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TFTDS Vol. 5--A True Part of the 80s Culture
A fixture...a "must have" for the 80's Cult-TV offbeat enthusiasts. This was the first TFTDS video I came to own, and my favorite of the six I have so far. It was interesting to see the "lighter side of hell" in the form of Clive Barker's earlier writing, which I found both amusing and clever. The series is a veritable who's who cornucopia of classic TV/movie actors as well the up-and-comers; i.e., Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), Anthony Heald (The Silence of the Lambs, TV's Boston Public), Seth Green (Stephen King's "It", and later, Austin Powers' comedies, etc.) only to name a few ...The writers, directors and actors all bring something special and personal to the series and specifically to this video. It captures some of the nuances of the Twilight Zone series, but peppered with an 80s attitude and new directions in writing and overall treatment of the genre. For both the nostalgic and the first-time viewers, a treat. To me, TFTDS helped define the feel, mood and sympatico that was the 80s...Hey, I was there! ... Read more

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Happy 20th Anniversary, Tales from the Darkside
It's hard to believe it's been 20 years or more since co-producer George Romero's TV series first traversed the ozone highway into our living rooms. And this particular volume 6 is no exception to the creative benchmark the series set forth. Conceptually, TFTDS is a compilation of a myriad of short story writers, screen writers, etc., of this genre, put into a TV format. Team this with an eclectic mix of actors and actresses including classical, up-and-coming, Vaudevillian, oldies but goodies (golden age of TV), even Broadway, and throw in well metered direction and interesting special effects (for this era), and you have a winner, with an 80s feel. My kudos to the casting crew! In this particular tape, five episodes are taken from the series, featuring the writing skills of Robert Bloch (Psycho) and Michael McDowell (Beetlejuice). Since the writers in the series are so numerous and varied in style, the mood and feel of each are totally different from one another, and represent an albeit edgy, 80s representation of television programming. My personal favorite on this tape was "Baker's Dozen", where a greedy advertizer (Larry Manetti from Magnum PI) gets his just "desserts" by a voodoo woman who just happens to bake one "mean" cookie (Mabel King from The Wiz). Then, when the cookie lady becomes a little too powerful for her own good, she's thwarted by the elderly but crafty Aloysious who proves once again that good things come in small (kitchen rat-sized) packages. Great viewing for 8-14 year olds especially, but fun for all. In short: Clever, creepy, but not overly gory. Great for Halloween party sleepovers! A series of some of the best horror short story writers of the 80s era, put to film. P.S.--Check out the companion paperback and episodes 1-7. I have them all, and my teenage daughter and her friends are really into them. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Best Volume of All
I believe this is the best volume of this series out of them all. It includes my favorite episode of all time, "Trouble With Mary Jane." In which a yound girl becomes possessed by a demon and her grandmother hires a pair of occultists to perform an exorcism on the little girl. Although they do succeed in the exorcism, the result is something very unexpected. Other episodes on this volume include, "The Devil's Advocate", "Ring Around the Redhead", "The Satanic Piano" (another one of my favorites), and "A Choice of Dreams". If you like twisted, strange, and unusual stories, I highly recommend this product to you.

Join the Darkside!
In the second volume, I lovingly discovered that my second all-time favorite episode was included: The Devil's Advocate. My all-time favorite episode, Seasons of Belief, is on the first volume. Anyway, The Devil's Advocate stars Jerry Stiller as a smart-alec radio talk show host who neglects to see how his life is worse than those he constantly puts down over the airways. He realizes it eventually, but not before it's too late. The remaining four episodes are good, but don't exactly compare to The Devil's Advocate. These episodes include Ring Around The Redhead (starring Home Alone's John Heard), The Trouble with Mary Jane (starring Phyllis Diller), The Satanic Piano (starring Michael Warren from Hill Street Blues), and A Choice of Dreams (starring The Godfather's Abe Vigoda). Buy it for Stiller if nothing else! ... Read more

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Great Comedy!! Randy Quaid Rules!!
Randy Quaid rules and stars as a songwriter who accidently calls millions of martians to come to earth although they are harmless but annoying pests,he tries to find a solution to get rid of them from face of the earth.This is a great,must see campy comedy!! ... Read more