Directed by Peter S. Seaman (his only directing job, as he was the writer of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Doc Hollywood and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) who co-wrote it with Jeffrey Price (they also wrote those films together), “My Brother’s Keeper” is about cojoined twins Frank (Tim Stack) and Eddie (Jonathan Stark).

“Are you alone tonight? Well, consider yourself lucky…there could be two of you! And imagine what a fright-mare that could be. Just a reflection. Not so for tonight’s stars, Frank and Eddie. Two brothers who are touchingly close. When a woman tries to come between them, she finds herself caught in a tangled web of jealousy and intrigue. I think you’ll find it a twinning combination. So without futher ado, I bring you “My Brother’s Keeper.””

Frank is the good twin and Eddie the evil one. A doctor can get them apart, but there’s a fifty percent chance they’ll die, so Frank won’t undergo the operation. Frank falls for a girl named Maria (Jessica Harper!) who was actually hired by Eddie to push for the operation, even if Eddie keeps screwing up their dates and love life. He finally kills her with an axe which causes Frank to try and overdose on sleeping pills. When they wake up, they’ve been operated on, but who will the police arrest?

This episode is based on the story of the same name from Shock SuspenStories #16. It was written by William Gaines and Al Felder and drawn by George Evans.

Kids today have no idea who Morton Downey Jr. was. Seriously, Jerry Springer has taken on the role of being the first trash TV host but there was nothing like Morton when he was on TV. He started his in your face style as a talk show host at KFBK-AM in Sacramento, California. He was fired and replaced by Rush Limbaugh.

The Morton Downey Jr. Show started as a local show on New York’s WOR Channel 9 in 1987 and was syndicated for two years. It was a fad, but at the time, he was a big star blowing smoke in people’s faces and yelling his catchphrases.

By 1990, he was an actor.

Directed by former stuntman Charlie Picerni, “Television Terror” has Downey as Horton Rivers, a person with a show a lot like the show that the real Downey hosted. He’s touring the haunted Ritter House where Ada (Jeannie Epper) killed at least twelve people. Even when warned by an expert in ghosts, Rivers takes his entire crew into the house and pays for it.

Downey would play another character just like this — and just like Morton Downey Jr. — when he was Tony Pope in Predator 2.

This episode is based on “Television Terror!” from The Haunt of Fear #17. It was written and drawn by Harvey Kurtzman. It’s different than what is in the show, but as good as this episode is, Kurtzman is so much better.

“Good evening, kiddies. I just had quite a scare. I actually thought my heart was beating again! Tonight’s twisted tale is a villainous voyage, a murderous medical madness that screams out the crypt-sequences of getting too nosy with your neighbors. So the next time you stare into someone’s window…remember: curiosity killed the cat.”

Suzy (Patricia Clarkson) looks out her window one night and watches a man kill a woman. She’s so upset by this that she becomes mute. Perhaps Dr. Trask (Richard Thomas) could help her, except that, well, he’s also the killer.

Directed by Jim Simpson (who was second unit on Event Horizon) and written by Nancy Doyne (“The Geezenstacks” episode of Tales from the Darkside) and Stevcn Dodd, this at least has John Boy being a manic.

It’s based on the story of the same name that appeared in Crypt of Terror #18, written by William Gaines and Al Felder and drawn by Johnny Craig.

“Shhhh! Aw… There, there. Isn’t he just so cute that you wanna… Oops! Crypt Keeper here kiddies and speaking of kiddies, tonight’s sickening saga should be subtitled a “Tale from the Crib.” Yes, fear fans. I’ve got a real nursery crime for you this time. It’s all about the humble beginnings of my favorite horror hero. So call the babysitter and break out the barf bags as I narrate a nauseating novella with a very special place in my heart. I affectionately call this one “Lower Berth.””

Directed by Kevin Yagher and written by Fred Dekker and Steven Dodd, this is an origin story told by the man who created the Crypt Keeper for the show, special effects expert Yagher. Enoch (Jeff Yagher) the two-faced man meets and makes it with a 4,000 year old mummy, giving birth to The Crypt Keeper at a sideshow. Lewis Arquette shows up as well.

