Tales From the Darkside - The Movie (1990)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1990
Running Times: 93 mins
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio:
Sound: Dolby Stereo

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Darkside Movie / Laurel Productions / Paramount Pictures
Producers: Richard Rubinstein, Mitchell Galin
Co-Producer: David Kappes
Unit Production Manager: Victoria Westhead
Assistant Unit Manager: Sherry Greenberg

SCRIPT
Script: Michael McDowell (Frame Story; Lot 249; Lover's Vow), George A. Romero (Cat From Hell)
Stories: Arthur Conan Doyle (Lot 249); Stephen King (Cat From Hell)

DIRECTION
Director: John Harrison
1st Assistant Director: Marybeth Hagner
2nd Assistant Directors: Rosemary C. Cremona, Amelia Villero

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Robert Draper

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Harry B. Miller III

MUSIC
Music: Chaz Jankel, Donald A. Rubinstein, Jim Manzie, Pat Regan, John Harrison
Tales From the Darkside Theme: Donald A. Rubinstein, Erica Lindsay
Additional Music: Kromer (Flute Quartet Allegro); Jim Manzie (The Way Of All Flesh)
Music Produced By: D.J. Holman, Pat Regan (The Way Of All Flesh)

SOUND
Sound: Weldon Brown, Michael Cerone
Sound Mixer: Brit Warner
Boom Operator: Mark Wilkins

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Nancy Tong
Costume Designer: Ida Gearon

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up Effects: KNB EFX Group Inc
Special Make Up Effects Supervisors: Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger
Make Up Effects Consultant: Dick Smith

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Supervisor: Drew Jiritano

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects Supervisor: Ernest D. Farino
Stop Motion Animation: Justin Kohn
Rotoscoping: Bret Mixon
Optical Effects: Van der Veer Photo Effects

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Ruth Ammon
Art Director: Jocelyne Beaudoin
Set Decorator: Jacqueline Jacobson
Set Dressers: Joseph Timothy Conway, Amory Weld
Art Department Assistant: Lloyd Bernberg

MISCELLANEOUS
Head Animal Trainer: Brian McMillan
Animal Trainer: Stacy Regan

LOCATIONS
Locations: Bronxville, New York, USA

STUNTS
Stunt Co-Ordinator: Edgard Mourino

CASTING
Casting: Brian Chavanne, Julie Mossberg

CAST
Frame Story
Deborah Harry (Betty)
David Forrester (priest)
Matthew Lawrence (Timmy)

Lot 249
Christian Slater (Andy)
Robert Sedgwick (Lee)
Steve Buscemi (Edward Bellingham)
Donald Van Horn (removal man)
Michael Deak (mummy)
Julianne Moore (Susan)
George Guidall (museum director)
Kathleen Chalfont (the dean)
Ralph Marrero (cabbie)

Cat From Hell
David Johansen (Halston)
Paul Greene (cabbie)
William Hickey (Drogan)
Alice Drummond (Carolyn)
Delores Sutton (Amanda)
Mark Margolis (Gage)

Lover's Vow
James Remar (Preston)
Ashton Wise (Jer)
Philip Lenowsky (Maddox)
Robert Klein (Wyatt)
Rae Dawn Chong (Carola)
Joe Dabenigno, Larry Silvestri (policemen)
Donna Davidge (gallery patron)
Nicole Leach (Margaret)
Daniel Harrison (John)
Joel Valentien (gargoyle's voice)

A woman who is preparing to eat her captured newspaper delivery boy who tells her three horror stories in order to delay the inevitable. In Lot 249 a re-animated mummy is loose in a college building and stalking students; in Cat From Hell, the eponymous murderous feline proves to be indestructible; and in Lover's Vow, a man witnesses a gargoyle murdering a man and promises it never to tell anyone what he saw, with dire consequences.

As with the classic British anthologies of the 60s and 70s, Tales From the Darkside is a mixed bag - some of the stories are much better than others. Lot 249 and the frame story are the weakest but the other two work much better. Lover's Vow, a creepy tale of obsession and guilt, is particularly strong and makes the film worth watching in itself.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Laserdisc Distributor: Paramount (LV 32360 (1991))

Australia
Rating: M

France
Rating: -12

Germany
Rating: banned

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R

1991
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
Grand Prize (John Harrison) - winner

1990
May
4: USA - theatrical release

1991
May
15: France - theatrical release

Darkside, les contes de la nuit noire - French title
I delitti del gatto nero - Italian title
El gato infernal - Spanish title
Geschichten aus der Schattenwelt - German title
Opowiesc o zmroku - Polish title

SEQUEL TO
Tales From the Darkside (1983 - 1988)

MAGAZINES

Studio Special Cannes 1991 p.20 (France)
review (by Thierry Klifa)

BOOKS

Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror (2nd edition) p.467
credits, review

The Films of Stephen King pp.64-65
illustrated credits, production notes

The Psychotronic Video Guide p.553
credits, review

anthologies, cannibalism, children, cats, gargoyles, mummies, assassins, revenge, television series into film, animals

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008