7 Underrated Episodes of Tales from the Crypt

In the late ’90s and early aughts, HBO rewrote the book on just what a small screen project could be. Its shows weren’t just rivaling or better than anything on basic cable, they were rivaling or better than the stuff making it to the big screen with mega money behind them. Oz, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Deadwood, they all applied. But there were some major winners from the late ’80s to the mid ’90s, too. The Kids in the Hall had its fans and The Larry Sanders Show is an all-timer, but no early days HBO original series was better than Tales from the Crypt (which, sadly, you still can’t stream anywhere).

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But like with any anthology horror series, Crypt was nothing if not a series of ups and downs. However, today, we’re not looking at the best episodes just as we’re not looking at the worst. We’re looking at the ones in between, the ones that may have slipped through the cracks for the casual fans. Yet, even if they’re not universally lauded, they still have a ton of merit. In other words, we’re looking at those ranked in position 48 to 93 on IMDb’s ranking of every single Tales from the Crypt episode. They go to show that being seen as part of the lesser half doesn’t mean they necessarily are part of the lesser half.

7) “Revenge is the Nuts” (Position 72 on IMDb)

Ever want to see Pamela Martha Focker get terrorized by that guy whose head explodes in Licence to Kill? Ever wanted to see her and Isaac Hayes get their revenge on said man via an elaborate, razor-coated trap? This is the episode for you.

The narrative takes place in a home for the blind, and Teri Polo’s Sheila is the newest resident. But the owner, played by Anthony Zerbe (who was in many projects outside the aforementioned Bond adventure), is a particularly cruel man, who takes pleasure out of belittling and harming the “inmates.” But as is classic Crypt, he doesn’t get the last laugh.

6) “Till Death Do We Part” (68 on IMDb)

It’s pretty far from being one of Crypt‘s scariest, but “Till Death Do We Part” is still a lot of fun. And what a great casting decision to bring John Stamos in as a lover boy gangster type.

Stamos plays gigolo Johnny Canaparo, who finds himself stuck under the thumb of mob woman Ruth Sanderson. However, he has eyes for waitress Lucy Chadwick, and it’s a love that’s going to cost someone their life. This episode is a great example of how Crypt could show us the happy ending we think we want to see, then tear the rug out from under us.

5) “99 & 44/100% Pure Horror” (48 on IMDb)

Crypt definitely had a worse batting average towards the end of its run, but “99 & 44/100% Pure Horror” shows it hadn’t completely lost its touch, even in Season 6 (it had totally lost it in Season 7, however). If anything, it showed that the series could still be at its best as long as it was simply having fun showing bad people do bad things and get their comeuppance.

X-Men‘s Bruce Davison plays timid soap company president Luden Sandelton, who has to fire his wife (played by Batman Returns‘ Cristi Conaway) off the company’s newest marketing campaign. Her style is just too morbid. And now she’s going to put that morbid style to work in the most creative usage of soap outside Fight Club.

4) “Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today” (74 on IMDb)

In “Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today,” Happy Gilmore‘s Frances Bay plays a cosmetic saleswoman who tries to sell her trinkets to Judy (Carol Kane), a bored housewife. And much to the saleswoman’s delight, Judy finds herself enamored with a necklace.

Unfortunately for Judy, the necklace was exactly what this saleswoman wanted her to choose, because now they’ve switched bodies. Can Judy get back into her own shoes? Or will she be forever unrecognizable to her loved ones? It’s a solid plot, but what really puts this one above many of the series’ other episodes is the presence of the always great Kane.

3) “Only Sin Deep” (50 on IMDb)

In “Only Sin Deep,” Back to the Future‘s Lea Thompson plays a sex worker who is enamored with nothing more than her own looks. After murdering her pimp, she tries to sell his valuables to a pawn shop owner. However, the pawn shop owner knows they’re stolen goods, and offers to buy her beauty instead.

She takes the deal and uses the money to try and get into a wealthy businessman’s inner circle, feeling that, in time, his money will be there to pay back the pawn shop owner. But before long the deadline she had to pay back the money passed, and now the wealthy businessman doesn’t even recognize her. By the end of it all, she might just come to realize she had enough before she ever set foot in that pawn shop.

2) “Lover Come Hack to Me” (59 on IMDb)

Tales from the Crypt was always keen to keep one foot on comedy and the other on horror. But Season 1’s “Love Come Hack to Me,” it’s all horror. And, as far as the straightforward horror ones go, it’s the most underrated.

It’s a pretty straightforward premise. A Fabio-esque man marries a woman who wouldn’t be considered by many to be a beauty queen. But she is financially loaded, hence you have the real purpose of the marriage. But this traditionally good-looking man may have put a ring on a finger that’s very comfortable around the handle of an axe. Amanda Plummer sells the whole thing. She may be a murderess, but darn if we don’t feel for her.

1) “Mute Witness to Murder” (57 on IMDb)

Helplessness is scary, and “Mute Witness to Murder” ranks right up there with “Abra Cadaver” with Tony Goldwyn and Beau Bridges as the Tales from the Crypt that makes the best use of helplessness. Plus, when your protagonist is played by Patricia Clarkson, you already have a major asset in your corner.

“Mute Witness to Murder” is basically Rear Window if Jimmy Stewart were swapped out with Clarkson and the sight of the murder was enough to render her mute. But then it goes a step further. Instead of the protagonist continuing to watch the murderer from across a yard, the protagonist is put under the murderer’s care…because he’s her assigned doctor. It’s a brilliant episode, and The Waltons‘ Richard Thomas plays brilliantly against type as one of the series’ most horrifying flesh and blood humans.

What episode of Tales from the Crypt do you think is undervalued? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!