| Tales from the Darkside | |
|---|---|
Title card from seasons 3 and 4 (Logo originally used in TV promos.) |
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| Genre | Horror / Fantasy / Science fiction / Drama |
| Format | Anthology |
| Created by | George A. Romero |
| Narrated by | Paul Sparer |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 89 (+ 1 pilot) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | George A. Romero |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Production company(s) | Laurel Productions Tribune Entertainment Lexington Broadcast Services Company |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | syndicated |
| Original run |
October 29, 1983 (pilot) September 30, 1984 – July 24, 1988 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Monsters, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, Night Visions, Amazing Stories Scare Tactics, Masters of Horror |
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series produced by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. The series' episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and some episodes featured elements of black comedy or more lighthearted themes.
Contents |
The moderate success of George A. Romero's horror anthology film Creepshow led to initial inquiries about the possibilities of a Creepshow series. Because Warner Brothers owned certain aspects of Creepshow, Laurel Entertainment (which produced the film) opted to take their potential series into a similar, yet separate, direction, including changing the name to Tales from the Darkside. The new name reflected Creepshow's focus, that of a live-action EC-based horror comic book of the 1950s like Tales from the Crypt or The Vault of Horror, though the series would not carry the trappings of a comic as Creepshow did.
Some episodes of the series were written by or adapted from the works of famous authors. Stephen King's short stories "Word Processor of the Gods" and "Sorry, Right Number" were amongst them. Works by Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Michael Bishop, Robert Bloch, John Cheever, and Fredric Brown were also featured.
After wrapping, Tales from the Darkside was succeeded by Monsters in 1988, a similarly-styled syndicated weekly horror anthology also produced by Laurel and longtime Romero associate Richard P. Rubinstein.
The series was followed by Tales from the Darkside: The Movie in 1990. Stephen King also contributed a short story to this film, "The Cat From Hell". The film starred Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, William Hickey, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore (the first three had previously appeared in episodes of the TV series). Tom Savini has called this film "The real Creepshow 3".
The series was originally syndicated weekly by Tribune Broadcasting, with most stations airing it after midnight. After ending production, it was picked up by LBS Communications for barter-based syndication (with the exception of the episode The Apprentice, and a few reruns of earlier episodes) which were distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures. Worldvision Enterprises later became the series' distributor, and the rights currently are held by Worldvision successor CBS Television Distribution. (All three syndicators' logos appear following the closing credits.)
The series currently airs on Syfy as well as Chiller.
On November 17, 2008, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) announced the first season of Tales from the Darkside would be released on DVD February 10, 2009 complete with audio commentary by producer George Romero on the episode "Trick or Treat".
The opening/closing theme to the series was performed by Donald Rubinstein (who co-wrote the theme with Erica Lindsay). Donald (The brother of Laurel Productions' founder, Richard P. Rubinstein) had worked on scores for Laurel Productions in the past, such as the films Martin and Knightriders. His previous works qualified him to try his hand at the theme for Tales from the Darkside, and the haunting composition helped define the series as a separate entity from Creepshow. George Romero wrote the narration.
As in the case of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, the series begins each episode with a montage of images—in this case, several shots of a forest and countryside—accompanied by a narrator (the late Paul Sparer) delivering a foreboding voice-over:
- 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.
Each episode would also end with a second voice-over during the closing credits:
- The dark side is always there, waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us.
- Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight.
CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has released the four seasons of Tales from the Darkside on DVD in Region 1.
Region 2 DVD is being released through Revelation Films in Nov 2011.
| DVD name | Ep# | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The First Season | 24 | February 10, 2009 |
| The Second Season | 24 | October 27, 2009 |
| The Third Season | 22 | April 27, 2010 |
| The Final Season | 20 | October 19, 2010 |
| The Complete Series | 90 | October 19, 2010 |
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