History NightmareFuel / TalesFromTheCrypt

* [[spoiler:Mr. Lokai's]] transformation and murder of the maid in "Werewolf Concerto" is surprisingly effective given how fairly lighthearted the episode is up till that point. The clothes ripping, bones crunching effects, and distorted screams make for a very unnerving sequence on its own. But then the poor unsuspecting maid coming into the room and then having her face graphically smashed against a piano until it caves in provides the extra bit of nightmare fuel.

* There's the Crypt Keeper himself, who's pretty damn ugly, even if he ''is'' pretty goofy in terms of personality. The show itself, as one would expect of an uncensored horror 'short story' show, can dabble between this and {{Narm}}, depending on the episode.

** What makes it especially scary was how sudden it is. Until TheReveal, there are no supernatural elements within the episode whatsoever, which makes the jarring appearance of the [[spoiler:zombies]] that much more frightening, BodyHorror aside.

** And then there's the ending: the photographer's rival (who sent him into the infected zone in the first place) ends up with the dead guy's girlfriend, just as he planned. As the killer and the photographer's girlfriend are having sex, she reveals that [[spoiler: she knew he killed her boyfriend: he wrote her a letter before his death, revealing everything. Oh, and he sent her the balsam they just smoked -- which he obtained from the same infected village. And then [[NauseaFuel her veins burst open, spraying them both with black, infected blood]].]] As if that weren't enough, [[spoiler: the murderer runs to the bathroom, frantically trying to wash off the blood -- only for his nose to fall off into the sink.]] Yikes.

** And then there's the ending: the photographer's rival (who sent him into the infected zone in the first place) ends up with the dead guy's girlfriend, just as he planned. As the killer and the photographer's girlfriend are having sex, she reveals that [[spoiler: she knows he killed her boyfriend: he wrote her a letter before his death; he also sent her the balsam they just smoked -- from the same infected village. And then [[NauseaFuel the veins on her body burst open, spraying them both with black infected blood]].]] As if that weren't enough, [[spoiler: the murderer runs to the bathroom, frantically trying to wash off the blood -- only for his nose to fall off into the sink.]] Yikes.

* "Forever Ambergris". ''GOOD GOD'', "Forever Ambergris"! This episode is literally nothing but BodyHorror and NauseaFuel brought UpToEleven! A photographer gets a disease that literally rots him alive, and at one point ''[[EyeScream his eye falls out!]]''

* The [[spoiler:zombies]] in "None But The Lonely Heart". [[spoiler: The two most recently deceased (whose deaths we saw in the episode) are rotting and slimy. The third is little more than a dried-up, mummylike husk. The fourth is a worm-ridden skeleton in a rotting wedding dress. The episode ends with all of them cornering the protagonist in a mausoleum and chowing down on him with a nauseating crunch.]]
** What makes it especially scary was how sudden it was. Until TheReveal, there were no supernatural elements within the episode whatsoever, which makes the jarring appearance of the [[spoiler:zombies]] that much more frightening, BodyHorror aside.

This show liked the twist endings; therefore, be aware of heavy spoilers below.

** Not only that, it's ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Puente happened in real life]].''

--> "Well, here it is at last: my autopsy. God damn it, you were absolutely right. Except about one thing! The sense of touch, it isn't the first thing to go! '''IT'S THE LAST!'''

--> "Well, here it is at last: my autopsy. God damn it, you were absolutely right. Except about one thing! The sense of touch, it isn't the first thing to go! ''"IT'S THE LAST!"''

* How about "Abra Cadaver"? A good deal of the episode is told from the POV of a man [[AndIMustScream trapped in his own body]] thanks to his vengeful brother a special drug that keeps the brain alive but the body unresponsive (for a while), who is on the verge of getting cut apart at a medical school. Sure, it turns out to be a prank, [[spoiler: but then the drug gives him a heart attack and he dies for real, but his brother attempts to save him with the same drug. the final shot is of him about to get cut apart...''while still feeling everything'']].

* How about "Abra Cadaver"? A good deal of the episode is told from the POV of a man [[AndIMustScream trapped in his own body]] thanks to his vengeful brother, who is on the verge of getting cut apart at a medical school. Sure, it turns out to be a prank, [[spoiler: but the final shot is of him about to get cut apart...''while still feeling everything'']].

