The sixth season premiered on HBO on October 31, 1984, with “Only Skin Deep” — along with “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime” and “Whirlpool” — an episode directed by William Malone (feardotcom, Scared to Death) and written by Dick Beebe, who also worked with Malone on House On Haunted Hill.

Carl (Peter Onorati) is a woman-beating loser who shows up at a party knowing an ex will be there and makes a scene, as everyone knew he would, before meeting a masked woman named Molly (Sherrie Rose, Mary Jo from American Rickshaw), who says that she is dressed as “a synthetic shield with a corpse inside.” She takes Carl home, but that’s probably not a good idea for either of them.

“Hmm, I see your raise and I call! Bleed ’em and weep! Spades beat hearts every time. Oh, hello creeps. So glad you could join me for my weekly game. My deal! Hacks and chokers are wild. Are you in? Good. So’s the man in tonight’s terror tale, except his game is relationships. It’s a ghoulish little gamble I call “Only Skin Deep.””

The night of wild passion they share takes away Carl’s anger, but it won’t last, as she wants nothing to do with him afterward. He soon learns that attacking her is the worst thing he could have done, as she has no true face. Soon, he doesn’t have one of his own.

This episode was based on “Only Skin Deep!” from Tales from the Crypt #38, written by Al Feldstein and William Gaines and drawn by Reed Crandall. The comic is very different, as Herbert and Suzanne meet yearly at Mardi Gras. One year, Herbert becomes tired of being separated from her for a whole year and asks him to marry her. Suzanne still refuses to remove her witch mask, even after she marries him and they consummate their relationship. Then, when he tries to remove the mask himself, he rips off her face and watches her slowly die. Good Lord! Choke…