TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

Director: Freddie Francis

Writers: Milton Subotsky adapting EC Comics stories by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, and Bill Gaines published in Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror

Producers: Milton Subotsky, Max Rosenberg

Cast: Ralph Richardson, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ian Hendry, Richard Greene, Barbara Murray, Robin Phillips, Nigel Patrick, Patrick Magee, Roy Dotrice, Chloe Franks, Martin Boddey, Oliver MacGreevy, Susan Denney, Angela Grant, David Markham, Frank Forsyth, Geoffrey Bayldon, Robert Hutton, Peter Fraser, Manning Wilson, Irene Gawne, Stafford Medhurst, Clifford Earl, Edward Evans, Hedger Wallace, George Herbert, Harry Locke, Jane Sofiano, Peter Thomas, Tony Wall, John Barrard, Robert Rietti (uncredited radio voice)

Five strangers on a tour of a graveyard’s catacombs become separated from the rest of the group and are trapped in a weird stone chamber. They meet a grim, old man (Ralph Richardson) garbed in a hooded robe who shows his apprehensive guests their awful fates.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

During the 1960s and 1970s, Amicus Productions were the leading contender for British horror movie supremacy against Hammer Film Productions. Amicus seemed to have the most success with their portmanteau format. Amicus produced seven such horror films that each contained multiple stories united by a wraparound narrative.

Of all the Amicus anthology films, Tales from the Crypt is probably the most famous and perhaps the most effective. Each yarn in this film is adapted from a surefire source for this type of material: the infamous, American, 1950s EC Comics series Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. Each issue of those publications had a similar format of multiple short stories narrated to the reader by ghoulish hosts.

Tales from the Crypt’s fearsome fables are off to a festive start with “And All Through the House.” The drop-dead gorgeous Joan Collins plays Joanne Clayton, a murderous wife caught up in the holiday hustle and bustle of tidying up her Christmas Eve crime scene at the same time a lunatic (Oliver MacGreevy) wearing a Santa Claus costume is trying to break in. There is a perversely cozy, yuletide atmosphere throughout this segment as traditional Christmas carols play on the living room radio while Collins’ cold-blooded beauty takes the time to open the gift from her husband she has just killed before she gets to work staging things to look like an accident. More carols play as she is forced to multi-task between corpse-clean up and locking out the psychotic St. Nick. It is even more perverse in that the murderess is shown to be a loving mother.

The next story has me empathizing a bit with the bad guy. In “Reflection of Death,” Ian Hendry plays family man Carl Maitland who is running away for a new life with his mistress (Angela Grant). There is not a lot of time to flesh out his character, but, in just a few scenes, we see that there is emotional pain and guilt suffered by Hendry’s adulterer abandoning his wife and children. This, more than any other story, makes us realize what a badass fate can be.

Tales from the Crypt does holiday double-duty with “Poetic Justice.” Robin Phillips plays James Elliot, perhaps the most despicable character in the film. He is a young, upper-crust snob obsessing about Arthur Grimsdyke, the kindly, elderly man living across the street. James thinks that the frugal, old rubbish collector and his modest home drive down the property values in the neighborhood. So, James enjoys conducting a secret campaign of harassment meant to drive old Grimsdyke away. Things take a really nasty on Valentine’s Day. Peter Cushing is simply heartbreaking as poor, put-upon Grimsdyke. This is one of my favorite performances by this great actor.

“Wish You Were Here” begins with ruthless businessman Ralph Jason (Richard Greene) and his beautiful wife, Enid (Barbara Murray), facing financial ruin. The Jason couple is contemplating which of their expensive possessions to start selling when they notice the inscription on their old, Chinese statuette. It says that the relic can grant its owner three wishes. Despite Ralph’s reservations, since this situation is eerily similar to that in the classic horror story “The Monkey’s Paw,” Enid makes a wish. That’s when the troubles for the Jason couple really begin.

The final fate that Ralph Richardson’s baleful Crypt Keeper relates is called “Blind Alleys.” It concerns Retired Army Maj. William Rogers (Nigel Patrick) taking over the directorship of a retirement home for blind men. The selfish Rogers spends lavishly on himself from the meager budget allowed the rest home, while the residents have to make due with bad food, poor heating, and not enough blankets. In the role of the blind George Carter, Patrick Magee is the spokesman for his fellow, neglected residents. Magee was a frequent performer in many British genre films. He could be quite unsettling, as he is here. This time, in particular, he has every right to be.

Director Freddie Francis already had plenty of expertise directing fright flicks for Amicus and Hammer. Although Francis did not want to be stuck in the horror rut as a director, he certainly had the knack for this nasty niche. In Tales from the Crypt, he is at his absolute best. Each simple story is just long enough to establish the characters and their situations while never seeming rushed. I suppose that the original comic book stories were almost a storyboard for this film, but Francis knows just how to stage and shoot things effectively. Many creepy sequences play out in purely visual terms with just the right succession of shots effectively building to horrific and ironic climaxes.

Much of the credit for these tight narratives should be given to the original EC Comics stories. The fact that producers Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg were Americans probably explains why a British film would be based on the 1950s American horror comics, which were being rediscovered and appreciated in the ’70s.

As has been noted by many others, despite the transgressive acts depicted in horror stories, such narratives often express a very strong morality. That was certainly the case of the once unfairly maligned EC Comics. Those tales were both nasty and satisfying with their ironic justice dealt to evildoers. It is just that kind of cold comfort that makes this film such a satisfying concoction for those who enjoy the morbid mixed with their mirth.

