Last month, HBO Max arrived with a massive, eclectic collection of movies and TV series from HBO, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Entertainment, and many other studios. The streaming service includes many of HBO's signature series like Game of Thrones, Westworld and Watchmen, but one of the more conspicuous gaps in the lineup is the absence of Tales from the Crypt, an anthology series based on a comic book that gave the network one of its early long-running hits.
Years before HBO’s Spawn or Watchmen brought comic book drama to the network, Tales from the Crypt premiered in 1989. The show was based on the infamous comic book series of the same name, which was published by EC Comics in the 1950s. At that time, EC’s titles were at the forefront of a wave of hugely popular horror comics that kids loved and that parents were suspicious of.
Each issue of the comic book featured an assortment of scary stories told by a trio of macabre narrators: the Crypt-Keeper, the Old Witch, and the Vault-Keeper. The stories were full of murder, monsters, and mayhem, so it’s not too shocking that they eventually fell under scrutiny from parents, teachers, and even the U.S. government. Facing threats of censorship, the comic book industry created the Comics Code Authority, which was accompanied by a list of themes and depictions that were no longer allowed. Most issues of EC’s horror comics included several items on the list, so the publishers canceled all of them, including Tales from the Crypt.
The property made a brief return in the form of a British movie in 1972, but its resurrection occurred in 1989, when the Tales from the Crypt series premiered on HBO. The Cryptkeeper appeared as a wisecracking decomposing corpse and was the sole host of this incarnation. Scripts were based on stories from the old EC comic book and EC’s other horror titles. Although it’s categorized as a horror series, and had significant doses of HBO-level violence and gore, the show was equally defined by its sense of humor. The Crypt-Keeper’s introductions are packed with puns, and the stories often contain darkly comic twists.
Tales from the Crypt was a hit for HBO, running for 93 episodes. Several notable directors from the world of horror and beyond dropped in to helm episodes, including William Friedkin, Richard Donner, Tom Holland, Tobe Hooper, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, John Frankenheimer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The vast list of guest stars includes Whoopi Goldberg, Michael J. Fox, Joe Pesci, Christopher Reeve, Demi Moore, Don Rickles, Brooke Shields, Tim Curry, Martin Sheen, Lea Thompson, Brad Pitt, Steve Buscemi, and John Lithgow.
Two theatrical tie-in movies were released during the run of the show, the Cryptkeeper got his own Christmas album, and there was even a Saturday morning cartoon adaptation for kids that ran two seasons on ABC and was later brought back for a third season on CBS. The Cryptkeeper also made a very brief cameo in the Casper movie in 1995.
Tales from the Crypt is clearly an important show from HBO history, but the Cryptkeeper is nowhere to be seen on HBO Max -- nor is it on any other streaming service. The theatrical movies Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood can be rented on Amazon, iTunes, and various other digital outlets, and episodes of the series can be individually purchased on some streaming outlets too.
An explanation for the series’ absence may be found in the failure of an attempted reboot a few years ago. At the time, TNT announced that it was developing a new Tales show with M. Night Shyamalan, but it never surfaced. In an interview with Deadline, Turner Entertainment’s Kevin Reilly blamed “a very complicated underlying rights structure.” The same complications would be a major roadblock to figuring out who gets what share of the money HBO might make from streaming the show.
It’s a shame that Tales from the Crypt is currently so hard to find, especially since its most popular era is increasingly in the past. Even though horror anthologies offer some of the most compelling programming on any service, one of TV's definitive horror shows can't be found on any streaming service -- or as the Cryptkeeper might say -- any screaming service. Although it's place in horror history can't be denied, the show's unavailability on HBO Max or any other streaming service may see its legacy fade away into memory for good.