Shudder announced that it will exclusively debut all seven seasons of the ‘90s cult classic horror anthology series Tales From the Crypt. Featuring the iconic Crypt Keeper, voiced by John Kassir, the series’ first season debuts Friday, May 1, with additional seasons rolling out weekly every Friday through June 12. Kassir revealed an all-new teaser and poster art at Overlook Film Festival’s Opening Night, where he participated in a panel for the show. Tales From the Crypt debuts on the heels of Shudder’s annual “Halfway to Halloween” programming event in April, featuring a killer lineup of film premieres, series debuts, watch parties and more.
“Tales from the Crypt isn’t just a series — it’s a cornerstone of horror storytelling. Becoming its exclusive streaming home is both an honor and a thrill for us at Shudder,” said Courtney Thomasma, Executive Vice President of AMC Global Media’s linear and streaming products. “This is the kind of genre-defining, wonderfully twisted entertainment our members crave, and we’re proud to give The Crypt Keeper a place to cackle once again.”
Inspired by the 1950s EC Comics, each episode of Tales from the Crypt is a self-contained story hosted by the Crypt Keeper (Kassir), a wisecracking corpse known for his macabre puns. With its signature unrestricted gore, profanity and dark irony, the show’s episode styles range from comedy to drama and deliver twisted moral lessons where evil characters meet poetically horrific ends and issues like greed, lust, and moral decay lead to tragic consequences. The series features a long list of Hollywood A-list guest stars including Brad Pitt, Demi Moore, Michael J. Fox, John Lithgow, Christopher Reeve, Catherine O’Hara, Steve Buscemi, Brooke Shields and many more. Several episodes have been directed by well-known talent including Rober Zemeckis, Tobe Hooper and William Friedkin, as well as acclaimed actors such as Tom Hanks, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael J. Fox.
Below is a recap of the Tales from the Crypt coverage on the site, organized by season to help you navigate through every pun-filled introduction and gruesome twist.
Season 1 (1989)
- Season 1 Episode 1: The Man Who Was Death – William Sadler kicks things off as an executioner who takes his work home.
- Season 1 Episode 6: Collection Completed – The season finale where a retired man takes up taxidermy with a domestic twist.
- Season 1 Episode 3: Dig That Cat… He’s Real Gone – Richard Donner directs Joe Pantoliano as a man who receives a cat’s nine lives—only to realize math isn’t his strong suit.
- Season 1 Episode 4: Only Sin Deep – Lea Thompson pawns her beauty for money and a chance to land a wealthy man, but the “interest” on her loan is more than she bargained for.
- Season 1 Episode 5: Lover Come Hack to Me – A newlywed couple spends their honeymoon at a family estate where a dark, bloody tradition is waiting to be upheld.
- Season 1 Episode 6: Collection Completed – In the season finale, a retired man (M. Emmet Walsh) becomes obsessed with his wife’s many pets, leading to a very creative taxidermy hobby.
Season 2 (1990)
- Season 2 Episode 1: Dead Right – Demi Moore learns that gold-digging has its price.
- Season 2 Episode 2: The Switch – Arnold Schwarzenegger steps behind the camera for this story of an old man spending a fortune on plastic surgery to win over Kelly Preston.
- Season 2 Episode 3: Cutting Cards – Directed by Walter Hill. Two rival gamblers (Lance Henriksen and Kevin Tighe) engage in the ultimate high-stakes game where losing an limb is part of the ante.
- Season 2 Episode 4: ‘Til Death Do Us Part – A young man woos an older woman for her money, only to realize her “til death” vow is incredibly literal.
- Season 2 Episode 5: Three’s a Crowd – A jealous husband suspects his wife is cheating during their anniversary trip, leading to one of the series’ darkest endings.
- Season 2 Episode 6: The Thing from the Grave – Teri Hatcher stars as a model protected by a boyfriend who promised to look out for her even from beyond the grave.
- Season 2 Episode 7: The Sacrifice – An insurance investigator gets caught in a murderous love triangle where the “third wheel” is a very grumpy corpse.
