Tales from the Darkside
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| Tales from the Darkside | |
|---|---|
 Second logo for Tales from the Darkside |
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| Genre | Horror, Science-fiction, drama |
| Created by | George A. Romero |
| Narrated by | Paul Sparer |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 90 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | George A. Romero |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | syndicated |
| Original run | 1983 – 1988 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Tales From The Crypt, Night Visions, Amazing Stories |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology TV series from the 1980s produced by George A. Romero. Similar to The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. Unlike these other series, Tales from the Darkside centered mostly around horror stories. However, the series contained some episodes which would more likely be considered science fiction or fantasy-based[citation needed], as well as some episodes which were more comical and lighthearted in tone[citation needed].
Contents |
[edit] Series
The moderate success of George Romero's horror anthology film Creepshow led to initial inquiries about the possibilities of a Creepshow series. Because Warner Brothers owned certain aspects of Creepshow, Laurel Productions (which produced the film) opted to take their potential series into a similar, yet separate, direction, including changing the name to Tales From The Darkside. The new name reflected Creepshow's focus, that of a live-action EC-based horror comic book of the 1950s like Tales from the Crypt or The Vault of Horror, though the series would not carry the trappings of a comic as Creepshow did.
Some episodes of the series were written by or adapted from the works of famous authors. Stephen King's short stories Word Processor of the Gods and Sorry, Right Number were amongst them. Works by Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, and Clive Barker were also featured.
After wrapping, Tales from the Darkside was succeeded by Monsters in 1988, a similarly styled syndicated weekly horror anthology also produced by Laurel and longtime Romero associate Richard P. Rubenstein.
The series was followed by Tales from the Darkside: The Movie in 1990. Stephen King also contributed a short story to this film, The Cat From Hell. The film starred Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, William Hickey, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore (the first three previously appeared in episodes of the TV series). Tom Savini has called this film 'The real "Creepshow 3"'.
The series was originally syndicated weekly by Tribune Broadcasting, with most stations airing it after midnight. After ending production, it was picked up by LBS Communications for barter-based syndication, in the episode The Apprentice, Lorimar-Telepictures syndicated the show instead.
After a considerable absence from television, the series currently airs on The Sci Fi Channel as of October 2nd, 2006. [1] It also airs on Chiller.
[edit] Opening/closing sequence
The opening/closing theme to the series was performed by Donald Rubinstein (who co-wrote the theme with Erica Lindsay). Donald (The brother of Laurel Productions' founder, Richard P. Rubinstein) had worked on scores for Laurel Productions in the past, such as the films Martin and Knightriders. His previous works qualified him to try his hand at the theme for Tales from the Darkside, and the haunting composition helped define the series as a separate entity from Creepshow.
As in the case of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, the series begins each episode with a montage of images - in this case, several shots of a forest and countryside - accompanied by a narrator (Paul Sparer) delivering a foreboding voice-over:
- Man lives in the sunlit world
- of what he believes to be reality.
- But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld,
- a place that is just as real,
- but not as brightly lit.....
- A DARKSIDE.
Each episode would also end with a second voice-over:
- The dark side is always there,
- waiting for us to enter,
- waiting to enter us.
- Until next time,
- try to enjoy the daylight.
