TV Terror Tuesday - Tales from the Darkside (Series)

Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But... there is, unseen by most, an underworld; a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit... a Darkside.

From the opening narration to the eerie theme which still sends delightful shivers down my spine, Tales from the Darkside still remains one of my all-time favorite shows. Its debut year in 1983 was my very own debut year into this world, but all entertainment is timeless and by the time I was 4 or 5 years old, I was watching this show as often as it aired as re-runs on television. My parents were fans of the show, so that helped in a lot of ways of course. Because my dad worked late night shifts, he often programmed the VCR to record certain shows and Tales from the Darkside was one of them. Thanks to him I had episodes at my leisure.

Years later thanks to more channels airing re-runs and volumes of episodes being released on VHS tapes, I was able to see many episodes that I had never seen before. I remember my old Tales from the Darkside: Volume 6 VHS tape which had some excellent episodes on it: Baker's Dozen, Let the Games Begin, The Unhappy Medium, Black Widows, and Beetles. Upon obtaining this tape, it was the first time I had ever seen most of the episodes, but the two which stood out most were Black Widows and Baker's Dozen and they became instant favorites; it's also safe to say Baker's Dozen contributed to my love of Voodoo tales. Voodoo cookies made by a witch? Perfect ingredients for a horror story if you ask me - and Voodoo Mamba Ruby Cuzzins is brilliantly played by the beautiful Mabel King (of What's Happening!! fame). 

But like Cuzzin's Dozens, you can't eat just one cookie and you can't just pick one favorite episode. Well, I can't at least, but if I'm going to write about some honorable mentions then I want to start with a popular episode from season one called Inside the Closet directed by Tom Savini and stars Fritz Weaver - two amazing talents in horror. The episode opens with a young girl looking to rent space at a boarding house owned by Fritz Weaver's character and one of the first things she notices upon entering the bedroom is a small, locked door. The mysterious appearance of a door too small for one to walk through can only do one thing - get your imagination going trying to guess who or WHAT could be lurking behind it. Top notch effects courtesy of Tom Savini which make modern effects of today look even more pathetic make this episode scary and fun! You'll love the precious ending...

Another FUN episode is A Case of the Stubborns. This is also from season one and guest stars a young Christian Slater. A rather morbid episode, the make-up on grandpa (played by Eddie Bracken) when he starts to decay is realistic and...well, kind of disgusting. See, grandpa is dead but insists that he isn't. The more he sits around, the more he rots. It takes a sneeze and his nose falling off for him to realize "there's no fool like an old fool" and he accepts his death and retreats upstairs to expire.  

Season two has some great episodes, but one of the best of that season is The Last Car. It's creepy and very reminiscent of a classic Twilight Zone episode. You find out quick that the concept of time is meaningless to the passengers that the last car already inhabits when a young college student comes on board. When I first saw this episode, I kept trying to figure out the mystery of ... the tunnels. I think overall what I like about this episode is the claustrophobic feel; it makes the viewer feel more uneasy and curious as to what exactly is going on. Are they dead? Are they in purgatory? Where the Hell are they and where are they going? You also have some excellent acting and some freaky imagery too, especially during those "tunnel" scenes.

I could go on and on with so many great episodes, but I think I'll end it with the one which could easily be dubbed as the ultimate episode. Again, I can't pick a favorite, but with an episode called Halloween Candy how could I not LOVE it! Another one directed by Tom Savini, this story centers around an old curmudgeon who hates Halloween and in disdain refuses to hand out the candy to the trick-or-treaters his son has left for him. After his son leaves, the door bell starts constantly ringing and needless to say the ol' misanthrope is a complete asshole to these kids. He even makes a honey, glue, and mayo mix in the candy bowl aptly called "goblin candy" and he dumps it into one of the poor kid's bags. His night of tricks and treats comes to an end when he wakes up from a nap to more knocking on his door. 

He soon finds out that it's almost midnight and those little kiddies are all at home in bed. So who or WHAT is visiting him this late at night? A demon, of course! Like most of these classic horror/sci-fi shows, you start to get a disconnected feeling from what is going on and there is a lot of mystery at work here. For instance, once the demon/goblin/monster/thing appears, strange occurrences happen to the old man which makes the episode memorable; he keeps dozing off and waking up to TV static, he keeps trying to dial out on his phone and the voice on the other end repeats "At the sound of the tone, the time is midnight", he hallucinates bugs and moving objects, and then the demon appears again, this time killing him. 

His son comes back to the house to find his father dead and the police suggest for him to get a lawyer due to the fact that they suspect he was neglected. They say that the old man died of starvation and was left alone for weeks with nothing to eat but Halloween candy. The final image of the episode is a chilling one - the old man's corpse lying on the floor with an emaciated appearance. 

I can't end this without listing more worthy episodes. In order of when they were aired but not in order of favorites: Trick or Treat, Pain Killer, Mookie and Pookie, The Word Processor of the Gods, Answer Me, Grandma's Last Wish, The False Prophet, Ursa Minor, The Casavin Curse, Seasons of Belief, Miss May Dusa, The Moth, The Yattering and Jack, Sorry Right Number, Payment Overdue, Love Hungry, The Cutty Black Sow, and Hush.

Most of these episodes can be found in full on Youtube, but of course I would recommend you hunt down and buy the DVD sets. I own all four seasons and watch them often, especially when fall comes around. You can also catch them on TV from time to time on the Chiller channel and Syfy used to play them, too. 

If you're a die-hard fan like I am, you can buy a damn cool Tales from the Darkside T-Shirt here: Fast Custom Shirts

And remember...
The Darkside is always there waiting for us to enter; waiting to enter us. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight.

(Closing now with a pic of myself in my Tales from the Darkside T-Shirt enjoying a tasty beer)