- Season 2 Episode 8: For Cryin’ Out Loud – Sam Kinison provides the voice of a rock promoter’s conscience in an episode featuring a cameo by Iggy Pop.
- Season 2 Episode 9: Four-Sided Triangle – Directed by Tom Holland. Patricia Arquette stars as a farm girl who falls in love with a scarecrow, much to the chagrin of her captors.
- Season 2 Episode 10: The Ventriloquist’s Dummy – Directed by Richard Donner and written by Frank Darabont. Bobcat Goldthwait and Don Rickles star in this legendary tale about a dummy that isn’t exactly made of wood.
- Season 2 Episode 11: Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today – A vanity-obsessed woman is tricked into a “body-swap” by a mysterious old witch.
- Season 2 Episode 12: Fitting Punishment – A cheap mortician finds out that cutting corners can lead to some tight spaces.
- Season 2 Episode 13: Korman’s Kalamity – Harry Anderson plays an EC Comics artist whose gruesome drawings start coming to life in the real world.
- Season 2 Episode 14: Lower Berth – The origin story of the Crypt Keeper himself, involving a two-faced carnival attraction and a 4,000-year-old mummy.
- Season 2 Episode 15: Mute Witness to Murder – After witnessing a murder, a woman loses her voice and is committed to a sanitarium run by the killer.
- Season 2 Episode 16: Television Terror – Morton Downey Jr. plays a tabloid TV host who gets more than he bargained for when he investigates a “haunted” house live on air.
- Season 2 Episode 17: My Brother’s Keeper – Conjoined twins (one good, one evil) find their relationship strained when one of them commits a murder.
- Season 2 Episode 18: The Secret – The season finale involving a young orphan and a very “toothsome” secret.
Season 3 (1991)
- Season 3 Episode 1: Loved to Death – A screenwriter uses a love potion that works a little too well.
- Season 3 Episode 2: Carrion Death – A convict on the run through the desert is handcuffed to a dying cop and stalked by a very patient vulture.
- Season 3 Episode 3: The Trap – Directed by Michael J. Fox. A man fakes his own death to collect insurance money, only to find that being “dead” is more permanent than he planned.
- Season 3 Episode 4: Abra Cadaver – A surgeon plays a heart-stopping prank on his brother that leads to a very cold medical retribution.
- Season 3 Episode 5: Top Billing – Jon Lovitz stars as a struggling actor who will do anything to land a role in a production of Hamlet—even if it’s for a very specialized theater troupe.
- Season 3 Episode 6: Dead Wait – Directed by Tobe Hooper. A thief looks for a legendary black pearl on a tropical island plagued by revolution and voodoo.
- Season 3 Episode 7: The Reluctant Vampire – Malcolm McDowell plays a vampire who works at a blood bank to satisfy his thirst without killing, until the inventory runs low.
- Season 3 Episode 8: Easel Killya – An artist finds that his paintings only become masterpieces when he uses a very “visceral” type of red paint.
- Season 3 Episode 9: Undertaking Palor – A group of kids discovers a local mortician and a pharmacist are running a gruesome “fast-track” business for funerals.
- Season 3 Episode 10: Mournin’ Mess – A reporter investigates a series of murders linked to a charity for the homeless, only to find out who is really being “served.”
- Season 3 Episode 11: Split Second – A lumberjack’s jealous streak leads to a showdown involving a chainsaw and a very difficult choice.
- Season 3 Episode 12: Deadline – Walter Hill directs this noir-soaked tale of a reporter looking for a big break.
- Season 3 Episode 13: Spoiled – A neglectful husband obsessed with his experiments ignores his wife until she finds a more “animated” distraction.
- Season 3 Episode 14: Yellow – The feature-length season finale directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Kirk Douglas and Dan Aykroyd in a harrowing WWI tale about cowardice and lineage
Season 4 (1992)
- Season 4 Episode 1: None But the Lonely Heart – Tom Hanks directs this story of a con man who preys on wealthy widows.
- Season 4 Episode 2: This’ll Kill Ya – A scientist working on a serum for eternal life is injected with a concoction by his disgruntled colleagues.
