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“Tales From the Crypt” Gets Series Order, to Feature “Reinvented” Crypt Keeper
Not only are we getting a new “Tales From the Crypt” from M. Night Shyamalan, but TNT has given the green light to two other new series that will make up the first ever horror block!
TNT is ramping up with an official 10-episode initial order for a TNT new “Tales From the Crypt” anthology series with a reinvented Crypt Keeper, based on the original EC Comics, Deadline reports.
Additionally, TNT has given a pilot order to “Time of Death” (working title), a anthology season-long series from IM Global Television for the block. The network also has put in development another project earmarked for the horror franchise, “Creatures,” produced by Sue Naegle (“Outcast”).
The “Tales From the Crypt” block is now slated to launch in 2017.
The “Tales From the Crypt” anthology series will be at the center of each week’s lineup, guided by a newly reinvented Crypt Keeper, one of the most popular characters in the “Tales From the Crypt” universe.
“I’m really thrilled about the way this horror block is coming together with the addition of “Time of Death” and “Creatures,” said Shyamalan. “That such a beloved property like “Tales From the Crypt” is launching our evening makes it an even more unique and exciting opportunity. Across the board, the level of talent has been very inspiring.”
“Time of Death” is an anthology of season-long horror tales that unfold in real time – each one taking viewers hour-by-hour through a single “long night of hell.” The first season will follow a murderous psychopath who returns to his Midwestern hometown during the annual county fair to exact revenge on a community he believes destroyed his life.
Described as Friday the 13th meets “Friday Night Lights,” the first season of “Time of Death” pays tribute to the great slasher films of the 1980s, with future seasons inspired by the traditions of other horror subgenres.
The pilot for “Time of Death” was written by Guy Busick (Watch Over Me) and newcomer R. Christopher Murphy, with Shyamalan and IM Global Television’s Mark Stern and Stuart Ford executive producing.
“Creatures”, now in development, is a sophisticated psychological thriller that tells the disturbing tale of two former best friends who, at 12 years old, tried to cut out their classmate’s heart as a sacrifice to an Internet bogeyman they invented called Mr. Gorgi. Fifteen years later, the two young women have been released from a psychiatric institute into their small town in Alaska, but it’s not long before they start to feel the alluring and terrifying presence of Mr. Gorgi once again. “Creatures” is a story of deep friendship and dark obsession, where a vivid imagination meets the power of suggestion and the seduction of belief.
The script is being written by BAFTA Award winner Dominic Mitchell (In the Flesh) and produced by Sue Naegle’s Naegle Ink. Tom Shankland (“House of Cards”) is attached to direct and serve as executive producer.
Announced in January, TNT’s new block of terror and suspense “Tales From the Crypt” is being curated by Shyamalan, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Sixth Sense, Signs and Unbreakable, and executive producer of the the Fox series “Wayward Pines.”
The block will feature both short and long-form storytelling, led by the “Tales From the Crypt” anthology series, which is executive-produced by Shyamalan, his partner at Blinding Edge Pictures, Ashwin Rajan; Endgame’s James Stern; and Aloris Entertainment’s John Santilli and Dan McKinnon.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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