Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

A man named Brayker (William Sandler) is being pursued by the evil Collector (Billy Zane). He holes up in an isolated hotel with typical stock characters and they all try to make it through the night against Zane and his demon army. The first theatrical off-shoot of HBO's excellent "Tales from the Crypt" series. The story is ridiculous, but the acting is good. Jada Pinkett is very good as one of the residents of the hotel and Billy Zane is excellent as the Collector. He's obviously enjoying himself, his character is constantly joking and it rubs off on the audience. Also the film has VERY extreme gore--I'm surprised it got an R rating. And there's the obligatory, gratuitous female nudity. Unfortunately, there's not enough plot for a 90 minute movie. There's lots of padding and it slows the movie down. Still, it's funny, has great gory moments and Zane's performance. Worth catching--especially for horror fans. Avoid at ALL costs, the second (and last) theatrical Tales movie "Bordello of Blood".

I was a big fan of the Tales from the Crypt TV show. Thus, I am a fan of this movie. It feels a lot like one of the Creepshow movies but has enough gore, humor and OTT carnage but it just doesn't have enough scope to brake away from the TV show and stand alone as a big screen movie.

Brayker (William Sadler) is a drifter who stumbles upon a lonely desert town after an explosive confrontation with The Collector (Billy Zane), a supremely evil being with Satanical powers who is desperate to get his hands on Brayker's mysterious talisman. Brayker spends the night in a shabby motel but The Collector soon turns up and unleashes hell upon the motel and it's inhabitants.

This is where the fun really kicks in. The Collector has fun enticing the residents (made up of Dick Miller, Charles Fleisher, Thomas Haden Church, Brenda Bakke, Jada Pinkett-Smith and CCH Pounder) to join him on his dark quest and steal the talisman from Brayker.

Director Ernest Dickerson (who also did Surviving the Game) does not hold back on the gore as he spoofs 1950's B-movies, honor's the TV show and pays brilliant homage to the Tales From The Crypt comic book legacy. It may be nothing more than a cheap, horror comedy with no artistic integrity but Dickerson still successfully pulls of a movie that will satisfy and entertain anyone who watches it.

Half of the movie's appeal lies with Billy Zane who acts out the role of The Collector with such wicked charm and delightful evil. You can tell he's having a great time and he makes a counterpoint villain for Sadler's dishevelled hero.

They could have made more Tales From The Crypt movies, but producers Robert Zemeckis, Gilbert Adler and Joel Silver (Walter Hill and David Giler ducked out) went on to found Dark Castle, the production company behind House on Haunted Hill, Thir13en Ghosts and Ghost Ship.

Okay, first off, any soundtrack that includes Megadeth, Pantera, Biohazard and Sepultura has got to rock... Cemetery Gates is one of the greatest Pantera songs ever. That said, let's talk about the movie.

This movie would be on a top-five list of my all time favourite horror movies. Everyone pulled through with great performances, particularly Zane, who stole every scene he was in (who unfortunately went on to do Titanic which I had the displeasure to see). Great story, great performances, definitely lives up to the Tales From The Crypt name (better than Bordello of blood). So good it goes up to 11.

11 out of 10 stars.

I first saw this in the mid 90s on a vhs. Revisited it yesterday. The film has some very known faces. It is about a 'chosen' man (William Sadler) who has stopped aging n is on the run for 90 years. He possesses an artefact n a demon (Billy Zane) wants to get hold of that artefact without touching it. Sadler takes refuge in a hotel with a bunch of characters we dont care for while the demons r trying to get inside. The film has lots of gore, some nudity but it is a bit slow n the tension is lacking. The effects r cool though. Watch out for the girl's face transformation scene.

This Movie Rocks, it is definately a movie you should go see if you call yourself a real horror genere fan, because with this movie youll have fun and see a great spectacle of special effects, performances and ghouls, "Tales from the Crypt" deliver again with this great movie, This is the definitive "Tales" Movie because it´s next installment "Bordello of Blood" was not near as good as this one, hope you do rent it and add it to your collection as I did to mine, I have its official big movie poster on my room and love it very much, Thank you. Ill give it a terrific 10 out of 10 on Dark Comedic cool Horror.