#Hallow-Watch: Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)

[signalwatch]

Hallow-Watch: Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) Watched:  10/02/2023 Format:  Criterion Viewing:  Second Director:  Ernest Dickerson I didn't have HBO during most of the years when Tales From the Crypt was on television, so I was aware of the show, but didn't catch it very often.  In general, I wasn't really wired for it at the time (I wasn't into horror), but in 1995, I was sort of going to see everything that came out.   My memory of the movie is that it's... fine.  It seems like maybe it could have been better, and a 90 minute run-time, even with Crypt Keeper book-ends, was still maybe a bit much and at some point, you feel like you get it, and this could have been 75 or 80 minutes.  The show was usually 30+ minutes, so you're essentially doing tight stories built on ironic twists, the hand of fate, etc...  the kind of stuff you may be familiar with from any number of anthology shows that preceded it. Here, they needed to tell a longer story, and so we get a bit of an actioner on top of the horror, and a larger cast.  And what a cast!  How weird. I only really remembered Billy Zane, but we also have a very young Jada Pinkett (pre-Smith), Thomas Haden Church, CCH Pounder, William Sadler, Dick Miller, Charles Fleischer, Brenda Bakke and Traci Bingham is in there somewhere as a "Party Babe".  It seems like the studio was like "hey, we're doing a Tales from the Crypt movie, and-" and everyone said "yes!". The basic set-up is that William Sadler plays a guy on the run from an hilarious Billy Zane, who is a sort of Demon-guy.  Sadler is protecting "the key" which will turn Earth back to a pre-"let there be light" state and release demons and darkness onto the world.  He's trapped in a hotel (they keep calling a motel) built out of an old church along with the employees and residents of the motel, as well as some cops. You've seen similar before as the cast bickers and fights and has their own little arcs and desires, which are exploited by Zane who uses their inner-most desires to get inside their heads and physically into the motel.  And he's funny and charming as he does so. The movie takes place in just a few locations over a single night, which helps wrangle the story, characters and budget.  And makes for good horror-stuff. There's a sort of post-80's/ we've-seen-Evil Dead 2 approach to some of it, and it's a pleasure to see so much done with puppets, creature design and practical FX.  The demons running around are given animal-like legs I can't believe the actors could walk on, but they even climb stairs.  There's some gore, but it's not, like, endless.  It's more of a punchline and tone setting. All-in-all, it's a fun movie.  I'm not sure the format of Tales from the Crypt begs for a movie-length treatment, but it did make me think - there's no reason Max couldn't revive this show.  Horror does great, in general, and it would be terrific to see stuff that relies on the sorts of plot twists and ghoulish morality tales that made TV horror and sci-fi work for decades.  I don't know how much more I can get from another zombie-based TV show taking place in a world where they've never seen a zombie TV show before. And, of course, it's kinda nice to have the Crypt Keeper making fun of the proceedings and the horrible fates of the characters instead of insisting this should all be taken very seriously, indeed.  I'm a firm believer in the horror-host, from Elvira to Crypt Keeper to Count Floyd.   https://ift.tt/OG3LR4f via The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/D2JW9IH October 03, 2023 at 09:49AM

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Stats from Movies 901-1000

Top 10 Movies - Highest Number of Votes

Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island (1998) had the most votes with 906 votes. The Privilege (2022) had the least votes with 312 votes.

The 10 Most Watched Films by Percentage

Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island (1998) was the most watched film with 67.3% of voters out of 906 saying they had seen it. The Key (2023) with 0.2% of voters out of 457, and Martin's Close (2019) with 0.2% of voters out of 415, had the least "Yes" votes.

The 10 Least Watched Films by Percentage

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) was the least watched film with 50.3% of voters out of 485 saying they hadn’t seen it. The Tractate Middoth (2013) had the least "No" votes with 5.3% of voters out of 433.

The 10 Most Known Films by Percentage

Frankenweenie (2012) was the best known film, 2.4% of voters out of 622 saying they’d never heard of it.

The 10 Least Known Films by Percentage

Madayen (2016) was the least known film, 93.8% of voters out of 388 saying they’d never heard of it.

The movies part of the statistic count and their polls below the cut.

The Devil Rides Out (1968) In the Dark Half (2012) The Isle (2018) Lord of Tears (2013) The Hole in the Ground (2019) The Hallow (2015) Hollow (2011) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) The Masque of the Red Death (1964) The Haunted Palace (1963) The Den (2013) The Wolf House (2018) When Black Birds Fly (2015) I Saw the Devil (2010) Speak No Evil (2022) Fall (2022) Paradise Hills (2019) Spoonful of Sugar (2022) Coherence (2013) I See You (2019)

Eden Lake (2008) Magic (1978) Twice-Told Tales (1963) Vile (2011) Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) The Privilege (2022) The Loved Ones (2009) Fender Bender (2016) Cherry Falls (1999) Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island (1998)

Bedevil (1993) The Rezort (2015) Aquaslash (2019) X-Cross (2007) Impetigore (2019) Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) Jeruzalem (2015) The Key (2023) A House in Jerusalem (2023)

Frankenweenie (2012) The Milpitas Monster (1976) Blood Diner (1987) The Sickhouse (2008) Opera (1987) Vampires (1998) Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) Antichrist (2009) Cure (1997) It's Alive (1974)

It's Alive (2009) Donnie Darko (2001) The Second Coming (2014) Delicatessen (1991) Vamp (1986) 13 Beloved (2006) 13 Sins (2014) Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001) Frontier(s) (2007) The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022)

The Third Saturday in October (2022) Tomie (1998) Coven of Sisters (2020) Alucarda (1977) Blood Monkey (2007) The Skin I Live In (2011) Maniac Cop (1988) Phoenix Forgotten (2017) Area 51 (2015) Livid (2011)

976-EVIL (1988) Header (2006) Dachra (2018) Djinn (2013) Leviathan (1989) Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Madayen (2016) Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) The Night (2020) Achoura (2018)

It Lives Again (1978) Beau Is Afraid (2023) It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) Dark Dungeons (2014) Teen Lust (2014) Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) The Wraith (1986) The Mutilator (1984) Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) Mermaid in a Manhole (1988)

Slashers (2001) Martin's Close (2019) The Tractate Middoth (2013) Julia's Eyes (2010) 30 Days of Night (2007) Otesánek (2000) A Dark Song (2016) The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015) Mr. Jones (2013) I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)