Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
| Tales from the Darkside: The Movie | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | John Harrison |
| Produced by | Mitchell Galin Richard P. Rubinstein |
| Screenplay by |
Michael McDowell (Lot 249 and Lover's Vow) George A. Romero (Cat from Hell) |
| Based on |
Lot No. 249 by Arthur Conan Doyle The Cat from Hell by Stephen King |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
John Harrison (Lover's Vow) Chaz Jankel (Cat from Hell) Jim Manzie (Lot 249) Pat Regan (Lot 249) Donald Rubinstein (Wraparound Story) |
| Cinematography | Robert Draper |
| Edited by | Harry B. Miller III |
|
Production
company |
Laurel Productions
Darkside Movie |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Box office | $16,324,573 |
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a 1990 American horror anthology film directed by John Harrison, and based on the anthology television series Tales from the Darkside. The film depicts a kidnapped paperboy who tells three stories of horror to the suburban witch who is preparing to eat him, à la Hansel and Gretel.
The film is sometimes said to have been intended as Creepshow 3, a sequel to George A. Romero and Stephen King's popular horror anthologies Creepshow and Creepshow 2. However, this is not supported by any real evidence.Tom Savini has been quoted as saying that this film is the real Creepshow 3, which could be how the rumor started, though he may just have been referring to the similar nature of the movies and the involvement of King and Romero. The story titled "Cat from Hell" was originally going to appear in Creepshow 2, but was scrapped due to budgetary reasons.
The movie opens with Betty, an affluent suburban housewife and modern-day witch (Deborah Harry), planning a dinner party. The main dish is to be Timmy (Matthew Lawrence), a young boy whom she has captured and chained up in her pantry. To stall her from stuffing and roasting him, the boy tells her three horror stories from a book she gave him, titled Tales from the Darkside.
In the first segment, Michael McDowell adapts Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "Lot No. 249". A graduate student named Bellingham (played by Steve Buscemi) has been cheated by two classmates, Susan (Julianne Moore), and Lee (Robert Sedgwick), who framed him for theft to ruin his chances of winning a scholarship for which they were competing. As revenge, Bellingham reanimates a mummy and uses it to murder them both. Susan's brother Andy (Christian Slater) kidnaps Bellingham, and burns the parchment and mummy. He considers killing Bellingham, but in the end cannot bring himself to commit real murder. However, Bellingham brings Susan and Lee back from the dead (having switched the reanimation parchment with a similar one) and dispatches them to Andy's dorm, where they greet the terrified Andy by saying that Bellingham sends his regards.
...
Wikipedia