It's been a long hard road. Tales From the Crypt began in the 1950's as a four color comic book that was eventually banned by outraged but misguided parents. In 1972 the first Crypt movie was made in England by Amicus Pictures. This film consisted of several stories adapted from the comic, and contained a Crypt Keeper who was very different from the one who eventually turned up on the HBO series. The following year saw the release of Amicus's sequel Vault of Horror (also released as Tales From the Crypt II) which was named after yet another classic E.C. horror comic. Subsequent years were relatively Crypt-less until 1989 when HBO premiered its highly successful Tales From the Crypt series which has been running on HBO and in syndication ever since.

1995 has given us the home video release of Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight, the first theatrical film based on the HBO series. Much of the show's flavor has been retained, and at first the film seems a little too much like the series. The movie uses the same opening, with the long traveling shot through the Crypt Keeper's house, culminating with his rotten, cackling carcass springing from a casket before dissolving to the title card. The music is slightly different, and the scene appears to have been reshot for the big screen, but its essentially the same thing viewers have seen hundreds of times. We have the Crypt Keeper, of course, in all his animatronic glory, the opening credits are presented in the same familiar font and style, and by the time the last actor's name has flashed across the screen the viewer might very well ask himself "why didn't I just watch the TV show?"

Why? Because then you would have missed one ass-kicking good terror flick. The framing sequence with the Crypt Keeper (who actually looks more like E.C.'s Vault Keeper) is fun as always. He provides us with a few yucks, some gratuitous nudity, and a cameo by John Laroquette before getting to the main event. Action, gore, and some genuine scares fill up the better part of the running time, making Demon Knight an absolute delight for horror fans.

The film proper begins with a car chase between Brayker (Sadler) and a mysterious figure called The Collector (Zane, in a role reminiscent of the psychotic he played in Dead Calm). Brayker manages to escape his pursuer and make his way to a deconsecrated church that has been converted into a seedy hotel. With the aid of the local sherrif (Schuck) and deputy, The Collector manages to track Brayker down. Telling the sherrif that he represents a collection agency, The Collector wants a cross that Brayker has supposedly stolen. When he doesn't get the cooperation he wants, The Collector decides to show his true colors. He is in fact a demon, and raises a horde of lower demons (slimey, snaggle-toothed beasties with long claws) to help him acquire the cross.

Brayker, along with the other residents of the hotel, take refuge inside the building. He seals the entrances by pouring blood from a vessel within the cross onto the doorway. We eventually learn that this is the blood of Christ, collected at the crucifixion, and the cross is the seventh and final key the demons need to bring back the original darkness that predated God's creation of Heaven and Earth.

In keeping with Tales From the Crypt's comic book roots, many of the characters are somewhat two dimensional. We have Roach (Church, best known for his role as Lowell on the sitcom Wings), the selfish redneck who would gladly hand the cross over to the demons to save himself, Uncle Willy (B movie vet Miller) is the lovable old drunk, and Cordelia (Bakke) is the hooker with the heart of gold. Thanks to strong performances all around, though, the characters work.

This is the first Crypt film to use a story not derived from the comic book. Given the fact that certain episodes of the series seemed strained to expand a six or seven page comic book story into a one hour show, we can be thankful director Dickerson didn't try blowing one up to feature length. Traces of Night of the Living Dead can be found, and there is a more than passing resemblance to Lamberto Bava's Demons, but Demon Knight stands up quite well on its own. Definitely worth renting or even purchasing.

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