[[index]]

* The series premiere and ChristmasEpisode, "And All Through the House", in which a greedy woman murders her husband and is attacked by an AxeCrazy man [[BadSanta dressed as Santa Claus]]. After a lengthy cat-and-mouse game, [[spoiler: the woman's daughter mistakes the man for the ''real'' Santa Claus and brings him in the house. The Crypt Keeper assures us that the daughter wasn't harmed, as this Santa [[FridgeHorror prefers older women...in pieces]]]].

* The series premiere and ChristmasEpisode, "And All Through the House", in which a greedy woman murders her husband and is attacked by an AxeCrazy man [[BadSanta dressed as Santa Claus]]. After a lengthy cat-and-mouse game, [[spoiler: the woman's daughter mistakes the man for the ''real'' Santa Claus and brings him in the house. The Crypt Keeper assures us that the daughter wasn't harmed, as this Santa [[FridgeHorror prefers older woman...in pieces]]]].

* "Death of Some Salesmen", in which Ed Begley, Jr. plays this asshole cemetery plot salesman who gets kidnapped by a psychotic redneck family and is forced to marry and have sex with their ugly daughter. Oh, and did I mention that the mother, father, and daughter in this redneck family are all played by Tim "Dr. Frankenfurter" Curry? Noted in that it is kind of similar to that movie ''Film/NothingButTrouble'' (which [[HilariousInHindsight interestingly]] featured a music score by Music/MichaelKamen, who also scored the music for this episode).

* There's the show finale "The Third Pig", a rather twisted take on the classic fairy tale Three Little Pigs. It's also the only episode of the show to be animated as opposed to live-action. ''[[DerangedAnimation That doesn't make it any less frightening]].''

** [[spoiler: Drinky Pig]]'s death. [[spoiler: The Big Bad Wolf stabs him in the head with a knife, [[EyeScream pulls out one of his eyes with a fork]], then [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill chops off both of Drinky's arms ''[[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill and]]'' [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill head with an axe]]]].

* For starters there's the Crypt Keeper himself, who's pretty damn ugly, even if he ''is'' pretty goofy in terms of personality. The show itself, as one would expect of an uncensored horror 'short story' show, can dabble between this and {{Narm}}, depending on the episode.

* The twist endings. The plot for "Ear Today Gone Tommorow" is about a thief who gets an operation that gives him the auditory system of an owl. Unfortunately, it also gives him other owl-like traits, and at the end [[BodyHorror his jaw]] ''[[BodyHorror cracks open]]'' and he develops an owl's beak.
* The episode "Dead Wait" is a definite example of this trope, though being directed by Creator/TobeHooper, this should come as no surprise. As if John Rhys-Davies' shirtless torso [[BodyHorror bulging with an assortment of tiny worms under his flesh]] was not enough, the antagonist performing an impromptu autopsy to remove an ingested pearl from his stomach is added for good measure. In classic Creator/TobeHooper style, the act is not seen (in favor of facial expression shots from a nearby onlooker), [[GoryDiscretionShot yet it still manages to be just as gruesome off screen as it would be if actually filmed]].
** In syndication, maybe, but the uncut HBO version shows it up close, along with a shot of the guy pulling out a loop of intestine and slicing it open to extract the pearl. [[NauseaFuel Definitely more gruesome onscreen.]]
* The episode where Ed Begley, Jr. plays this asshole cemetery plot salesman who gets kidnapped by a psychotic redneck family and gets raped by the redneck family's ugly daughter. Oh, and did I mention that the mother, father, and daughter in this redneck family are all played by Tim "Dr. Frankenfurter" Curry? Noted in that it is kind of similar to that movie ''Film/NothingButTrouble'' (which [[HilariousInHindsight interestingly]] featured a music score by Music/MichaelKamen, who also scored the music for this episode).
* Joe Pesci being cut in half with a chainsaw so a pair of psychotic twin sisters can each have him as "theirs." Starting at the [[GroinAttack crotch.]] With a close-up of his mutilated insides. Lovely...
* In "Beauty Rest", a wannabe model murders several rivals so that she can win a rigged beauty contest and become the new "face" of a mysterious company. She does win the pageant, but then it's time for her to appear in the "grand finale." Next thing we see is the pageant host singing a cheery song about how beauty is great, but "it's what inside that counts" as the winner is unveiled: she's been nailed to a board, completely eviscerated, and the audience oohs and aahs over her as she is now the reigning "Miss Autopsy 1992."
* How about ''Abra Cadaver''? A good deal of the episode is told from the POV of a man [[AndIMustScream trapped in his own body]] thanks to his vengeful brother, who is on the verge of getting cut apart at a medical school. Sure, it turns out to be a prank, but the final shot is of him about to get cut apart...while still feeling everything.