- Season 4 Episode 3: On a Deadman’s Chest – Directed by William Friedkin. A rock star who hates his bandmate’s wife gets a tattoo that takes on a life of its own.
- Season 4 Episode 4: Seance – Two con artists try to swindle a wealthy widow by staging a seance, only to find they’ve summoned the real deal.
- Season 4 Episode 5: Beauty Rest – An aging actress (Mimi Rogers) will do anything to eliminate the competition in a high-stakes beauty pageant.
- Season 4 Episode 6: What’s Cookin’ – Christopher Reeve and Judd Nelson star in this classic tale about a failing restaurant that finds success with a very “special” secret ingredient.
- Season 4 Episode 7: The New Arrival – A radio psychologist with a failing show visits a regular caller to discipline her unruly child, but the kid is more than a handful.
- Season 4 Episode 8: Showdown – A gunslinger finds himself in a ghost town filled with his own victims.
- Season 4 Episode 9: King of the Road – Brad Pitt plays a young drag racer who challenges a retired veteran (Raymond J. Barry) to a high-stakes race.
- Season 4 Episode 10: Maniac at Large – A shy librarian (Blythe Danner) becomes obsessed with the news of a serial killer on the loose in her neighborhood.
- Season 4 Episode 11: Split Personality – Joe Pesci plays a con man who tries to date identical twins to steal their fortune, only to find they have a very literal way of sharing.
- Season 4 Episode 12: Strung Along – An aging puppeteer suspects his young wife is cheating on him and uses his latest creation to get revenge.
- Season 4 Episode 13: Werewolf Concerto – Guests at a secluded hotel suspect one of them is a werewolf, while Timothy Dalton plays a hunter on the trail.
- Season 4 Episode 14: Curiosity Killed – An elderly couple on a camping trip discovers a youth-restoring secret that leads to a bitter fight for survival.
Season 5 (1993)
- Season 5 Episode 1: Death of Some Salesman – Tim Curry plays three different roles in this incredible episode about a con artist meeting a family of maniacs.
- Season 5 Episode 2: As Ye Sow – Directed by Kyle MacLachlan and starring Sam Waterston and Adam West, this one features a husband hiring a private eye to track his supposedly unfaithful wife.
- Season 5 Episode 3: Forever Ambergris – A veteran photographer (Steve Buscemi) tries to take out a rising star (Roger Daltrey) in a war zone via a deadly germ.
- Season 5 Episode 4: Food for Thought – Ernie Hudson plays a carnival psychic who suspects his wife (Joan Chen) is cheating on him, leading to a “mind-blowing” confrontation.
- Season 5 Episode 5: People Who Live in Brass Hearses – Bill Paxton and Brad Dourif star as brothers planning a heist on an ice cream truck driver with a very cold secret.
- Season 5 Episode 6: Two for the Show – A man who murders his wife finds himself trapped on a train with a suspicious detective (David Paymer) and another woman who looks remarkably familiar.
- Season 5 Episode 7: House of Horror – Wil Wheaton and Keith Coogan are fraternity pledges who have to survive a night in a supposedly haunted house as part of a deadly initiation.
- Season 5 Episode 8: Well Cooked Hams – Billy Zane stars as a magician who kills his mentor (Martin Sheen) to steal a world-famous trick, only to find the “Box of Death” is quite effective.
- Season 5 Episode 9: Creep Course – Jeffrey Jones is a professor who plots with a jock (Anthony Michael Hall) to sacrifice a studious girl to an ancient mummy.
- Season 5 Episode 10: Came the Dawn – Brooke Shields stars as a hitchhiker who hitches a ride with a man (Perry King) whose “cabin in the woods” comes with a lot of baggage.
- Season 5 Episode 11: Oil’s Well That Ends Well – Lou Diamond Phillips and Priscilla Presley are con artists trying to trick some Southerners into an oil scam, but the “black gold” they find is different than expected.
- Season 5 Episode 12: Half-Way Horrible – Clancy Brown plays a ruthless CEO whose new chemical preservative has some side effects that are… only half-bad.
