Blog Archives
This Week in Superhero TV 10/27 – 10/31
Finally it’s time to have a full week’s worth of superhero shows to cover, from Gotham through Supernatural minus Arrow.
Graphic Horror: Tales From the Crypt Season 4
Hello boils and ghouls, it’s Halloween and I’ve come to the end of my current re-watch of Tales From the Crypt with season 4. Ok, technically the day after Halloween, but you get the point. I hope you have enjoyed my romp through the terrorvision episodes and if you would like me to get to the last three seasons before next Halloween be sure to let me know in the comments. While season 4 had a few more weak spots than the earlier seasons especially during the first half of the season, it still had quite a few high points as it made its way through to the last half of the season. There were several episodes this season that felt like they were period pieces, though they often also had a sense of taking place in modern day.
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Graphic Horror: Tales From the Crypt Season 3
Once more into the breach good friends as I continue my journey through the first four seasons of Tales From the Crypt this Halloween season. Something I noticed with season 3 is that for the most part, the twists were stronger, but the episodes didn’t always live up to them. There are still some great episodes here, many that I remembered quite well, and a couple I didn’t remember quite so well. The make up, special effects, and humor are still the high points of the season. It also has what seems like it could have been the show’s biggest star at the time, though there have been many actors who were or would become bigger stars than they were at the time of their episode. Overall it was another strong season, and unlike season 2 that ended with a fizzle, this season ended with a bang.
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TV Nights: Constantine #1
Constantine Week 1
Episode: Non Est Asylum
Original Airdate: 10-24-2014
The last comic book show of the fall season is upon us and it’s definitely not the Supernatural ripoff that some people think it might be, it’s also not a spin-off of the Keanu Reeves movie from a few years back though it shares the same name. Instead, it’s something inbetween the two. It’s based off the John Constantine Hellblazer comics from DC’s Vertigo line and from what I understand this plays it much closer to the source material than the Keanu movie ever did. But at the same time, since I am familiar with that movie, I do see a few similarities for the uninitiated. For the most part I thought it was pretty good, and it got kicked up a notch during the climax.
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This Week In Superhero TV: 10/20 – 10/21
Another short week before Constantine’s pilot comes out at the end of this week and I have no idea when I’m going to get around to watching it. I am also running behind on watching Tales From the Crypt season 3 so it won’t be up tomorrow, though I hope I will be able to finish it by the end of Saturday. Anyway on to the actual television episodes that I will be talking about here. After a good showing by Gotham last week, it’s back down into the dumps again, but Flash and S.H.I.E.L.D. are both going very strong. Flash is really starting to remind me of a more superheroic version of Buffy which is funny because S.H.I.E.L.D. is the one that’s helmed by Buffy alums, or at least Whedon team members. Still, overall it was a good week and I’m interested in seeing what Constantine has to offer tomorrow and if I can keep up with watching four shows a week and still have time to watch movies. Here goes!
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Graphic Horror: Bordello Of Blood
Tales From the Crypt: Bordello of Blood 1996
Even though I haven’t managed to catch as many horror movies this month as I would have liked to, since I am going through several seasons of the Tales From the Crypt television show I thought it was only fitting to finish out watching the final movie. Even though it’s actually the second movie that was released just a year after Demon Knight, it even features the return of a couple elements from Demon Knight including the key and William Sadler, though the latter returned covered in mummy wraps to talk with the Cryptkeeper. Out of the three movies, this one is definitely the most comedic as noted by fact that it stars Dennis Miller. It also has the most nudity of the three as there are several scenes that take place within the bordello even though they are all vampire women, they are often mostly naked vampire women. And even though I hadn’t seen this film probably since it first came out on home video/aired on cable I still remembered the final twist so that wasn’t a surprise.
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Graphic Horror: Tales From the Crypt Season 2
I’m continuing my journey through the Tales From the Crypt TV series first four seasons this October and while the first season was the shortest at only six episodes, the second season is the longest with a whopping eighteen episodes. If you haven’t read my first season roundup, I will be looking at each of the episodes in full, especially the twist ending and how well it works within the episode, so spoilers obviously abound. The second season had a bit of a slow start, but about halfway through went into several of my all time favorite episodes. The budget seemed to be higher, and there’s plenty of recognizable actors like Teri Hatcher, Don Rickles, Bobcat Goldthwait, Michael Ironside, Demi Moore, Jeffrey Tambor, Patricia Clarkson, and more. I had a great time watching these and I’m looking forward to what’s in store for season 3.
TV Nights: This Week in Superhero TV 10/13 – 10/14
Yes, I know it’s a short week based on the title of this article but I’m technically only covering the shows that came out on Monday and Tuesday as I haven’t caught up with Arrow and Constantine doesn’t start until next week. Instead of cluttering my site with all of these shorter articles covering the superhero TV shows that are coming out this year, I decided to put my thoughts on all of them in a single post. Though Constantine’s pilot will get its own post next week. It’s been a good week with all the shows firing on all cylinders for the most part, either continuing their high standards, or in the case of Gotham showing some improvement. It’s a close call as to which show I like the most as both the Flash and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are really nailing what it means to be a superhero television show.
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Graphic Horror: Ritual
Ritual 2002
While a lot of people are familiar with the great television series Tales From the Crypt that ran for seven seasons on HBO, there are slightly fewer people who realize that they made a feature length film towards the end of their run called Demon Knight. Even fewer people realize that they made another movie the next year starring Dennis Miller called Bordello of Blood. And not even I realized that they had a this as a third movie to round out the trilogy. But when Bordello of Blood was a disaster at the box office, those plans were scrapped and the film, possibly still at the script stage was sold to Universal who stripped out all the references to the Cryptkeeper and Tales From the Crypt and released it as a solo film several years later. It wasn’t until even later that the Tales From the Crypt presents was restored when it was released on DVD and the Cryptkeeper scenes added back for the release, albeit with a very low budget version of the Cryptkeeper puppet that was also used in the DVD release of the television series which was around the same time. And after all this passing around, was the movie actually worth it? Not really. It felt like one of the mediocre episodes of the show drawn out into an hour forty-five. Mysteries were confusing for the sake of being a reveal closer towards the end, but it just made things confusing rather than interesting. And the final payoff was pretty weak anyway. I almost would have rather seen the Tales From the Crypt name left off of this movie.
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Graphic Horror: Tales From the Crypt Season 1
Welcome to my look back at one of my favorite horror TV shows of all time, Tales From the Crypt. While I never actually saw the show while it aired on HBO, instead I caught up with it several years later when it was airing late at night on Fox. And while I imagine that little to none of the blood and gore was cut out of the show, I did miss out on the plenty of sex and language that’s present throughout the show. When the show came out, it was an interesting experiment that throughout its run showcased many notable directors and actors. And while it was still on a somewhat smaller budget, especially during the early seasons, it managed to showcase some great special effects, especially when it came to the animatronic Cryptkeeper that opened and closed every episode with John Kassir’s iconic voice.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 