutch is able to be rescued from the explode at the last minute.

Comparisons are made to Rambo and Aliens, but there have been several Alien vs.Predator movies since.

The British edition had the movie on its cover with its parody of The Untouchables.

PREMEDATOR
Cracked #233, January 1988
w: Robert Loren Fleming
a: Bill Wray

The Predator is from space. There was a spaceship at the beginning of the movie, which is the only way you'd know that.

It was revealed in the movie that Dutch and Dillon had been war buddies.

PERRY MASONMINT

PERRY MASON
1957-1966 CBS

THE NIGHT THAT PERRY MASONMINT LOST A CASE
MAD #48, July 1959
w: Dee Caruso & Bill Levine
a: Mort Drucker

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) was a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles. The criminal defense attorney was Hamilton Burger (William Talman) and the police detective was Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins).

Perry was assisted by Paul Drake (William Hopper) and his secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale).

The diagram on Della's head in the first panel is from the Anacin commercials' representation of a headache.

Cracked #10, August 1959
a: John Severin

From What Do TV Characters Do After the Show Is Over? in Cracked #45, August 1965, art by Bill Ward

From The Comedy Trend on TV in #50, March 1966, art also by Ward

PERRY MAZIN: THE CASE OF THE GUILTY CLIENT
Cracked #235, May 1988
w: Robert Loren Fleming
a: Bill Wray

Erle Stanley Gardner was the author of the books Perry Mason is based on. He is drawn here as Charles Bronson. The wall on the first panel has a picture of Lt. Col. Oliver North.

From TV Scenes That Make More Sense in Sick #47, by Calvin Castine and Angelo Torres.