Some movies stick with us through our youth only to be revisited time and time again at different stages of our lives. Some remain as captivating and as charming as the first time we saw them, while others leave us scratching our heads saying, “What the hell was I thinking?” I’ve always had a soft spot for Tales From the Crypt and all of its various outings. I personally find that they still contain all the magic they once had. Ernest Dickerson’s full length film, Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight is no exception. I have such great memories of watching this countless times with my circle of friends and continuously quoting Roach’s line, “My nipples are smokin’,” that when I sat down to watch this again recently, despite this film’s flaws, I still enjoyed the hell out of the ride.
The cast is fantastic, top to bottom, from Billy Zane, William Sadler, Dick Miller, Jada Pinkett Smith, CCH Pounder, Thomas Haden Church, and Charles Fleischer. This film is essentially Night of the Living Dead meets Night of the Demons and while that sounds a tad redundant, I just can’t say that it is. This movie is hilarious when it wants to be, visually striking when it wants to be, and gory from start to finish. If only we had more Tales From the Crypt features, perhaps the horror genre wouldn’t be filled with so many remakes.
The fact that this film was made in 1995 and it still satisfies my ever-growing appetite for something fresh and exciting says a lot. The mid 90’s were plagued by some god awful pieces of horror. Especially after Scream, everyone followed suit, not understanding that they were doing exactly what Wes Craven was taking stabs at. While Demon Knight is far from the perfect film, it still beats the hell out of the barrage of so-called horror that’s been getting dumped on us lately.
If you haven’t seen this one, check it out and if you have, maybe it’s time to revisit it… just because.
I give this film 4 green eyes out of 5.