This is based on the Al Feldstein and William Gaines written and Jack Davis penciled story “Lower Berth” that was in Tales from the Crypt #33, which even sort of appeared on the cover.

Now you know where the host came from!

“Oh… Hi there fright fiends. How do you like my rancid rendering? Not bad for an amateur. Hopefully it will give you an inkling of what tonight’s fungusy photo-play is about because long before my eerie offerings appeared on your silver screen, they were a magazine called, get a load of this, Tales From the Crypt. So tonight, let’s take a behind the screams look at a struggling artist named Jim Korman who one day got a little too drawn into his work.”

Jim Korman (Harry Anderson) is dealing with his wife Mildred (Colleen Camp) to get over his inability to give her a baby and start taking fertility pills which give him new creative energy. Then characters right from his comic book start killing people, which brings Officer Lorelei Phelps (Cynthia Gibb) into his life, as she believes that it’s his fault after a monster that looks like a reptile he drew saves her from a rapist.

This episode was directed by Rowdy Herrington, who also made Striking Distance and Roadhouse. It was written by Terry Black, who wrote five episodes of the series and Dead Heat as well as Steven Dodd, who gets a credit on every episode.

The art in this episode is from Mike Vosberg, who drew all of the covers for the comic in the series.

This is based on “Kamen’s Kalamity!,” a story that ran in Tales from the Crypt #31. It’s nothing like what’s in this TV show, as it’s a meta story about Al Feldstein and William Gaines — who wrote it — abusing Jack Kamen — who drew it — for being too nice.

Jack Sholder has directed some of my favorite movies like Nightmare on Elm Street 2, The Hidden and Alone in the Dark. Working from a script by Steven Dodd, Jonathan David Kahn, Michael Alan Kahn and Don Mancini, he tells the story of Bobby Thornberry (Jon Clair) being sent to live — but mainly be free labor — for his funeral home owning Uncle Ezra (Moses Gunn), who is already abusing his other worker Clyde (Teddy Wilson).

“There you are sportsfiends. You know dead people like me make excellent point guards. When we can’t get off a shot, we simply pass… away that is. Speaking of which, allow me to be your fearleader for tonight’s half-time show. It’s a putrid playlet about my personal favorite sport… being a mortician. I fittingly call it Fitting Punishment.”

Ezra is a horrible person, using water instead of embalming fluid, reusing coffins and stealing gold teeth out of corpses. But the worst thing he does is beat Bobby into a lifetime limp by using a crowbar, as well as selling his Air Jordans to pay for medical bills. Sure, he told people Bobby fell down the steps, but will they believe it when he knocks him down the steps and buries his dead body in a coffin way too small, cutting his legs off to fit his body inside?

Total spoiler warning but I have never seen the reanimated legs of a dead man attack someone while wearing Jordans. What a wild episode.

“Fitting Punishment” is based on the story of the same title from Vault of Horror #16. It was written by Al Feldstein and William Gaines and drawn by Graham Ingels. Like many EC stories, it’s actually a ripoff of another one, in this case H.P. Lovecraft’s “In the Vault.” Unlike the comic book, this episode has an entirely black cast.

“Oh, hello there, fright fans. I’ve just been sitting here waiting for my blood pack to harden. My cosmetologist said I was starting to look a little lifeless. Much better, eh? Which reminds me, tonight’s poison parable is about a couple who take their appearance very seriously. Needless to say, they’re going to end up trying to save face. I call this one “Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today.””

Directed by Randa Haines (Children of a Lesser God) and written by Steven Dodd and Scott Nimerfro (who wrote eleven episodes of this show), “Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today” is about possibly MAGA couple Donald (Brian Kerwin) — who walks around their house armed and dangerous — and his wife Judy (Carol Kane), who speaks with a fake English accent. One day, a door-to-door saleswoman/witch (Frances Bay) comes to sell her a magic necklace that allows her to steal her body.

The story comes from Tales From the Crypt #25 and was written by Al Feldstein and William Gaines and drawn by probably the best of all EC artists, Wally Wood. Like many EC stories, it’s inspired by — sometimes Gaines and company would outright rip off stories — H.P. Lovecraft’s The Thing On The Doorstep.

It has some prestige talent in front of and behind the camera, but is just fine. It’s a quick story and at least Kane and Bay are fun in it.