Idyllic country scenes, lush fields, serene forests, babbling brooks “Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality, but, there is unseen by most an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit, a darkside”, as the ending scenes turn to the photographic negative.
And so begins each episode of Tales from the Darkside, a half-hour horror anthology series in the vein of The Twilight Zone. The First Season contains 24 episodes, the pilot (1983) and 23 episodes in the first season 9/30/1984 – 8/4/1985), on three discs.
The episode line ups are:
DISC 1
Trick or Treat (Pilot) with optional commentary by George Romero, The New Man, I’ll Give You A Million, Pain Killer, The Odds, Mookie And Pookie, Slippage, Inside The Closet
DISC 2
The Word Processor Of The Gods, A Case Of The Stubborns, Djinn No Chaser, All A Clone By The Telephone, In The Cards, Anniversary Dinner, Snip, Snip, Answer Me.
DISC 3
The Tear Collector, Madness Room, If The Shoes Fit, Levitation, It All Comes Out In The Wash, Bigalow’s Last Smoke, Grandma’s Last Wish, The False Prophet.
Look for appearances by Justine Bateman, Vic Tayback, Harry Anderson, Carol Kane, Bud Cort, Alice Ghostly, Dorothy Lyman, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Christian Slater, Brent Spiner, Tippi Hedron, and Danny Aiello.
The first season of Tales From The Darkside was hit and miss for me. Quite a few of the episodes feel incomplete, rushed or unfinished. Others are clichéd or have been done in other anthologies. But there are enough to really surprise you, to make you go Whoa.
Tales From The Darkside suffered from not being mainstream enough to be on primetime and seemed relegated to Friday and Saturday nights after the news. The first season may not have been the greatest horror anthology to hit TV, but it had enough potential for three more seasons, and enough potential for me to look forward to the next three collections.
“Your darkside is always there waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us. Until the next time try to enjoy the daylight.”
Comicsonline gives Tales from the Darkside, The First Season 3 guest stars out of 5.
