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DVD Review: Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Fifth Season
By Dave Dreher
Nov 13, 2006, 20:33

And the hits just keep on coming.... Season 5 of Tales From The Crypt just came out on DVD and this time around the Crypt Keeper has lots of nasty treats up his sleeve. The HBO series seemed to really pick up steam with this season as the star power kicked into high gear with the likes of John Stamos, Steve Buscemi and Tim Curry to just scratch the surface and the stories seemed to be of a bit higher caliber. The shows were always good, some of these are great.

Warner Brothers has done a spectacular job of putting out these full season collections and they keep up the high standards with this release. The season comes on 3 discs and although the special features are a bit weak what they do offer is really cool.

What is offered up is a virtual comic book, narrated by the voice of the crypt keeper, John Kasser. It is served up as a moving animation of a comic book. Kasser reads the text as the wonderfully drawn images explode on the screen. I found it very enjoyable and a nice alternative to another stale "making of" or "behind the scenes" feature. They went in a different direction and it worked.

There are 13 episodes to check out, here is the listings as listed over at Amazon.com:

DEATH OF SOME SALESMAN - dir. Gilbert Adler; starring: Tim Curry, Ed Begley Jr.
AS YE SOW - dir. Kyle MacLachlan; starring: Hector Elizondo, Miguel Ferrer, Patsy Kensit.
FOREVER AMBERGRIS - dir. Gary Fleder; starring: Roger Daltrey, Steve Buscemi.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT - dir. Rodman Flender; starring: Ernie Hudson, John Laughlin, Joan Chen.
PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN BRASS HEARSES - dir. Russel Malcahy; starring: Brad Dourif, Bill Paxton.
TWO FOR THE SHOW - dir. Kevin Hooks; starring: Traci Lords, Vincent Spano.
HOUSE OF HORROR - dir. Bob Gale; starring: Kevin Dillon, Brian Krause.
WELL COOKED HAMS - dir. Elliot Silverstein; starring: Maryam D'Abo, Martin Sheen, Billy Zane.
CREEP COURSE - dir. Jeffrey Boam; starring: Jeffrey Jones, Nina Siemaszko.
CAME THE DAWN - dir. Uli Edel; starring: Perry King, Brooke Shields.
OIL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL - dir. Paul Abascal; starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Priscilla Presley.
HALF-WAY HORRIBLE - dir. Gregory Widen; starring: Clancy Brown, Cheech Marin.
TILL DEATH DO WE PART - dir. W. Peter Iliff; starring: Frank Stallone, Kate Vernon.

The first couple are great. The episodes kind of wane a little in the middle but are still worth a look see. The final third of the episodes are great fun. Horror fans owe it to themselves to get their hands on this set and all the preceding seasons to find out all the fun we had back when these babies were airing on HBO.

The episodes have held up well over time and look and sound better now then when they originally aired. Acting, top notch. Special Effects, top notch what’s not to like?

Click here to head on over to the DVD’s homepage for all the technical info and you can go to just about anywhere DVD’s are sold to get your hands on one.

Click here to buy it directly from WB.