One aspect of this film I appreciate is how it allows its flawed main characters to show little touches of humanity. Each of the five tourists trapped in the crypt become the unethical protagonist of a separate story that The Crypt Keeper tells them. Yet despite the short time allotted to each tale, the film makes us relate to each protagonist as a human being rather than just a hissable villain. Okay, so maybe the vindictive, young snob James Elliot has us hating his guts, but it is hinted that he does have some sense of guilt. Even the selfish and inhumane Maj. Rogers loves his dog. Details like these drive home the moral point that real people can do awful things, so maybe we should examine some of our own choices and motives. All of the regrets and sentiments in people still do not excuse their cruelty.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)

Director: John Carpenter

Writers: John Carpenter, Nick Castle

Producers: Larry Franco, Debra Hill

Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, John Diehl, Season Hubley, Arden Young, Frank Doubleday, Ox Baker, Buck Flower, Jamie Lee Curtis (uncredited narrator and automated voice), Joe Unger (in deleted scene) 

By 1997 the entire island of Manhattan has been sealed off and used as the dumping ground for all of the criminals in the United States of America. Once exiled in the neglected metropolis, the convicts are left to fend for themselves and are never released. When terrorists crash land the Air Force One jet in New York City, the leader of the prison city’s gangs, the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes), takes the U.S. president (Donald Pleasence) hostage. Liberty Island Security sends a recent convict, decorated former Special Forces veteran Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), on a rescue mission into New York City. If Plissken succeeds bringing out the president and an important audiocassette tape that he was carrying to a peace conference, Plissken will receive a full pardon. If Plissken fails to accomplish his mission in 24 hours, two explosive capsules injected into his neck will kill him. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

During the 1970s, director John Carpenter had helmed several well-received television movies and a couple of cult films before he made one of the most famous horror films ever with 1978’s Halloween. Although that horrific holiday favorite would become his calling card, Carpenter would continue regularly making many more feature films of various genres for the rest of the century. After Halloween, Carpenter’s Escape from New York is probably his most successful film that also has continued to be a venerable cult favorite. He has made other cult films with reputations that have grown over the years, despite lackluster profits or indifferent critical responses at the time of their release. But it seems that Carpenter hit the sweet spot for genre filmmaking with Escape from New York; it was original, offbeat, and immediately profitable. Fans loved it then and revere it now. 

The post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci-fi film was becoming a popular genre in the 1980s. The no-holds-barred action and destruction of social norms provided the edgy thrills that tantalized the audience. Escape from New York lands neatly into that genre and was also an influence on it. 

The world of this film is not explored in any great detail. We only know that the United States is at war and the crime rate has increased enormously, which would seem to indicate that the government is not addressing the needs of the people and civilization. All that we see depicted in this future world is a militarized prison system and the prison island of Manhattan. This drastic measure of dealing with crime by offering convicts the choice of death or being abandoned for the rest of their lives in the lawless ruins of New York City is an indication of the fascism used as a last resort to maintain order. It is never mentioned what conditions and federal failures have led to this bleak state. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of this film is seeing how people behave when they are trapped in a society without rules. These convicts are left to their own devices in the neglected ruins of what was once one of the world’s grandest cities. When these criminal exiles are not preying upon each other, they indulge in entertainments that have devolved to the norms of previous centuries. A dilapidated theater has an all-male cast in drag (as in times before women were allowed to appear on the stage) dreadfully performing a musical and an old boxing ring is used for a gladiatorial combat to the death. 

What everyone remembers about this film is Snake Plissken. The fact that our criminal anti-hero is a decorated veteran of the U.S. military drives home this film’s cynical tone. Plissken is apparently as disillusioned as John Carpenter and many others were with the country after the Vietnam War and Watergate. I do not believe that Carpenter and his character Snake Plissken are making a specific political statement. Plissken never shares any feelings or philosophies; he just reacts and resents authority of any kind. 

Kurt Russell was a frequent child guest actor on many television series of the 1960s and was a popular star in pictures for Walt Disney Productions during his ten-year contract. Although he had an established career since a young age playing wholesome characters, Russell was cast against type in some made-for-television movies, such as The Deadly Tower (1975) and John Carpenter’s bio-film Elvis (1979). 

His role of Snake Plissken made everyone forget about the youth phase of Kurt Russell’s career. The timing was perfect; at age thirty Russell became a one-eyed, anti-authoritarian, ass-kicking icon. Plissken’s dialogue is terse and direct. He does not make wisecracks but still generates laughs with the disarming and confrontational nature of his comments. Best of all, Snake Plissken does not show off. His actions are as direct as his words. That is what keeps this film from falling into action movie absurdity. 

Lee Van Cleef is terrific as Police Commissioner Bob Hauk, the chief of the Liberty Island Security Control facility that admits convicts to be exiled into New York City. Van Cleef has a great presence and I could watch him verbally sparring with Russell’s Plissken for the entire film. Hauk is just as direct and unsentimental as Plissken. He is also quite ruthless in how he enlists Plissken’s cooperation.

This cast is loaded with other great names like Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, and Isaac Hayes. Players from other John Carpenter films, such as Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens, and Buck Flower, are featured in small roles. None other than Jamie Lee Curtis supplies narration to open the film and is also the automated voice at the Liberty Island prisoner admittance facility. 

While Escape from New York never preaches or teaches any lessons, it has an absolutely cynical attitude towards fascistic authority. One may try to discern a political leaning in the film, but that is probably a futile endeavor. Its only message seems to be disdain for those that would want to rule over a dysfunctional world.