Tales from the Crypt (1972 film)
| Tales from the Crypt | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Freddie Francis |
| Produced by | |
| Screenplay by | Milton Subotsky |
| Based on |
Tales from the Crypt & The Vault of Horror by Johnny Craig Al Feldstein William M. Gaines |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Douglas Gamley |
| Cinematography | Norman Warwick |
| Edited by | Teddy Darvas |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ₤170,000 |
| Box office | over $3 million (US) |
Tales from the Crypt is a 1972 British horror film, directed by Freddie Francis. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the stories, however, are actually from EC's Tales from the Crypt. The reason for this, according to Creepy founding editor Russ Jones, is that producer Milton Subotsky did not own a run of the original EC comic book but instead adapted the movie from the two paperback reprints given to him by Jones. The movie was one of many Amicus horror anthologies made during the 1970s and features an all star cast, including Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Richard Greene, and Roy Dotrice, with Ralph Richardson as the Crypt Keeper.
The story "Wish You Were Here" was reprinted in the paperback collection The Vault of Horror (Ballantine, 1965). The other four stories in the movie were among the eight stories reprinted in Tales from the Crypt (Ballantine, 1964). It was produced by Amicus Productions and filmed at Shepperton Studios.
In the film, five strangers encounter the mysterious Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson) in a crypt, and he tells each in turn the manner of their death. Richardson's hooded Crypt Keeper, more sombre than the EC original (as illustrated by Al Feldstein and Jack Davis), has a monk-like appearance and resembles EC's GhouLunatics. In the EC horror comics, the other horror hosts (the Old Witch and the Vault Keeper) wore hoods, while the Crypt Keeper did not.
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