Film Review: 'Tales from the Darkside: The Movie' (1990)

Three greats of horror literature and film -- Stephen King, George Romero, and Michael McDowell -- team up on a pretty good horror anthology from the early 90s.

Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (1990), directed by John Harrison; starring Debbie Harry, Christian Slater, Robert Klein, William Hickey, Rae Dawn Chong, James Remar, Matthew Lawrence, Julianne Moore, and Steve Buscemi.

This film is based on the popular 80s series of the same title, created by George Romero. It also belongs to a short-lived but engaging mini-revival of the big screen anthology film in the 80s/early 90s, sparked by the success of Romero’s beloved Creepshow (1982). Creepshow was quickly followed by Twilight Zone: The Movie, Cat’s Eye, Creepshow 2, After Midnight, and this film, among others.

Darkside starts off with the usual “framing story,” which sets up three other segments. Debbie Harry of Blondie fame plays a witch who kidnaps a little boy (Lawrence) and keeps him in a dungeon. She plans to cook him and serve him at a dinner party for other witches. The boy tells her horror stories -- Scheherazade-like -- in order to forestall the inevitable.

The first story, Lot 249, is based on a tale by Arthur Conan Doyle. It stars Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi, Robert Sedgwick, and Julianne Moore as Ivy League college students. (Only Slater was famous at the time.) Slater’s character, Andy, is a friend of Lee (Sedgwick), who is dating Andy's sister, Susan, played by Moore. As the film opens, Susan and Lee have sandbagged Buscemi’s chance at winning a prestigious fellowship grant, by planting a valuable stolen relic in his dorm room and anonymously tipping off college authorities. Buscemi strikes back by calling up a murderous mummy. This segment is well-acted but poorly paced. There are several “false” endings, which makes the segment seem to drag on forever. In addition, the twist at the end (finally!) is pretty predictable.

The second segment, Cat From Hell, is based on a Stephen King short story; the screenplay was written by Romero. A wheelchair-bound pharmaceutical tycoon hires a hitman to kill a strange cat that’s been stalking him and his family. The tycoon is played by William Hickey, who is best-known as the dying Mafia Don in Prizzi's Honor (1985), for which he received an Oscar nomination. The hitman soon finds out — to his doom — that the cat has at least nine lives. As the story unfolds, we discover the reason why the cat is stalking the tycoon, and it's vintage King hokeyness. However, it’s a decent segment overall, one that has a memorably gruesome scene that few will forget.

Lover's Vow is the last -- and by far the best -- segment. It's an original tale crafted by horror novelist/screenwriter Michael McDowell. James Remar plays Preston, an unsuccessful artist visiting a bar late at night, who witnesses a friend being attacked and murdered by a winged creature looking like a giant gargoyle. The creature will spare his life if Preston promises to never reveal its existence, ever. He promises and is let go. Shaken, he later meets a beautiful girl named Carola (Chong), who is walking alone on a deserted street at night, and instantly feels protective. He convinces her to come home with him. They begin a relationship and eventually marry and have two children. Everything seems perfect, but Preston can’t shake the memory of his friend’s murder. He tells his wife about it on their tenth wedding anniversary, and then, horrors abound.

This film was only a B-effort when released, but it’s well-made in a way that films are rarely made today. The editing is careful; there are no quick jump cuts inserted at random to distract from a lame plot; lighting and other technical matters are very professional. When even a B-movie from almost thirty years ago seems better-made than a $100 million blockbuster made today, it shows in high relief how far the art of filmmaking has declined. It's actualy pretty depressing.

Currently streaming for free to Amazon Prime members.