31 Days to Scare
Tales from the Crypt: And All Through the House
7/10
The Facts
Synopsis: A greedy woman makes the mistake of murdering her husband while an escaped mental patient dressed in a Santa Claus outfit is on the loose.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Mary Ellen Trainor, Larry Drake, Marshall Bell, Lindsey Whitney Barry, John Kassir
Rated: NR
Running Length: 22 mins
The Thoughts
While it gradually dissipated in quality over the course of its seven-season run, HBO’s Tales from the Crypt opened with a first season that was chock full of scary tales helmed by some of Hollywood’s top directors. The second episode was a Christmas-themed yarn (ironically broadcast in the dead of summer in 1989) directed by future Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis (Flight) and while my memories were fonder of it when I was a child, it’s a nice little 22-minute lark you can fit in during the holidays between another viewing of Home Alone or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
The credits are barely done before a cheating wife (the late, great Mary Ellen Trainor, then married to Zemeckis) offs her husband (Marshall Bell) in their remote home on a cold winter’s night. With her daughter upstairs anxiously awaiting the arrival of St. Nick, she attempts to dispose of the body in an outdoor well but fails to heed the warning on the radio warning of a madman (Larry Drake) in a Santa suit on the loose. It’s no spoiler to say that mother and daughter get visited by Kris Kringle…but not the one they were expecting.
The Final
Watching this again recently, I was struck by some bad acting and pacing problems that I didn’t register when I was younger. It’s not as taut as it could have been…and that makes sense considering this tale was filmed before with better results. In 1972, this story was part of an anthology in the theatrical release of Tales from the Crypt and in that version it was a full 10 minutes shorter. The extra time here feels like padding and though it’s barely a half hour it starts to feel long before the halfway point. Even with that said, there’s something manically delightful about this contained piece of business from an A-List director eager to try his hand out again on the small screen.
7/10
Reviewed by Joe Botten
Joe Botten is The MN Movie Man, a Twin Cities film critic writing spoiler-free reviews since 2012. He also writes for Loud and Clear Reviews, a Rotten Tomatoes approved site. Find him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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