TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE (1990)
Starring Deborah Harry and Christian Slater
After the awesome success of "Creepshow" in the early 1980s, producer Richard P. Rubinstein led the development of a number of Stephen King and George Romero-related projects, including the disappointing anthology film "Creepshow 2."
"Tales From the Darkside," named after the Rubinstein-produced TV series that enjoyed a syndication run in the late 1980s, is the film that "Creepshow 2" should have been: well-written, well-directed, laden with stars and boasting some great make-up effects, including two (count 'em) transformation scenes.
It also has a novel wrap-around story inspired by "1001 Arabian Nights" and "Hansel and Gretel." A modern-day witch (Deborah Harry) is getting ready to cook a 10-year-old boy for her dinner party. But the boy stalls his execution by reading stories from a book, "Tales From the Darkside."
The first tale involves a mummy that a college student (played by a young Steve Buscemi) uses to exact revenge on the sister of fellow student Christian Slater. The sister is a young Julianne Moore. The second tale: An old man hires a hitman to kill his cat, which has killed everyone else in the house by, among other things, smothering them to death. Based on a Stephen King story, the episode is penned by George Romero and features some impressive special effects at the end. Finally, Rae Dawn Chong stars in the last story as a young lover of an artist who thinks his bartender friend was beheaded by a gargoyle.
This was the last decent anthology horror film and a must-see for Romero/King fans. If only the "Tales From the Darkside" TV series had been consistently as good ...