- Season 5 Episode 13: Till Death Do We Part – John Stamos stars as a mobster’s boy-toy who tries to run away with a waitress, but the boss’s wife has a very firm grip.
Season 6 (1994-1995)
- Season 6 Episode 1: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime – A lawyer gets stuck in a Kafkaesque legal nightmare in a small town.
- Season 6 Episode 2: Only Skin Deep – A man with a history of violence meets a masked woman at a party. He soon learns that what’s underneath the mask is far worse than he could have imagined.
- Season 6 Episode 3: Whirlpool – A comic book artist finds herself living out a Groundhog Day-style nightmare where she is repeatedly murdered, only to wake up and draw the event again.
- Season 6 Episode 4: Operation Friendship – A lonely nerd has an imaginary friend who starts taking over his life and eliminating anyone who gets in the way of their “friendship.”
- Season 6 Episode 5: Revenge is the Nuts – The sadistic caretaker of a home for the blind (Anthony Zerbe) gets a taste of his own medicine when the residents decide they’ve had enough.
- Season 6 Episode 6: The Bribe – Terry Kinney stars as an honest building inspector who is tempted by a bribe to help his daughter’s career, leading to a fiery finale.
- Season 6 Episode 7: The Pit – Directed by Pittsburgh’s own John Harrison. Two rival martial artists (Mark Dacascos and Stoney Jackson) are manipulated by their wives into a fight to the death.
- Season 6 Episode 8: The Assassin – Three operatives (including Corey Feldman and Jonathan Banks) invade a home looking for a rogue agent, but the housewife (Shelley Hack) isn’t who she seems.
- Season 6 Episode 9: Staired in Horror – A man on the run takes refuge in a house owned by a woman whose staircase carries a curse: every step makes you age rapidly.
- Season 6 Episode 10: In the Groove – Miguel Ferrer returns as a radio DJ whose ratings-hungry sister (Wendie Malick) pushes him toward a murderous breakdown.
- Season 6 Episode 11: Surprise Party – A man inherits a house that is perpetually hosting a party from hell.
- Season 6 Episode 12: Doctor of Horror – Two bumbling morgue attendants help a mad scientist who is trying to extract the “soul” from the recently deceased.
- Season 6 Episode 13: Comes the Dawn – Two poachers in the Arctic find themselves hunted by a group of ancient vampires who have been waiting for the long winter night.
- Season 6 Episode 14: 99 and 44/100% Pure Horror – A soap mogul is pushed to the edge by his cheating wife.
- Season 6 Episode 15: You, Murderer – Robert Zemeckis uses cutting-edge (for the time) tech to bring Humphrey Bogart back to life.
Season 7 (1996)
The final season, produced in the UK with an entirely British cast.
- Season 7 Episode 1: Fatal Caper – The “British Invasion” begins as three brothers fight for their father’s inheritance.
- Season 7 Episode 2: Last Respects – Directed by the legendary Freddie Francis (who directed the original 1972 Tales from the Crypt film!). Three sisters find a monkey’s paw and, well, you know how that goes.
- Season 7 Episode 3: A Slight Case of Murder – A mystery writer (Francesca Annis) finds herself in a real-life whodunnit involving her jealous husband and a very observant neighbor.
- Season 7 Episode 4: Escape – A WWII tale about two men trying to escape a prison camp, only to find that betrayal has a very sharp edge.
- Season 7 Episode 5: Horror in the Night – A jewel thief on the run hides out in a hotel where the line between reality and hallucination starts to bleed.
- Season 7 Episode 6: Cold War – Ewan McGregor stars in this story of two criminals whose latest heist leads them into the clutches of a pair of vampires.
- Season 7 Episode 7: The Kidnapper – Steve Coogan plays a man whose obsession with a woman leads him to do the unthinkable to her newborn child.
- Season 7 Episode 8: Report from the Grave – Directed by William Malone. A scientist builds a machine to read the memories of the dead, starting with a notorious serial killer.
- Season 7 Episode 9: Smoke Wrings – Directed by Mandie Fletcher. A young man with a psychic device that can manipulate people’s desires tries to scam his way into a high-end advertising firm, but the fallout is anything but a dream job.
