Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 7, 2014

That “usual gang of idiots” at the iconic Mad Magazine probably relished in the unintended irony that the company that published the self described “rag” had originally been called Educational Comics. For millions of Baby Boomers, Mad was indeed a major source of a certain kind of “education,” though by the time EC started making Mad its main focus, the “E” in its title had already been changed to represent “Entertaining” rather than “Educational.” That change was prompted at least in part by the company’s previous emphasis on typically whimsical horror outings like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, brainchildren of William Gaines, the son of EC’s founder Max Gaines. The strictures of the early Eisenhower era ultimately brought the censor’s hammer down rather hard on EC and some of its publishing kin for supposedly contributing to the perceived delinquency of minors, which is when EC decided to promote delinquency in a different way by concentrating on Mad. But for kids who had at least a few years relishing in the delights of EC’s horror magazines, indelible impressions were made, and, later, when a new generation sought out old issues in a wave of kitsch collecting, early EC magazines attained a new (and at times considerably lucrative) luster. Another vaunted name in the annals of international horror, Amicus Productions, brought out two films in 1972 and 1973 which capitalized on the increasing fame of those early fifties’ comic books. Tales from the Crypt is undoubtedly a more generally entertaining film than its follow up The Vault of Horror, even if some might argue that the second film more adequately captures the sly combination of gross out gore and bizarre humor that made those early EC efforts so memorable.

Reviews of each of the films in this set can be found by clicking on the following links:

Tales from the Crypt Blu-ray review

Vault of Horror Blu-ray review

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of both films is discussed in the reviews linked above.

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of both films is discussed in the reviews linked above.

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bonus Disc includes:

• Vault of Horror Theatrical Cut (1080p; 1:26:04) with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono audio.


• Vault of Horror Uncut Open Matte Version (1080p; 1:26:47) with DTS 2.0 Mono audio.

Note: Vault of Horror also includes two supplements detailed in the Vault of Horror Blu-ray review .

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eclectic casts and brisk storytelling are two big drawing cards for each of these often fun entries. While it's perhaps ironic that the somewhat less captivating The Vault of Horror actually captures more of EC's patented blend of black humor and gruesome horror, both films have moments of wryly comedic shock. Tales from the Crypt comes out slightly ahead in the technical arena, but Scream has done an admirable job presenting the alternate versions of The Vault of Horror, all in high definition. Recommended.