* In one episode, a woman marries the boss of a gang of lumberjacks. She is so bored that she begins an affair with one of the other lumberjacks, but cries rape when her husband catches them, resulting in the husband attacking the guy with an axe and blinding him. The other workers' response is to kidnap the woman and her husband and place them inside hollow logs for the blind lumberjack to chop up; he realizes what is happening fairly early on, but joyfully goes through with it anyway. There's a lovely gory shot of the bodies chopped into four parts.
* "Television Terror" non-stop. The setting is a HauntedHouse, where an old woman murdered her elderly borders for their social security checks years earlier. TV host Horton Rivers enters with his cameraman to investigate the hauntings, despite a psychic consultant's warnings. Horton begins seeing flashes of the gruesome murders, and then the doors open and close on their own. When the psychic finally warns him to get out of there now, the cameraman is revealed to have been hanged and the ghostly victims come out in force. Horton fares worse, getting on the wrong end of a chainsaw wielded by the old woman's ghost before going out the window ''and hung'' '''on live TV'''.

** Not only that, it's ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Puente happened in Real Life]].''
* "You Murderer" Could be considered this for those who fear what could happen to them after they die. They end up in an AndIMustScream situation.

* There's the show finale "The Third Pig", a rather twisted take on the classic fairy tale Three Little Pigs. It's also the only episode of the show to be animated as opposed to live-action. ''[[DerangedAnimation That doesn't make it any less frightening]].''

** And then there's the ending: the photographer's rival (who sent him into the infected zone in the first place) ends up with the dead guy's girlfriend, just as he planned. As the killer and the photographer's girlfriend are having sex, she reveals that [[spoiler: she knows he killed her boyfriend: he wrote her a letter before his death; he also sent her the balsam they just smoked -- from the same infected village. And then [[NauseaFuel the veins on her body burst open, spraying them both with black infected blood]].]] As if that weren't enough, [[spoiler: the murderer runs to the bathroom, frantically trying to wash off the blood -- only for his nose to fall off into the sink.]] Yikes.

* "Forever Ambergris". ''GOOD GOD'', "Forever Ambergris"! This episode is literally nothing but BodyHorror and NauseaFuel brought UpToEleven! A photographer gets a disease that literally rots him alive, and at one point ''[[EyeScream his eye falls out!]]''

* The zombies in "None But The Lonely Heart". [[spoiler: The two most recently deceased (whose deaths we saw in the episode) are rotting and slimy. The third is little more than a dried-up, mummylike husk. The fourth is a worm-ridden skeleton in a rotting wedding dress. The episode ends with all of them cornering the protagonist in a mausoleum and chowing down on him with a nauseating crunch.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Hello, LastNoteNightmare!]]

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* "Forever Ambergris". ''GOOD GOD'', "Forever Ambergris"! This episode is literally nothing but BodyHorror and NauseaFuel brought UpToEleven!

* There's the show finale "The Third Pig", a rather twisted take on the classic fairy tale Three Little Pigs. It's also the only episode of the show to be animated as opposed to live-action. ''[[DerangedAnimation That doesn't make it any less frightening]].''

** In syndication, maybe, but the uncut HBO version shows it in all its {{Nausea Fuel}}ed glory. Definitely more gruesome onscreen.

* One of the worst was "For Cryin' Out Loud", where Lee Arenberg (Pintel from ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'') played a nightclub owner whose conscience ''finally'' gets through to him after decades of trying - just in time to advise him against embezzling charity money in an abstract of ''Literature/TheTelltaleHeart'', but a bit more literally once [[spoiler: he murders his blackmailing banker]]. What pushes this into nightmare territory, though, is the final sequence. Marty has used Q-tips throughout the episode to try and clear the voice out of his head, and is shown at one point mashing them against his ears [[PlayedForLaughs in a funny way]]. But then he's shown wandering through the club, unable to hear anything but the persistent voice, and seeing people stare at him oddly. After blurting a confession to murder, the voice in his head has this to say, prompting Marty to [[spoiler:pull over '''half of a bloody Q-tip''' out of his left ear]].