“Tales from the Crypt” premiered on HBO on June 10, 1989. It would go on to run for seven seasons, spawn two feature films, an animated series and numerous licensing deals for show host The Crypt Keeper. This past weekend Midsummer Scream brought together a handful of the people who helped build the show’s legacy to celebrate the iconic series’ 30th anniversary.
The panel was moderated by Robert Parigi, a post-production supervisor and associate producer who worked on two seasons of “Tales from the Crypt” and the feature film spin-off, Demon Knight and featured the voice of The Crypt Keeper John Kassir, Academy Award-winning special effects supervisor and producer Richard Edlund who created the show’s iconic title sequence, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight Director Ernest R. Dickerson, Director William (Bill) Malone, and Production Designer Gregory Melton. Over the hour-long panel a number of stories were shared about making the series. Here are some we thought were the most interesting.
The “Tales from the Crypt” Title Sequence Was Filmed Using Both Miniatures and Full-Size Sets
You’d never know it thanks to the Hollywood magic that made it happen, but the title sequence to “Tales from the Crypt” was pieced together using shots of both miniatures and live-action sets. During the panel, Richard Edlund broke down the iconic title sequence and shared what parts used miniatures and what parts were live-action. According to Edlund, the first part of the sequence leading up to the house was all created using miniatures, once inside the front door the scene was shot completely inside a full-size set where the bookcase opens to a blue screen that helps the transition to another miniature used for the stairwell, which leads to a door that would open and transition to another live-action set where you meet The Crypt Keeper. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen the show’s title sequence you can check it out below.
The Crypt Keeper Shares Eyes With Another Horror Icon
During the panel, John Kassir shared that The Crypt Keeper “has those beautiful blue eyes” because they were eyes that were made for Chucky in the original Child’s Play. The Crypt Keeper puppet was created by special effects technician Kevin Yagher who also created Chucky. Because of budgetary constraints, Yagher repurposed some of the items from his shop to create The Crypt Keeper and leveraged leftover Chucky Eyes to create The Crypt Keeper character.
The Crypt Keeper of the First Few Seasons Was More Ominous In Part Due to the Limitations of the Puppet
In the later seasons of “Tales from the Crypt,” The Crypt Keeper was much more lively and animated, but that wasn’t an evolution of the character. In fact, when John Kassir first auditioned for the role that was very much how he portrayed him. Unfortunately, in 1989 there just wasn’t a means of getting the Crypt Keeper’s mouth to move that fast. As a result, Kassir had to slow his performance, which made the character seem much more ominous in the series’ first few seasons. Once the technology caught up the Crypt Keeper was more animated and lively like he was originally intended to be.
Director Bill Malone Created the Look of the Molly Character in his Episode “Only Skin Deep” and Sculpted the Character’s Mask
Bill Malone directed two episodes of “Tales from the Crypt,” but on his first episode, he took on a more creative role and was responsible for the creation of one of the main characters in the episode. Malone, a former mask maker (he designed and sculpted the original Michael Myers mask), was unhappy with what the makeup artists had brought to the table for the character of Molly so he took it upon himself to sculpt exactly what he wanted. Using 17th-century dolls for inspiration, Malone created the sculpture that would be used to make the character’s mask.
The Contact Lenses Used in “Only Skin Deep” Turned the Eyes of the Actress Who Wore Them Blue
To give Molly a doll-like appearance in the episode “Only Skin Deep,” actress Sherrie Rose wore black contact lenses and according to Malone, it turned the actresses eyes blue for a short period after filming. “What the guy told me is that they made the contacts so quickly that the dyes hadn’t set,” explained Malone during the panel. “So they set in her eyes.” The actress was extremely upset, but thankfully the blue faded from her eyes after about a week.
(Image Source: IMDb)
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight Filming Was Regularly Interrupted by Birds
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight was originally supposed to be shot over the course of 40 nights in the desert, but Director Ernest Dickerson wasn’t too keen on the idea, so he convinced the studio to shoot in a decommissioned airplane hangar which would be more comfortable for the cast and crew and gave them total control of the environment.
But it turned out even in a more controlled environment Dickerson didn’t have full control because there were birds living in the hangar’s rafters, which would interfere with filming. “We’re trying to do a sound take and we keep hearing these bird sounds,” explained Dickerson during the panel.
So the crew had to get creative to silence the birds, first they would shoot off blanks, which would scare the birds into silence, once the birds got used to that they tried “some sort of electronic thing that sounds,” which worked for a while but Dickerson admits they eventually had to live with it and it became a problem for the sound mixer to deal with.
Ernest Dickerson’s Vision of Cordelia’s Cursed State In Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight Was Much Different Than What We Eventually Saw on Screen
While talking about Demon Knight during the panel, Director Ernest Dickerson shared that there were a lot of “wild ideas” he wanted to do, but unfortunately, the studio wouldn’t let him do them. One instance Dickerson shared was specific to the character Cordelia, who was played by Brenda Bakke. Because the character was a prostitute Dickerson wanted her demon state to somehow tie into that. “I wanted to do this thing where her stomach would open up, become kinda like a vagina dentalis,” explained Dickerson during the panel. “And a tongue would come out and it would wrap around his head and she’d pull him in and eat him like that.” Unfortunately after seeing illustrations and hearing about the idea the studio wouldn’t go for it.
Filter’s “Hey Man Nice Shot” Made It Onto the Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight Soundtrack Because A Member of the Band Was Related to Someone on the Crew
Though he didn’t remember the exact details, when a mention of the film’s soundtrack came up during the panel, Dickerson shared that he remembered that Filter’s song “Hey Man Nice Shot” being used in the opening sequence was the result of a member of the band being related to somebody on the crew.
As a personal aside, the Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight soundtrack is one of my favorite horror soundtracks of all time. As a teenager, anytime I would have to drive through a stretch of desert on the way to a friends house at night I would blare that soundtrack on my car stereo.
One of the Locations Used in the Show’s Final Season Required an Exorcism Before Shooting
The final season of Tales from the Crypt was shot in the UK and Bill Malone was the only Director who shot episodes with both the US and UK crew. In his episode “Report from the Grave” a set they used was in a creepy remote location, but before they could film the location had to be exorcised. “The location manager came to us and said, ‘You know we’ll have to have an exorcism before we can shoot there’,” shared Malone during the panel. So an exorcist was hired and they exorcised the location before going to shoot.
There Was Another “Tales from the Crypt” Film in the Works That Was Scrapped for Bordello of Blood
During the panel, Greg Melton shared that sometime around the fifth season of the show work on a second “Tales from the Crypt” film had started and it was going to be called “Fat Tuesday” and told the story of a demonic Mardis Gras clown wreaking havoc on New Orleans. Two days into location scouting the plug was pulled on “Fat Tuesday” and work began around the script for Bordello of Blood, which would be the second and final “Tales from the Crypt” movie.
30 Years of Tales From the Crypt was the perfect celebration of a well-loved series with some of those closest to the project. I hope that those of you who weren’t able to make it out to this year’s Midsummer Scream learned something new about this beloved series.
