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72%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #2,199
...out of 16,701 movies
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Five tales of terror are presented. The first deals with a demented old man returning from the grave to get the Father's Day cake his murdering daughter never gave him. The second is about a not-too-bright farmer discovering a meteor that turns everything into plant-life. The third is about a vengeful husband burying his wife and her lover up to their necks on the beach. The fourth is about a creature that resides in a crate under the steps of a college. The final story is about an ultra-rich businessman who gets his comeuppance from cockroaches.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: April 22, 2004
This movie is a collection of five stories, each dealing with horror / sci-fi themes in the vein of the old Tales From The Crypt comics. Since none of them are related to each other, each will be reviewed separately.
1. Father's Day - A family gets together for a Father's Day ham dinner together, and included in the bunch is the sister of the bunches new husband. He's not too up on the family history, so the story is told of how old Aunt Bedelia killed her father with an ashtray to the head, and how she comes out every year on Father's Day to pay her respects and whatnot. This year, however, her father shall rise from the dead and get his revenge.
This ties it up with #3 as my personal favorites of the collection. The storyline was quite interesting, and campy as hell. The dark humor used throughout this segment was grand, and never fails to pull a chuckle from me. Also, the effects used for the zombie father were very nicely done, as well as the voice effects used for him. No gore was to be found, however, as most kills weren't directly shown, or in the case of the old mother woman, didn't require bloodshed. Definite thumbs up on this segment, regardless.
2. The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill - A yokel out in the country, played by Stephen King, witnesses a meteor fall to earth. He sees big money in this happening, as he believes he can score $200 for the sale of it, and gathers it up into a bucket. However, when he does this, he burns two of his fingers on it, and they start to blister up. Being afraid of doctors, he doesn't try to get any help for it, and some strange shit happens as a result of the "meteor shit". Plants start growing on his skin, and they also start taking over everything on the property.
This one is my least favorite of the bunch, although that doesn't make it flat out bad. It's more of a sci-fi / comedy bit, and it is good for some chuckles the first time around; however, the replay value on it doesn't quite live up to standards. In other words, the first time you watch it, you'll get some nice laughs, but on any repeat viewings, you'll be fast-forwarding past this one. King did do a good job in his role as a country hick, and the storyline was decent, but eh... it just doesn't measure up to the rest of the stories here.
3. Something To Tide You Over - A man learns his wife / girlfriend / something is cheating on him, and plans some grisly revenge on the couple. He pays a visit to the man who she was cheating with, and tells him to come out with him if he wants to see her alive again. Naturally, he follows, and he takes him to a beach, where he instructs him to jump in a waiting hole and bury himself up to the neck, for restraint purposes. When this is said and done, the scorned lover man whips out a TV and shows our hero that his woman is also buried up to her neck, and the tide is coming in... slowly drowning her. Our cheating star realizes the fate that will be coming to him, and swears he'll have his revenge.
As I mentioned above, this ties with #1 as my favorites of the movie. The storyline is great, the way it plays out and the originality behind it. The slow, torturous method of dying really sends some shivers up your spine, which is pretty rare for me. Leslie Neilsen does great in his role, and really makes you, the viewer, hate him with a passion; he's quite good in the asshole role. The zombie effects for our lovers wasn't the best, admittedly, but better than quite a few other movies I've seen. Excellent piece.
4. The Crate - A janitor at a local college can't decide whether to buff the floors or wash the windows first, so he flips a quarter to decide. He misses, and the quarter rolls under the stairs... and seeings how that's his last quarter for the Coke machine, he tries to dig it out. In doing so, he notices a crate shoved under the stairs that's dated in the early 1800's, and calls a professor to come investigate it with him. When they do so, they realize that there's some sort of live creature in there... and it's hungry for flesh.
Another good piece in this series. The storyline works out wonderfully, and the effects on the creature were quite nicely done. On paper, or site in this case, it doesn't sound like the most original segment, but it does work out excellently on screen. The creature, as I mentioned, was also very cool; it looked a bit like an ape with some huge fangs and claws. The gore quota is the highest here by far, as the creature racks up three kills in his fifteen minutes, and they sure didn't skimp on the blood. My only complaint was some of the dialogue sequences droned on for too long; however, this could be because I've seen the movie countless times.
5. They're Creeping Up On You - A germophobic businessman is revealed to be quite the asshole, pushing a man to suicide with his shady tactics. As he laughs off the news of the death, he notices that he's getting a bit of a problem with cockroaches in his apartment, and calls for some assistance with this predicament. Help can't arrive for quite some time, so our hero is forced to fight the roaches on his own until they show up, and the roaches certainly outnumber our lone fellow...
Not really a horror piece, but still quite nice. Most of the segment is showing how the man treats people, so that his demise is set up perfectly. He laughs at the widow of the man who shot himself ("Can't very well fire him now, can I?"), belittles the fumigator because of his race, and threatens to fire a man if he doesn't leave his vacation to come take care of his problem ("You get your ass up here, or next year, you can take your family to Disneyland on your fucking welfare check"). In the last few minutes of the scene, however, when the roaches start piling up... that makes for some great cinematic moments, trust you me.
Overall, a very enjoyable film if you like the campy horror style of the old Tales From The Crypt comics. Only one relatively weak segment, and even that could be enjoyable to some people. 9/10.
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#1:
Schillinger
- added 08/22/2004, 03:08 AM
Nothing really amazing about this film, but it's
one of my favorites due to the fact that I can
watch it over and over and never get sick of it.
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#2:
bluemeanie
- added 11/04/2005, 10:34 PM
I preferred the sequel. This one just didn't do
anything for me. 4/10.
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#3:
Ginose
- added 05/06/2007, 07:21 PM
Eh.... that's really all I can say. I was
entertained.... but in all honesty it didn't feel
like a horror film... it didn't feel like much of
anything. A hollow movie... Hell... I still have
some old issues of the original "Tales From the
Crypt" in my closet... good times... yes...
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#4:
Tristan
- added 07/27/2007, 04:55 AM
My mother had the original graphic novel, and I
used to sneak it off the shelf as a kid and read
it over and over again. Romero did a fantastic job
of transferring it to film, and it was just as
creepy as the comic. 9/10
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#5:
Tristan
- added 10/23/2007, 11:48 PM
Just noticed that in The Crate, they have the same
crate as Jason Goes to Hell. Julia Carpenter and
the Arctic Expedition thing. Nice little tidbit
for the kids.
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#6:
Shakes
- added 01/22/2009, 12:00 PM
10/10 hands down. Warning: FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR
HEALTH AVOID CREEPSHOW 3!!!! PLEASE! Do not make
the same mistake I did and rent it. It was made by
two hacks and unless you want to feel ill for the
rest of 2009, avoid at ALL costs. You will thank
me later.
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#7:
sameep007
- added 07/11/2009, 08:39 AM
its a good movie rather than horror movie as it is
the collection of short stories with the
combination of a piece of horror , suspense,
comedy, thriller , gore and so on.
love or
hate but you will not regret watching this movie
and that's a promise
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#8:
Jack Desmond
- added 05/30/2013, 11:59 AM
Great, review! Only thing I disagree on was your
critical view of the zombie make-up in Something
to Tide You Over. I thought they were great.
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