Editorials
Time to Revisit…’Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight’
Ever wonder why some of your favorite lesser-known horror movies sit idly by while other films seem to capture all the glory? I know I do. That’s why I’ll be taking a look at a few horror movies over the next few days and weeks that I feel merit much more appreciation than they’ve actually received. Further, I’ll be holding these under-appreciated gems up against the examples of much more prominent similar movies to make my case for why they deserve a reappraisal.
In this edition, I take a look at the overlooked 1995 supernatural horror flick Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight and discuss why fans of Sam Raimi’s first two Evil Dead entries – as awesome as those movies are – could maybe stand to throw a little recognition in the direction of Ernest Dickerson’s dust-collecting mini-classic.
Beloved Favorites: The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead II (1987)
Number of votes on IMDB: 49,409 and 47,475, respectively
The Plots: An assortment of individuals, led by valiant protagonist Ash, become stranded in a remote cabin and must do battle with an evil force capable of possessing the bodies of the living and transforming them into murderous demons.
Why they’re so celebrated: While tonally quite different from one another, the first two films in the Evil Dead series are landmarks of the horror genre and famous for kick-starting future Spider-Man director Sam Raimi’s career. Their “D.I.Y.” origins, over-the-top grotesqueness and willingness to “go there” (I’m particularly referring to the infamous “tree rape” scene in the first entry) won over legions of hardcore genre fans, and in subsequent years the films have become widely accepted as horror classics by both top-shelf movie critics and more mainstream filmgoers. Not to mention, they are regularly cited as major influences by several future auteurs of the genre.
Why it’s time to backburner them for awhile: Make no mistake: I am in no way suggesting that Evil Dead 1 and 2 are bad movies, or somehow undeserving of the praise they have received. They are, in fact, excellent films, and they’ve proven remarkably influential on subsequent generations of independent filmmakers. But that’s just the thing: we all know they’re great, we all recognize their importance in the scheme of the horror genre, and many of us have probably watched each of them at least half a dozen times. Maybe it’s time to take a step back for a bit? Revisit a similar title that doesn’t garner near the amount of recognition as the Evil Dead films but perhaps deserves a little more appreciation? Possibly a film like…
Undervalued Also-Ran: Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
Number of votes on IMDB: 6,942
The Plot: An assortment of individuals, led by a mysterious stranger named Frank, must fend off a horde of monsters in a remote boarding house when the Collector, a vicious demon disguised as a man, comes to retrieve a mystical artifact from Frank’s possession that has the power to open the gates of Hell.
Why it’s not so celebrated: The first of a planned trio of Tales From the Crypt spin-off films, Demon Knight posted respectable enough box-office and home-video sales/rental numbers to warrant a second (though essentially unrelated) entry in the series – the inferior Dennis Miller vampire flick Bordello of Blood – but it nevertheless failed to make much of a dent in the popular consciousness. Though it certainly has a few admirers, it’s now generally viewed as a failed experiment at extending the Tales from the Crypt brand into a successful theatrical franchise. It also debuted at a time in which the horror genre was at a relative low point both artistically and commercially, with Scream nearly two years away and the slasher boom of the `80s long since relegated to the cultural dustbin.
Why it deserves a revisiting: Ok, I’ll admit that director Ernest Dickerson (Bones, The Walking Dead) is no Sam Raimi – he doesn’t possess near the amount of stylistic panache – but with Demon Knight he managed to deliver a fun, solidly-crafted supernatural horror flick that stands as one of the most underrated genre entries of the `90s. Blessed with a very good cast including Billy Zane, William Sadler, Thomas Haden Church, and CCH Pounder (Jada Pinkett is in it too) and sporting some genuinely impressive (and wonderfully gory) practical effects work, Dickerson admirably balances the horror and comedic elements in a way that doesn’t feel forced.
The film also boasts some sharply-drawn (though expectedly broad, given the genre) characters and a mythology surrounding the central MacGuffin (a mystical key containing the blood of Christ) that works surprisingly well. While the film doesn’t reach the same manic heights as the Evil Dead films, it’s still a fast-paced, energetic ride that’s definitely worth a (second?) look for anyone who counts themselves as fans of Raimi’s early work.
Clip:
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
You must be logged in to post a comment.