MovieChat Forums > Tales from the Crypt (1989) Discussion > Most Overrated Episodes

Most Overrated Episodes

posted 8 years ago by NeonManiac0
13 replies | jump to latest

What are the show's most overrated episodes in your opinion? Ones that aren't necessarily bad but get more praise than you think they deserve. Some for me:

You, Murderer - Silly and gimmicky. It's not even the real Bogart and something about using a digital double and a voice impersonator just doesn't work. I get he'd been dead when this episode was made but it reeked of a silly gimmick to me. Plus it's not that entertaining to watch and it's unfortunate to see good actors like John Lithgow wasted in this.

Death Of Some Salesmen - Tim Curry is great as always and there's some amusing moments, but this just doesn't do it for me overall.

Four-Sided Triangle - Not bad but nothing special, either. IMO one of the lesser episodes of the otherwise excellent second season.

[–] ck100 8 years ago

You, Murderer - Silly and gimmicky. It's not even the real Bogart and something about using a digital double and a voice impersonator just doesn't work. I get he'd been dead when this episode was made but it reeked of a silly gimmick to me. Plus it's not that entertaining to watch and it's unfortunate to see good actors like John Lithgow wasted in this.

It's the weakest of Zemeckis's episodes, but it's still good or at least good enough. Yeah, the main problem with it is that it's gimmicky. It's like the gimmick takes priority over the story and characters. The effects show their age, but they were state-of-the-art at the time I'm sure.

Death Of Some Salesmen - Tim Curry is great as always and there's some amusing moments, but this just doesn't do it for me overall.

I think it's one of the best episodes. Tim Curry in top form. Oh well. To each his own.

Four-Sided Triangle - Not bad but nothing special, either. IMO one of the lesser episodes of the otherwise excellent second season.

It's not an episode for everyone, but I like it.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

the main problem with it is that it's gimmicky.

I'll argue that the main problem with it is that it 100% has nothing whatsoever to do with horror. In one of the promotional films you posted for it before, ck, Zemeckis himself even said "It's a cross between Casablanca and Weekend at Bernie's." Where is the horror in that? That's right, absolutely nowhere. Since it's not horror, it has no place in the TFTC series.

[–] NeonManiac0 8 years ago

I actually don't dislike DOSS but it doesn't really do it for me, though I agree Tim Curry is great as he always is. Four-Sided Triangle I really need to see again sometime, but I generally remember not being big on it.

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

Hands-down the most over-rated episodes are Yellow and People Who Live in Brass Hearses. I'm not sure why most fans rave about those episodes like they are the best things since sliced bread.

Death of Some Salesmen is a truly great episode, it deserves it's high rating IMO.

Four-Sided Triangle is ruined by its horrible ending. The entity should have been real and supernatural.

You, Murderer is absolute crap, I agree. I'm not sure if it has have ever been rated highly by anyone though, other than by Zemeckis himself and the hype machine he paid for.

[–] NeonManiac0 8 years ago

For me the talent in Yellow is great and exceptional for a show like this. Plus the production value is high and it's more of a realistic/psychological take on Horror. PWLIBH for me is just very entertaining and does a good job of being both a crime story and a Horror one.

You, Murderer is usually well-received which boggles my mind. I agree too that it's not even really Horror and it feels like with the show's popularity waning by the time it got to S6 they resorted to gimmicks to try to keep it viable.

[–] VanillaStarr 8 years ago

For me, the most overrated is The Man Who was Death. I've seen the episode (and all of them) about 10 times, and I just can't find anything good about it. It's just boring to me. I also didn't like Lower Berth but that one to a lesser extent is more popular among fans.

[–] NeonManiac0 8 years ago

Not sure if Loved To Death is overly well-liked but it seems to be. I don't really much like that one. As far as the show's "love gone bad" episodes there's vastly better ones like Dead Right, Three's a Crowd, As You Sow and None But The Lonely Heart.

[–] shred-com 8 years ago

Not sure if Loved To Death is overly well-liked but it seems to be.

Oh I really like that one. I actually would call it underrated since it doesn't get brought up a whole lot compared to the others in the stellar season 3.

I'd say Cutting Cards from season 2 is a bit overrated. I still like it, but I skip over it quite a bit when I watch episodes from the second season.

[–] saneiac 8 years ago

I agree about You, Murderer. Very hokey episode.

The big overrated episode for me is Split Second. It always gets good reviews, and some people here have even called it their favorite episode of the entire series. I don't get it. I mean, it isn't as bad as the really bad episodes, but I don't think it's anything special, either.

[–] NeonManiac0 8 years ago

I like Split Second but it definitely isn't my favorite.

[–] Razor187 7 years ago

You Murderer was my first thought as well, for all those reasons plus poorly cribbing from Abra Cadaver (even down to repeating the "Hell can't be this bad" line). Oddly though nowadays some people might look at it as ahead of its time (if you saw Rogue One, you know what I mean).

Now that it was mentioned, I agree with Split Second as well. It had potential to be one of the signature episodes but has a major flaw: Ted is not sympathetic. In the typical episode, he's the guy who we see get his just desserts and are supposed to enjoy seeing suffer. But here apparently we're supposed to feel sorry for him even though he brought it completely on himself. This wasn't a problem at all in the comic story, where he completely rejected the wife's advances and she cried rape to her husband entirely out of spite. Also it makes no sense that he would use a chainsaw at the end. It speeds it up sure, but an axe should really have been used since 1) that's what the comic had, 2) was already established as his tool of choice, and 3) would prolong the torture.

Some not yet mentioned:

Two for the Show - I'd say this one is just downright bad. For one thing, it's quite literally half assed (the original comic story was a two-parter with this following One for the Money). Making it self-contained just doesn't work.

It also has the exact same problem as Split Second. We're really supposed to feel bad that a woman who we only know as an adulteress and total c_unt is killed? And then her killer is the one punished, but the guy that killed someone who was actually innocent gets away scot free? Again, this was never a problem in the comic, which starts out with the wife cowering in fear as the protagonist approaches to butcher her. It was a deliberate killing, not a heat of the moment mistake.

Escape - I've seen a few regard this one as good, but same problem here too. Did they really expect the audience to find someone that betrays the Nazis as unsympathetic?

Confession - This one is just total crap. Completely predictable and again, nobody gets what's coming to them.

And so Governor Devlin, because even the cost of freedom can be too high, I REFUSE your pardon!