"Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
09-26-22, 09:59 PM
#1
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"Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)  Selected by shadokitty |
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These "October Horror Movie Challenge" threads are for the discussion of the films in the 31 FILM SUBSET list.
The plan is for everyone to watch this film on the October day in the thread title, and to start discussing it the morning of the following day.
You may start discussion early if you want, but the preferred plan is for this to be as much of a group exercise as possible, with all of us viewing it "together" and discussing after.
Of course, you are totally encouraged to participate in these threads even if you haven't watched the movie on the designated day.
Even if you haven't watched it in years, or are not participating in the Horror Challenge, please feel free to chime in.
Spoiler tags aren't always used in here, so if you have yet to see the film BEWARE OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS.
______________________________
These "October Horror Movie Challenge" threads are for the discussion of the films in the 31 FILM SUBSET list.
The plan is for everyone to watch this film on the October day in the thread title, and to start discussing it the morning of the following day.
You may start discussion early if you want, but the preferred plan is for this to be as much of a group exercise as possible, with all of us viewing it "together" and discussing after.
Of course, you are totally encouraged to participate in these threads even if you haven't watched the movie on the designated day.
Even if you haven't watched it in years, or are not participating in the Horror Challenge, please feel free to chime in.
Spoiler tags aren't always used in here, so if you have yet to see the film BEWARE OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS.
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Last edited by Chad; 09-26-22 at 10:25 PM.
10-02-22, 04:31 AM
#2
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Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
The stories here are a little too mild. One would think with the freedom from TV standards and practices, the movie version could go a lot further with the shock and gore, but this is still "family-friendly."
10-03-22, 07:27 PM
#3
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Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
I searched for the film on HBO Max and Direct, but it doesn't appear to be on any of those now. I watched it on Paramount+.
Not my first watch. I know my first was in a previous challenge. I'll agree with the above that it doesn't have much bite to it. I do like that this film has two punk rock legends. Too bad that it wasn't more punk itself.
Not my first watch. I know my first was in a previous challenge. I'll agree with the above that it doesn't have much bite to it. I do like that this film has two punk rock legends. Too bad that it wasn't more punk itself.
10-28-22, 01:23 PM
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Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
Surprisingly I've never seen Tales From the Darkside, it's a film I always assumed I had seen.
I found it to be refreshing and a bit more intense/gorey than other tv anthology movies I have seen, each story having a good hook/visual but with long stretches of drama/filler. The third winged demon segment (with cool demon visuals and domestic parallels, even if it doesn't make sense why the husband would tell at that point) was my favorite but I appreciated the more gorey approach to black cat tropes and also though the mummy was fun. The wraparound segment was a clever twist on the ripe domestic home life image. Most of the tales had a good way of seeming relatable but twisted.
I found it to be refreshing and a bit more intense/gorey than other tv anthology movies I have seen, each story having a good hook/visual but with long stretches of drama/filler. The third winged demon segment (with cool demon visuals and domestic parallels, even if it doesn't make sense why the husband would tell at that point) was my favorite but I appreciated the more gorey approach to black cat tropes and also though the mummy was fun. The wraparound segment was a clever twist on the ripe domestic home life image. Most of the tales had a good way of seeming relatable but twisted.
Last edited by Undeadcow; 10-28-22 at 01:37 PM.
10-28-22, 04:42 PM
#5
Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
I knew about the final story and the wraparound story from my brother-in-law who saw it in the theater but after all these years I have now seen the film. The reporter in Scared to Death sounded a lot like Steve Buscemi to me so it was nice to have the real deal here -- Steve seemed like he was having a lot fun with his character. 
The cat crawling out of the prosthetic head was truly horrific. Not bad as the unofficial Creepshow 3.
The cat crawling out of the prosthetic head was truly horrific. Not bad as the unofficial Creepshow 3.
10-28-22, 09:21 PM
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Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
This was really nice. I’m pretty sure I had never seen this, but I somehow remembered seeing the last story. All of the segments were engaging for me and loved the wraparound. Debbie Harry was in some great movies at the time.
10-28-22, 10:57 PM
#9
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Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
Tales from the Slowside.
Caught this on Pluto TV today. It was okay. Very slow and clunky though I found it more captivating than expected in terms of intended background viewing that kept my eyes on the screen. Lots of known actors in this, that was nice. A mix of bad and also excellent practical effects. The transformation toward the end was handled well.
While a good story is about the journey, I was disappointed by how telegraphed all four endings were. I knew what would happen for the bookends, the mummy, the cat, and the vow. All of them were obvious, and that's ultimately not what I want out of these kinds of anthologies.
It was okay.
Caught this on Pluto TV today. It was okay. Very slow and clunky though I found it more captivating than expected in terms of intended background viewing that kept my eyes on the screen. Lots of known actors in this, that was nice. A mix of bad and also excellent practical effects. The transformation toward the end was handled well.
While a good story is about the journey, I was disappointed by how telegraphed all four endings were. I knew what would happen for the bookends, the mummy, the cat, and the vow. All of them were obvious, and that's ultimately not what I want out of these kinds of anthologies.
It was okay.
10-28-22, 11:05 PM
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Re: "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" Reviews/Discussion - 2022 Horror Challenge
I enjoyed this. It is a lighter mood, which is good. It does go from strong to weak, though. My favorite was the framing story with Deborah Harry and then the first story, the mummy one. The cat story was decent. The worst was the last one with Rae Dawn Chong. It was a retelling of an old mermaid story that I've seen several times before and done better. But in general, this was a good time. 3 out of 5 stars.
