Christmas is upon us, but there’s still time to let the magic of holiday horror ring “All Through the House” before Santa packs up his slay.
SHOW NOTES FROM YOUR HOST DONNA:
In this episode, continuing with the Deathcember series, I wanted to showcase a few Christmas horror shorts. I talk about And All Through the House, a segment from the 1972 Tales From the Crypt film, as well as the remake of this story in the 1989 Tales From the Crypt HBO anthology series. Plus, we take a look at an additional Christmas horror short from Love, Death & Robots. Don’t forget to stay on the nice list!
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Tales from the Crypt is a 1972 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on short stories from the EC Comics series of the same name. In the film, five strangers (Joan Collins, Ian Hendry, Robin Phillips, Richard Greene and Nigel Patrick) in a crypt encounter the mysterious Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson), who makes each person in turn foresee the manner of their death. It is one of several Amicus horror anthologies produced during the 1970s.
In one of the most famous segments, And All Through the House, Joan Colins kills her husband on Christmas Eve. While preparing to hide the body, she hears a radio announcment that there’s an escaped homicidal maniac on the loose. She sees the killer (dressed as Santa Claus) outsider her home, but she cannot call the police without exposing her own crime. But karmic justice waits for no one, not even on Christmas!
In 1989, HBO created a television anthologly series based on the original comics, which ran thorugh 1996. The series is hosted by the Cryptkeeper, a wisecracking corpse performed by several puppeteers and voiced by John Kassir.
Because it was aired on HBO, it was allowed to include content that had not appeared in most television series up to that time, such as graphic violence, profanity, sexual activity, and nudity. The popular remake of the 1972 segment And All Through the House aired in 1980 on episode 2 of Season 1. It starred Mary Ellen Trainor as the greedy, murderous wife and Larry Drake as the killer Claus.
All Through the House (Love, Death & Robots)
Love, Death & Robots is an adult animated anthology television series created by Tim Miller and streaming on Netflix.
Individual episodes are produced by different animation studios from a range of countries and explore diverse genres, particularly comedy, horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Each episode is connected to one or more of the three titular concepts. Miller serves as the showrunner and producer alongside Joshua Donen, David Fincher, and Jennifer Miller;[3] most episodes are written by Philip Gelatt, and are adaptations of short stories.
In the sixth episode of the second volume (the 24th episode of the series), Love, Death & Robots crafted their own demented version of holiday horror with All Through the House. In this adults only episode, two kids tiptoe downstairs on Christmas Eve to catch a glimpse of Santa. Only, it’s not the jolly old fat man they were expecting but rather a grotesque monster. Still, nothing is as it seems in this clever tale, and the surprise ending will delight you.
ABOUT THE SHOW:
Donna Tha Dead is a podcast for lovers of horror, cult classics, and other genres of cinemas. Your host, Donna, is a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict. To those that can hear Donna’s voice, she invites you to come hold her hand in the darkness and listen.
New episodes typically post every other week, and you can listen right here on morbidlybeautiful.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
You can connect with Donna on Instagram and Twitter @donna_tha_dead.
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