- Season 7 Episode 10: About Face – A corrupt priest (Anthony Andrews) finds out he has long-lost twin daughters—one beautiful and one “monstrous”—leading to a classic EC-style lesson in inner versus outer beauty.
- Season 7 Episode 11: Confession – A screenwriter (Eddie Izzard) is interrogated by a relentless detective (Ciarán Hinds) regarding a local serial killer. It’s a tense, noir-drenched episode where the truth is rewritten with every word.
- Season 7 Episode 12: Ear Today… Gone Tomorrow – A safe-cracker with a hearing problem gets a biological “upgrade” involving an owl’s anatomy, but he finds out that having super-hearing in a noisy world is its own kind of hell.
- Season 7 Episode 13: The Third Pig – The series finale! This fully animated episode (featuring the voice of Bobcat Goldthwait) reimagines the Three Little Pigs as a gory, Tex Avery-on-acid nightmare where the “Big Bad Wolf” ends up in a very different kind of slaughterhouse.
Bonus Content
If you can’t get enough of the Crypt Keeper, here are some of the movies (as well as the Amicus originals):
- Demon Knight (1995) – The first theatrical “Tales from the Crypt Presents” film.
- Bordello of Blood (1996) – We acknowledge its messy production (and Dennis Miller’s “love it or hate it” energy).
- Ritual (2002) – The often-forgotten third film in the franchise.
- Two-Fisted Tales (1992) – Originally intended as a sister series to Crypt based on Harvey Kurtzman’s war comics. When it wasn’t picked up, the segments were chopped up and aired as episodes like “Yellow” and “Showdown.”
- Secrets of the Cryptkeeper’s Haunted House – Dive into the Saturday morning kids’ game show.
- Tales from the Crypt (1972) – Directed by Freddie Francis. This is the one with Joan Collins being stalked by a Santa killer and Peter Cushing’s heartbreaking performance as Arthur Grimsdyke.
- The Vault of Horror (1973) – The follow-up anthology featuring Tom Baker and Terry-Thomas. B&S often notes how this one leans even harder into the bizarre, ironic twists.
- W.E.I.R.D. World (1995) –This TV movie pilot was produced by the same team behind the HBO series (Gilbert Adler, A.L. Katz) and based on stories from EC’s Weird Science and Weird Fantasy.
Perversions of Science
In 1997, HBO tried to replicate the success of Tales from the Crypt with a sci-fi spin-off titled Perversions of Science.
Season 1 (1997)
- Episode 1: Dream of Doom – A man wakes up from a nightmare only to find he’s trapped in a recursive loop of waking dreams.
- Episode 2: Anatomy Lesson – A serial killer suspects his latest victim might not be entirely human, leading to a very literal biology lesson.
- Episode 3: Boxed In – Kevin Pollak plays a pilot who is trapped in a small space with a female android (Traci Lords), and things get cramped in a hurry.
- Episode 4: The Exile – Jeffrey Combs stars as a scientist/serial killer being rehabilitated by David Warner. This one features a robot named Chrome who loves bad sex puns.
- Episode 5: Given the Heir – A woman travels back in time to kill her own ancestor to prevent her own miserable life, but the paradox has a nasty bite.
- Episode 6: Plan 10 from Outer Space – A send-up of 1950s sci-fi where aliens decide that the best way to conquer Earth is through a very specific kind of media takeover.
- Episode 7: Panic – On Halloween night in 1938, a group of people listening to the War of the Worlds broadcast realize that the “invasion” might be closer than they thought.
- Episode 8: Snap Ending – A space crew discovers that their mission is being controlled by a force that views them as little more than characters in a story.
- Episode 9: Ultimate Weapon – An alien (Heather Graham) arrives on Earth and uses her “charms” to manipulate a scientist into helping her species.
- Episode 10: The People’s Choice – The series finale directed by Russell Mulcahy. A couple gets caught in a neighborhood war between rival nanny-bots in a future that looks suspiciously like the 1950s.
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