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Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

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Tales from the Darkside
Directed byJohn Harrison
Written byMichael McDowell,
Arthur Conan Doyle (short story "Lot. 249"),
Stephen King (short story "Cat from Hell"),
George A. Romero
Produced byMitchell Galin,
Richard Rubinstein
StarringDeborah Harry,
David Forrester,
Matthew Lawrence,
Christian Slater,
Steve Buscemi,
Julianne Moore,
David Johansen,
Rae Dawn Chong
CinematographyRobert Draper
Edited byHarry Miller III
Music byJohn Harrison,
Chaz Jankel,
Jim Manzie,
Pat Regan
Distributed byParamount Pictures (USA)
Laurel Entertainment (non-USA)
Release dates
United States/Canada
May 4, 1990
Japan
June 23, 1990
Australia
November 29, 1990
Running time
93 min.
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUSD $3,500,000 (est.)
Box office$16,324,573 (USA)

Tales from the Darkside (also known as Creepshow 3) is a 1990 movie directed by John Harrison based on the anthology television series Tales from the Darkside. The film, shot in anthology style, 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.

Paramount Pictures' (which distributed this movie) television division would later gain distribution rights to the Tales from the Darkside TV series.

The original basis of this film was to be at one point the 2nd sequel in the Creepshow franchise. It did not come to be, and with the popularity of the Tales from the Darkside television series, producers opted to add the title of that show to the film. However, Tom Savini has been quoted as saying that this film is the real "Creepshow 3".[1]

Synopsis

The movie opens with Betty, a housewife (Deborah Harry) planning a dinner party. The main dish is to be Timmy (Matthew Lawrence), a young paperboy chained up in her pantry. To stall her from stuffing and roasting him, the boy tells her three horror stories from the book "Tales from the Darkside".

Lot 249 – In the first segment, Michael McDowell adapts Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "Lot No. 249". A graduate student, Bellingham (played by Steve Buscemi), reanimates a mummy and uses it to take revenge on a pair of crooked college students, Susan (played by Julianne Moore), and Lee (played by Robert Sedgwick) who conspired to cheat Bellingham out of a scholarship. Their actions 'framed' him for theft from a museum, which results in his expulsion from the college. In vengeance for his master, the reanimated corpse kills both in rather gruesome ways. After discovering the cause, Susan's brother Andy (played by Christian Slater) kidnaps Bellingham, and burns the parchment and mummy that was the cause of it all. It is later discovered that Andy had burned the incorrect scroll, as the reanimated corpses of Susan and Lee close in on Andy in his dorm room, controlled by Bellingham.

Cat From Hell – In the second tale, George A. Romero adapts a Stephen King short story (of the same name). It is the story of Drogan, a wealthy elderly man who uses a wheelchair, (played by William Hickey), who hires a hitman, Halston (played by David Johansen), for one of the strangest jobs of his career: kill a black cat, which Drogan believes is murderously evil. Drogan explains that there were three other occupants of his house before the cat arrived: his sister, Amanda (played by Dolores Sutton), her friend Carolyn (played by Alice Drummond), and the family's butler, Richard Gage (played by Mark Margolis). The cat was adopted by Carolyn and Amanda, who ignore Drogan's claim that he can sense that the cat is evil. Drogan claims that one by one, the cat killed the other three: first it tripped Amanda, causing her to fall down a flight of stairs; then it clamped on to Carolyn's face until she suffocated; and finally, after Gage managed to capture the beast and tried to take it to the vet to put it down, it scratched his face, causing Gage to get into a fatal car crash.

Drogan believes that he is being punished because his pharmaceutical company killed 5,000 cats while testing a new drug. Halston doesn't believe the story, but is more than willing to eliminate the cat since Drogan is offering $100,000. Halston soon discovers that the cat is extremely difficult to kill after he tries to kill it several times. Eventually the cat kills the hitman, forcing itself down his throat and into his stomach. Drogan returns and finds the hitman's body; the cat climbs out of the hitman's mouth and jumps at Drogan, which causes him to have a fatal heart attack.

Lover's Vow – The third and final segment is written by Michael McDowell and based on yuki-onna, a spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore or more specifically Lafcadio Hearn's version in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. In the story, a despondent artist named Preston (played by James Remar) witnesses a gruesome murder by a gargoyle-like monster. The monster gets Preston to swear to never speak of what he saw in exchange for a promise to spare his life. After making the promise, Preston meets a beautiful woman named Carola (played by Rae Dawn Chong). Preston marries Carola, they two have kids, and Preston has a revival of his art career. But Preston was still tormented by guilt about his silence, and started reconsidering the promise he made to the monster.

Preston then tells Carola about that night ten years ago when they met after he had witnessed the killing of a man by a monster which he sculpted to show her. After releasing a heartbroken screech, Carola reveals herself to be the very same creature he made the promise with, lamenting that the promise Preston made to the monster had been broken. As such, she reverts to her previous form, and their children transform into similar monsters as well. Within the shock and despair of such revelations, Preston is killed at 'her' hands, and she escapes through a skylight with their children. The final scene shows that the gargoyle and children have turned to stone upon a building ledge, staring down at Preston's body in remorse.

The Epilogue – As Betty makes preparations to cook Timmy he trips her by throwing some marbles on the floor. Betty slips and falls on her butcher's equipment, stabbing herself in the back. Timmy releases himself and pushes her into her own oven. The film ends with Timmy helping himself to a cookie and breaking the fourth wall by asking us: "Don't you just love happy endings?"

Main cast

International titles

  • The Japanese title of this film is titled: フロム・ザ・ダークサイド 3つの闇の物語 which literally translates to English as pronounced: From the Dark Side Three stories of Darkness.
  • In French, The title in French is called: Darkside, les contes de la nuit noire, which translates to English as pronounced: Darkside, Tales From The Dark Night.
  • In Italian, The title is called: I delitti del gatto nero, which literally translates to English as pronounced in: The crimes of the black cat.

Reception

The film was given a rating of 38% on the ratings aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, while receiving an overall grade of "C" at Box Office Mojo.

References

  1. ^ Creepshow 3/Tales from the Darkside: The Movie relationship
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