The second sequel to the classic 1982 horror anthology Creepshow, released in 2006. The film had no involvement from George A. Romero or Stephen King and was panned by critics; Tom Savini, who did the makeup of the first two films, considers Tales from the Darkside: The Movie the real Creepshow 3.
Unlike the first two Creepshow installments, in which the wraparound element was a horror comic that linked different stand-alone stories, Creepshow 3 takes a Pulp Fiction-esque approach, in which the characters from each story, which are all set in the same neighborhood, interact with each other during the film. Like the first film, it tells five stories:
- Alice - Alice Jacobs is an obnoxious, stuck-up teenage girl who is growing tired of her cheery neighborhood. She comes home one day to find her family in the living room, where her father, a police detective, is fiddling with a new universal remote control. As it turns out, this remote really lives up to its title. Whenever one of the buttons on the device is pressed, Alice finds herself transported into various alternate realities, including one where her family is African-American, and another where her family is Hispanic. If that isn't enough, an apparent side effect of this constant reality-traveling has Alice's body gradually mutating and deforming into a hideous, decaying mess. Realizing the severity of her situation, Alice tries to return her original reality before it's too late.
- The Radio - Jerry is a part-time security officer who lives in an apartment complex he shares with a pimp named Leon and Eva, one of Leon's hookers who supposedly has feelings for him. One day, Jerry's radio breaks down during a baseball game, so he goes to buy a new one from a homeless street vendor. After crudely patching it up with duct tape and a piece of wire, the radio begins to talk to Jerry in a sultry, female voice. The radio begins giving Jerry advice for his day to day life, telling him the right things to eat and even how to invest his money wisely, almost as if it can predict the future. However, the radio's advice begins driving Jerry down a dark path, having him steal a hidden stash of money, accidentally killing a thief in his building who tries to steal said money, and holding one of his other neighbors captive and killing them when they witness the murder. With people growing ever suspicious of Jerry's actions, there's no telling how much longer he'll be able to tolerate the radio's "advice".
- Call Girl - Rachel is a call girl with a dark secret. Primarily, she's a murderer with a penchant for stabbing. The local tabloids have been covering her actions for a while, giving her the nickname "The Call Girl Killer", an accomplishment she's actually proud of. After slaying her most recent victims, a customer and a homeless woman, Rachel receives a call from her newest client, a timid young man named Victor who is looking for some company. Thinking Victor will just be another easy mark, Rachel drives out to the suburbs to meet him. Things seem to be off in Victor's place, as Rachel doesn't notice him in any photographs. Victor covers this up by mentioning that he's the black sheep of the family. After paying $1000 for sex, Rachel ends up killing Victor after a short while. But after cleaning herself up, Victor comes back to life, revealing himself to be a vampire who proceeds to give Rachel a taste of her own medicine.
- The Professor's Wife - Professor Dayton is an eccentric college professor turned inventor who is soon to be getting married. He invites two of his former students, Charles and John, to visit and celebrate the occasion. The professor then introduces his wife to be: a ditzy, bubbly young woman named Kathy. When Dayton steps out to grab something from the store, Charles and John suspect something fishy is going on. Remembering that Professor Dayton has been known to have a knack for using his talent with machines to play practical jokes, and having been victims of said practical jokes in the past, they suspect that Kathy is actually a robot, a secret project the professor has spent the last 20 years creating in his laboratory. When the duo manage to chat with Kathy, they find that she does somewhat behave like a robot. They deduce this not only because of how young she is, but because she does not eat or drink, she isn't used to heat, and she doesn't even remember how she met Dayton in the first place, which further indicates that she may possibly be mechanical. To that end, Charles and John, far too wrapped up in their own superstitions, end up dismembering Kathy to see what she looks like on the inside. Unfortunately, the result is not what they think it is. (Thankfully, Dayton manages to put Kathy "back together" in time for their wedding in the film's epilogue.)
- Haunted Dog - Dr. Farwell is a cruel and heartless doctor who is serving a court-ordered 30 day sentence at a free clinic after an unspecified offense. Farwell is also incredibly insolent and rude towards his patients, giving them bogus prescriptions, hitting on any females he meets with, and frequently ingesting the medications he is supposed to prescribe to get high. His attitude with his patients doesn't stop there, as he even goes as far as to mock an old lady who is going blind and showing absolutely no sympathy towards a teenage girl with an inoperable brain tumor. One day, the doctor buys a hot dog from a local hot dog stand, but he ends up dropping it on the sidewalk. Out of kindness (or perhaps not) he decides to give the now filthy hot dog to a homeless man who had been asking him for food. Unfortunately, the homeless guy chokes and dies after taking one bite of the hot dog, especially after Farwell does absolutely nothing to help him. Soon after, Farwell begins seeing the homeless man's ghost in various places, the specter continuously offering him the hot dog he choked to death on. Whether or not the ghost is all in his head, Farwell ends up being driven into madness by the result of his actions.
Creepshow 3 has examples of the following tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Victor, fully vamped out, is about to kill her, Rachel freaks out and desperately begs him not to kill her, to no avail.
- Asshole Victim: Rachel and Dr. Farwell, hands down.
- Baby Don't Got Back: Alice's grandmother scolds her for having "no ass", saying she'll never find a husband because of it.
- Body Horror: Alice's "true form" is a decaying, melting mess covered in boils.
- Bondage Is Bad: Rachel's session with Victor involves handcuffing him to a bed, which gives her the opportunity to climb on top of him and stab him to death.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Alice is this to a T.
- Deadly Prank: Professor Dayton enjoys playing practical jokes on his students that were 'unsafe' to put it lightly.
- Dr. Jerk: Dr. Farwell, big time. He's openly insolent and rude to his patients, shows No Sympathy to a teenage girl with a brain tumor, mocks an old woman going blind, and gives a hot dog he just dropped to a homeless man.
- Forced Transformation: The first segment ends with Alice being transformed into a rabbit.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Kathy's fate at the end of the movie.
- Haunted Technology: The titular radio of the second segment, which tempts Jerry into killing people and stealing money.
- In Name Only: A much lambasted example, which is rather remarkable since like its namesakes it's a horror anthology movie. But unlike the other Creepshow movies, it had no involvement from George A. Romero or Stephen King and, even more damning, had no homages to the EC horror comics of the past. Of course, it helps (or doesn't help) that Creepshow and Creepshow 2 are considered classics, while Creepshow 3 is as widely disliked as any work can be. Tom Savini has been quoted as saying that Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is the real Creepshow 3.
- Karmic Death: Rachel the Killer Call Girl.
- Karma Houdini: The Professor's former students suffer no repercussions for killing his bride-to-be.
- Kill the Cutie: The Professor's doting wife Kathy meets a grisly end when his former students suspect she's a robot.
- Un-Robotic Reveal: Professor Dayton's former students believe that his future bride Kathy is a robot; she behaves as such, and doesn't eat or drink. They ultimately dismantle her when Dayton's not around... and are horrified to discover she was a human Mail-Order Bride.
- Universal Remote Control: What drives the plot of the first segment. Whenever Alice's father presses one of the buttons on the device, the whole family except for Alice changes ethnicity (i.e., the "Color and Hue Settings" button makes her family turn African-American, and the "Subtitles" button makes her family turn Hispanic).
- Scary Teeth: Victor sports a set of shark-like teeth while vamped-out.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Victor lures the murderous Rachel in the guise of a dorky virgin, only to turn out to be the true predator of the story.
