Blog Archives
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: 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: 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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TV Nights: The Flash #1
The Flash Week 1
Episode: Pilot
Original Airdate: 10-7-14
Even though I haven’t been watching Arrow, this was the show that I’ve been most excited for this season. I’m a big fan of the Flash and everything I’ve heard about this show before now has been pretty positive. They want to take it in a more sci-fi direction, they have John Wesley Shipp as an homage to the 90’s short lived Flash series which I’m glad I caught up with a few months back, and they have Danielle Panabaker who I remember from when she was in Sky High. It has a lot more of what’s missing from the rest of the superhero TV shows this season: fun. Yes, there are some serious moments, but there is a lot more fun in this show than Gotham, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or even Arrow from what I gather. Those other shows do have their fun moments, and Flash has a serious side too, but this is the right way to do a superhero on TV right now. It’s the closest thing to a Marvel movie brought to the small screen, which is funny because it is a DC property.
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TV Nights: Gotham #3
Gotham Week 3
Episode: Balloonman
Original Airdate: 10-6-2014
This will be the last week where I post my thoughts on each episode on its own post. Starting next week, I’ll be discussing Gotham, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Flash, and eventually Constantine on a combined post covering all the shows until I decide to stop watching some of them. But Gotham has been a strange creature these past few weeks. Each time I watch the show, I do enjoy it quite a bit. But then after the credits roll and I begin to think about it a bit in order to write my thoughts on it, I start poking holes in it. Whether it’s the Penguin, or Fish Mooney, or Jim Gordon himself, there’s a lot of elements of the show that just rub me the wrong way as it pertains to the Batman mythos, at least the corner of the mythos that I know about. This was the first episode where I started poking holes in the show as I was watching it, but at this point there is still enough good in the show for me to latch onto to stick with it for a while longer at least.
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TV Nights: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2.2
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S2 Week 2
Episode: Heavy is the Head
Original Airdate: 9-30-2014
Once again, I’m a bit late with this week’s recap of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Depending on how much I have to say about Gotham next week, I will likely start combining my thoughts on the superhero TV shows of the week into a separate post, though the Flash and Constantine pilots will still get their own posts. Anyway, S.H.I.E.L.D. continues strong into its second season as things continue to have been shaken up since the events from the end of the first season. The team still has a lot of rebuilding to do, and it has to reassess their threats from various sources including Hydra, the government, and yet another group who we get to see a little bit more of in this episode.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 