Macabre…ish Horror Review: Tales From The Darkside The Movie

Tales From the Darkside, the movie, 1990/ 93 min.

This is 4 tales of horror that is told by a boy, Timmy (Matthew Lawrence) to his kidnapper, a suburban housewife, Betty (Debby Harry). He’s chained in her pantry and she is busy with her dinner party food prep and he is stalling for time.

Lot 249: Classmates, Susan (Julianne Moore) and Lee (Robert Sedgewick) cheat a grad student, Edward (Steve Buscemi) and frame him for theft so that he loses his chance at a scholarship, that they are all competing for. His revenge is to kill them via mummy. But one of their brother’s, Andy (Christian Slater) arrives to avenge their death and kidnaps Edward.

Cat From Hell: A wealthy wheelchair bound man, Drogan (William Hickey) hires a hitman to kill a cat. He says the cat killed 3 residents of the house and that he is next. The hitman doesn’t believe him but he’s willing to kill a cat for $100,000 but he finds out if it’s true or not.

Lover’s Vow: A struggling artist, Preston (James Remar) has a weird and deadly encounter with a gargoyle and makes a vow to never speak of it. He meets a woman, Carola (Rae Dawn Chong), she tends his wounds, they fall for each other but as time goes on, a decade and 2 kids later, he can’t resist. He tells and breaks his vow. He definitely is not expecting the consequences but he’ll regret breaking it.

But Betty is ready to cook her main course and Timmy says he saved the best story for last and he begins to narrate his actions as she comes closer…

This is 4 tales encompassing one and the concept is really fun! These tales are based on a Stephen King’s short, a Japanese folklore, a short from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle inside of the framework of a German, Brother’s Grimm fairytale. Great concept! And one of them is a Romero adaptation. Well done!