30 Years Ago, The Greatest Horror Cinematic Universe Failed to Take Off

October 28, 2025, 2:33pm

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe have established a place for superheroes to reign at the box office, the same cannot be said nearly as much for horror icons. The Conjuring Universe and the often-maligned Dark Universe set up horror universes for things that go bump in the night, though thirty years ago, one movie set the stage for a major universe. Ironically, the film in question that we are gathered to honor this Halloween season did receive a sequel, but it did not pick up on the events of the premiere movie. Now feels like a fantastic time to both revisit this movie and think of what could have been.

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Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight first hit theaters in 1995, not only bringing the Crypt Keeper to the big screen but weaving a story that is so grandiose, it’s almost hard to believe. Throughout the centuries, the demons of the film have been attempting to bring back the darkness through the acquisition of seven keys. With the creatures of the night already having six of said keys, they only need one more before their nightmares come true. Unfortunately for the supernatural beings, one man and a crew of ragtag hotel residents are standing in their way.

What made Demon Knight work so well isn’t just thanks to its amazing star power, with the likes of Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Thomas Haden Church, and C.C.H. Pounder giving amazing performances, but its wild, galaxy-spanning storyline. The key that the demons need to enact their goals is one that was first born at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the film, darting from owner to owner in an effort to save humanity. The end of the film sets up quite the sequel hook, transitioning the key from Sadler’s Brayker to Pinkett-Smith’s Jeryline as she covers her tracks and dodges a new demonic force following the demise of Zane’s Collector. While the key would appear in future films, the story of Demon Knight was brushed to the side, never to be revisited.

Demon Knight’s Failure To Launch

Unfortunately, the first film featuring the Crypt Keeper wasn’t a horror juggernaut at the box office. Made on a budget of around $12 million USD, the movie would only bring in a little over $21 million USD at the box office. This fact didn’t stop Tales From The Crypt from releasing two additional movies under the Crypt Keeper’s umbrella. Tales From The Crypt: Bordello of Blood and Tales From The Crypt: Ritual continued the series past the original television series, with Bordello even bringing Demon Knight’s key into the mix. 2002’s Ritual was the final time we would see the Crypt Keeper on the silver screen.

As for what a future would look like for Demon Knight, there are multiple avenues that a potential sequel, and/or spin-offs, could take. The true genius of the original film is that as long as the key itself is in play, both the protagonist and antagonist can go anywhere and do anything. A perfect example of how this works in practice is with the Evil Dead franchise, with the recent Evil Dead: Rise and, presumably, the upcoming Evil Dead: Burn presenting stories surrounding that Necromonicon that have little to do with Ash Williams. Continuing the story of the key that holds the fate of the universe within it would make for a great horror franchise, whether that takes the form of films, a television series, and/or a comic book series. Unfortunately, getting this done might make it nigh impossible thanks to the right issues surrounding the franchise.

Rights From The Crypt

While you can check out Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight on Peacock, the original television series that started it all is a different matter. Streaming the original HBO series is a gargantuan task, thanks to licensing rights that have long plagued the series for years. This is why you can’t currently stream Tales From The Crypt on HBO Max, and it seems that the only way to do so is by either tracking down the DVD release of the original seasons and/or watching the episodes on YouTube. We can’t even imagine the rights issues when it comes to “Demon Knight” itself and whether it could be detached from Tales From The Crypt for its own thing.

For now, it seems unlikely that we’ll ever receive an official follow-up to Demon Knight, but the story is so expansive that it feels like a crime not to further explore it. Fingers crossed that the rights issues surrounding the franchise will one day be six feet in the ground like a certain Crypt Keeper.

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