First Look at M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Tales From the Crypt’ Reboot Is Dead Wrong

Drew Dietsch
TV
TV

Tales from the Crypt is one of the best horror television shows of all time. Spanning seven seasons and three movies – not to mention an unofficial adaptation in the secret masterpiece Creepshow – the series was a cultural hit unlike any other. The pun-loving Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir) became a pop culture icon through most of the nineties. The show maintains a faithful following even though rights issues have prevented it from being available to stream through services like Netflix and Hulu.

Well, the first little peek at the show has finally surfaced in the form of a promo and…

A Grave Mistake?

OK, this is clearly just a proof of concept deal. It’s not fair to make a full critical analysis based off this commercial. That being said, there’s a lot to wonder about here. Is the tone going to be a little more straightforward horror than the twisted comedy of the HBO series? And even though Kassir’s famous Crypt Keeper laugh is present, it’s been confirmed that this version can’t draw inspiration from the HBO take on the material. If this trailer is an indication that the show will be more of a typical take on horror, the charm of the property will be an unfortunate casualty.

There was also a promo which looked like it was made for internal use only. It featured footage from tons of recognizable horror films and TV shows like It Follows, Penny Dreadful, and even the original Tales from the Crypt TV show. We had that embedded but it looks like the powers that be pulled the plug on that one.

Horror has definitely been flourishing on television, and anthology horror is something we need a lot more of in pop culture. Will this be able to take off? Shyamalan is definitely hot right now thanks to the smash success of Split. It would be great to see Tales from the Crypt hit big, but only if it really does capture that sardonic and gallows humor that made the comics so special. There’s no definite release for this new show but we’ll keep our eyes and ears peeled. This is one horror fans are going to be very critical of.

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.