Why Reddit Horror Fans Don't Think A Cryptkeeper Remake Would Work
Adapted from the legendary EC Comics series, HBO horror anthology series "Tales from the Crypt" shocked and creeped out television audiences for seven seasons and 93 episodes. In keeping with the source material, the show was more campy than terrifying, but the pedigree of talent involved in making the series — including director Robert Zemeckis and actors like Tom Hanks and Patricia Arquette — meant that it's been remembered fondly by horror fans.
The most iconic aspect of "Crypt" was arguably the host of the show, the Cryptkeeper, a reanimated corpse performed by puppeteers and memorably voiced by John Kassir. Each episode had the Cryptkeeper introduce the story with some truly awful puns ("Ah, the kill of victory!") and often his signature greeting, "Hello Boils and Ghouls."
A recent Reddit thread from r/horror saw many commenters discussing how much they missed "Tales from the Crypt" and whether there should be a remake. This was the case made for why they shouldn't try to bring back the show and the Cryptkeeper.
Redditors aren't sure a remake would be sleazy enough
On a Reddit thread entitled "I miss Tales From The Crypt," one fan, BizarroJoJo, commented that "One of the great things with Tales from the Crypt is its unabashed sleaze factor. I always think if they brought it back it wouldn't have that same aspect to it."
It's hard not to see their point — "Tales from the Crypt" took full advantage of HBO's cable channel status to deliver plenty of gore, sex, and shocking imagery. With the tendency now for cleaning up genre material in order to reach as big an audience as possible, it's possible a 2021 or 2022 remake of the show just wouldn't be nearly as nasty or fun.
Others disagreed, however. Poster Spurion replied that "I think a show like Tales from the Crypt could do well if it was re-booted. There's been a few examples of old media being rebooted for modern audiences that managed to keep the core appeal, while also evolving with modern sensibilities." And it's certainly true that this can happen as well: Look at "Hannibal" or the recent "Dark Crystal" Netflix series.
There was, in fact, a "Tales from the Crypt" remake produced by M. Night Shyamalan and set to premiere on TNT in 2017, but the complicated rights issues surrounding the property shut down the show for good (Gizmodo). Maybe it was for the best, as the show couldn't even include the beloved Cryptkeeper. For now, fans like the ones on Reddit can only speculate about what a 21st century "Tales from the Crypt" would look like.