Tales from the Crypt to be Exhumed

It looks like Tales from the Crypt is on the verge of a reboot. A new series based on the timeless EC comic will make its television return as producers are preparing to pitch the idea, Deadline Hollywood reported Wednesday. Gil Adler, a producer from the original HBO days, and Eureka co-founder Andrew Cosby are both on board for the project.

The series will have a new look, thus separating itself from the iconic series of the 90s. Absent will be the Crypt Keeper and, in lieu of following the anthology format of the comics, the new series will look to relate to contemporary audiences as “it will be an ongoing series that uses characters from the comic books in a more modern context,” Crosby explained. It seems the new series is aimed at making a distinct impression with a distinct product quite divorced from the Tales from the Crypt we have come to know and love.

And therein lies the problem.

While it is true that the trouble of any genre production is the trapping of repetition, Adler and Crosby are toying with nostalgia. Fans of Tales from the Crypt are not simply fans of a good story. It broke the fourth wall. Both the anthology format and the Crypt Keeper formed the central nervous system of a scary yet kitschy aesthetic that made watching each episode an experience. For an hour each week, the Crypt Keeper was a generation’s Zacherley, not merely a host, but a friend invited into the home, a “cool ghoul” whose job it was to scare your pants off and then laugh with you about it in the end.

This author will approach the new series with tepid enthusiasm. Hopefully Adler and Crosby aren’t digging their own graves – they just might be buried on SyFy.

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What’s your favorite tale? Exhume your favorite Tales from the Crypt memories via Twitter @peterlangcrime