Tuesday 21 May 2024

Tales From The Crypt Presents: Demon Knight Film Review



There are plenty of iconic horror franchises out there and plenty of iconic horror characters out there as well. With one of those characters being the horror host The Crypt Keeper and the franchise being Tales From The Crypt with the original TV series being so popular that when the series ended the team behind making the show sort to make a trilogy of films based on the franchise with each entry telling a different story and so then join me as I review that is really the second ever Tales From The Crypt film with the film in question being called simply just "Tales From The Crypt Presents: Demon Knight" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a stranger with a mysterious past and an eve more mysterious object walks into a hotel to stay for a couple of nights all of the staff plus a few others have to fight of a hoard of demons. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad however that's also the problem as the plot of this film isn't all that good either with the plot of this film not really being epic enough to be a plot of a feature length film as an episode of the show could have told this story but at the same time tho this plot is something that's worth seeing as while it does rely on several tropes from other horror films like this one it still has fun with those concepts and ideas with the plot of the film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Starring in this film is Billy Zane as The Collector , William Sadler as Frank Brayker and Jada Pinkett as Jeryline. Also starring in this film is Thomas Haden Church as Roach , C. C. H. Pounder as Irene , Brenda Bakke as Cordelia , Dick Miller as Uncle Willy , Gary Farmer as Deputy Bob , Ryan O'Donohue as Danny , Charles Fleischer as Wally , John Schuck as Sheriff Tupper , Sherrie Rose as Wanda and John Kassir as The Voice Of The Crypt Keeper.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With all of this films cast turning in some really good performances with even Jada Pinkett turning in a good performance as well but without a shadow of a doubt the all time best performer in this film is quite easily Billy Zane as The Collector as he really is quite easily the only one that's having alot of fun starring in this film and that is something that really does shine right on through in the performance and while John Kassir is solid as The Crypt Keeper he rather rightfully doesn't really get quite alot of screen time to leave an impression on us the audience but what lets the acting down in this film is the fact that the films script really is just so bad as it gives none of the films cast absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are really even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does bring down the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.


Pretty much all of the characters in the main part of the film just aren't that interesting in the slightest way possible. As there's nothing that's all that interesting about this films characters as alot of them just have one personality trait and that's really it with Jada's Pinkett's character being a tough girl and so she acts tough and that all there is to her character and it's the same thing with all of the characters in this film as all of them just base there entire character around that one personality trait and it's the same thing that true for William Sadler's character who is the self appointed leader of this group of his heroes and he makes that his entire personality trait and as a result of that is the fact that we end up with a bunch of characters that have the potential to be good characters and yet because of the fact that there all written so badly this films characters can't be as good as they could have been with this not really being helped by the fact that the films villain is quite easily the best character in the whole entire film as he's just such a fun character to watch and it makes you wonder why the makers of this film didn't bother to make the characters that your actually supposed to like as entertaining as the films main villain is.


For those of you that don't know this film is an adaptation of the TV show Tales From The Crypt which ran on HBO from June 10 1989 and lasted until July 19th 1996. However what alot of people is that the TV show and by extension this movie are also based off of a comic book also called Tales From The Crypt with the TV show even adapting some of the comic books most stories with this film not really adapting any particualr issue of the comic book as alot of the comic books stories were adapted for both the TV show and the 1972 film of the exact same name and as a result of that is the fact that we get a film that tells an original tale featuring a comic book character that not alot of people would even know is a comic book character in the first place as the comic book series isn't all that well known at least when compared to the HBO series as well which makes you wonder what other horror shows that are very well known are also based off of a comic book as surely this show can't be the only one but it might be the only one that's the most well known tho.

While this film was meant to be the first film in a trilogy of films but for some strange plans for a trilogy were cancelled after the release of the second film. It's hard to tell what that third film would have been like but what we do know for a fact is that a key that was in both this film and in the second film was due to appear in the third film as well and given how bad this film could get at times it's a wonder that they even got to a second film as this film got really bad reviews from critics at the time and yet despite all of that the film was also technically a mild hit at the box office and earned enough money to guarantee a second film which does make sense as this film was produced when the show was at it heights ratings wise and yet because of that you'd think that the makers of this film would put just as much effort into this film that they'd put into the making of the show and yet they don't and as a result of that is the fact that this film really does feel like a cash gran when the makers of this film should have put quite alot of effort into making this film as good if not better then the show that it's spawned from. 


With this film being a horror comedy there is a little bit mor effort put into the films horror aspect which does make sense given the films nature. As the only bit of real comedy comes from both the opening and closing segments of the film with the middle portion of the film being the actual film itself and that's where the film puts in alot of effort into it's horror aspect and to this films credit the film does have alot of good scares and kills in it and while the film doesn't really take as full advantage of it's demon killers as it really could have done the film does the best that it could have done to make those killers seem all the more creepy then what they actually are and that is something that really does work in the film as we the audience don't get to ave a good look at the villains as there hidden in the dark for quite alot of the film which means that we have to imagine what they look like which is something that really does make them all the more creepy and scary then what they actually are with the films kills being just as inventive as you'd want them to be.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty two minuets and twenty two seconds. Which is pretty much the perfect running time for this film as while the film does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running time given the fact that this film is basically just an extended episode of the show the film really doesn't have to a longer running time as all it needs is enough running time to make it to a feature length film and that's really it and that's exactly what we get in this film and while having a longer running time would time would also help the film out as it would give the film a chance to fully flesh out it's characters alot more then what it really does it would also have the add on effect of stretching the films plot really thin and making the film feel like a chore to sit through and would ultimately do more harm to the film that would do actually good to the film but I will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.


So now then as this is a comedy that means that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured/ presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As alot of the films jokes do come from making puns about being dead and that's really it which while they are funny it would still be nice to see the film do alot more actually funny things that they perhaps couldn't do in the show instead of just sticking to what they know works thanks to the show as this movie had the chance to appeal to a more wider audience that perhaps didn't or don't watch the show and apart of that is the humor which in this film could have been alot better as that would also have the add on effect of making the show look a lot more funnier then what it might already be as well and yet all this film does is just copy and paste the exact same type of jokes that the show would use and not really anything that's really all that new to them in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Overall while it's hard to say if this film is a good entry point for the series as the film really isn't that good but given that the show is an anthology then there really would be no harm in starting with this film just as a way to dip your toes into this franchise to see if you like it or not in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the image tat I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Tales From The Crypt fandom wiki page , Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this episode up on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.

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