Contos da Escuridão

Preparing for a dinner party, a witch starts to cook a young boy for the party, and when is told what will happen to him, decides to stall for time by telling her three stories while a local priest searches for a way to stop the whole thing.

The Good Stor(ies): Lot 249-Receiving a special package, a professor enlists several friends to open his newest prize, lot 249 from a special auction that contains the remains of an ancient Egyptian mummy, and becomes obsessed with trying to bring it to life using the magical scrolls sent along with it. Went a string of murders around their college campus appears to have them befuddled, they learn the secret of why the lot was bid on and try to get away from it. This is a light and breezy tale, mostly centered around the mummy's antics, as the few killings are quite eerie and creepy. The attack in the dorm, which includes the graphic killing where it removes the brain with a wire hanger through the nose, and a later one inside a living room is really great. The special effects on the mummy are great, making it look effectively rotten and crumbling, and it's destruction scene is great, playing that off as well. It ends predictably, but that's a minor after-thought here.

The Bad Stor(ies): Cat from Hell-Summoned to a giant mansion, a hit-man finds that his charge wants him to kill a cat. Surprising and a little befuddled over the request, he explains that the creature has had a long-standing habit of killing those in its path, including the former inhabitants of the house. Left alone to deal with it, he finds that killing the cat isn't the easiest assignment of his career. This here had a lot of potential, with an intriguing story and some really inspired ideas, notably the idea of the cat's motive for coming back. The flashback scenes are good fun, and the fact that a major attack sequence is shot through the cat's POV is really great. The main thing that stops this one is that it's way too long. The majority of the segment consists of the two talking about what the cats' done to deserve the punishment, taking a lot of drama out of the chase. The conclusion is also foretold from the beginning, which all of the stories consists of and makes it feel really uninspired.

Lover's Vow-Trying to create new artwork, a struggling artist is told by his agent that his work can no longer be represented through his agency. Walking through an alley, he runs into a strange woman out alone in the night and offers help. Becoming obsessed with a strange creature he saw that spared his life for the secrecy of its existence, he allows it to become his sole desire to his own detriment. What really hurts this one is the inordinate amount of cheese on display. The design of the gargoyle, with the large eyes, big mouth and intricate designs on the side of his head, make it more cute than fearsome. The easily determinable rubber used for the creation makes it another strike. There's also the fact that it takes way too long to get to its really good parts, concentrating on the romance angle way too much, and the way they get together also is a little unbelievable. As with the others, the ending is way too predictable and doesn't really get the chance to become the possible shock it could've had.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and children-in-jeopardy.

Tales From the Darkside: the Movie was a very entertaining film. It has four stories in it. The first is a wrap-around story about a woman going to cook a ten year old boy for dinner, yet the child reads stories to her to try and delay his death. In a way, this is related to tales of the Arabian Nights. The three other stories are the ones told by the young boy. All of them are actually very interesting, have elements of fright, are generally well-acted, and have some kind of message. One deals with an ancient mummy out to avenge a smart yet socially outcast student at a college. Another story deals with a malevolent cat out to duel with a hitman paid $100,000 to kill a cat. Gruesome but great story with some real good acting, especially by William Hickey. Love that voice! The final story deals with a relationship between a gargoyle and an artist. An intriguing tale and has Rae Dawn Chong in it(a nice asset). All the stories are well-made and well-written, the wrap-around story being the weakest due to its resolution. Nonetheless, Tales From the Darkside is a fun horror film in the vein of Tales From the Crypt and Creepshow.

This is really three shorter movies, bound together by a fourth tale in which the other three stories are read. The first segment features an animated mummy stalking selected student victims; the second tale tells the story of a "cat from hell" who cannot be killed and leaves a trail of victims behind it; the third story is about a man who witnesses a bizarre killing and promises never to tell what he saw and the "in-between" bit is the story of a woman preparing to cook her newspaper boy for supper. Not the best king adaption, but hey, it ain't bad either. A good cast and some nice special effects. The Gargoyle was nasty! Plenty of gore here, but used in just enough moderation to be effective. A couple of tense moments, some god scares (Especially in the story about involving an elusive, seemingly immortal cat.) and pretty good music. Pretty good movie, just nothing really spectacular or life-changing. My rating for "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie"--6/10.

If your a fan of Tales From The Crypt or Creepshow then Tales From The Darkside: The Movie is a must see! All three stories are highly enjoyable the last story Lovers Vow is great a honor to the now late Michael McDowell. Lot 249 also features great performances from Christian Slater,Steve Buscemi,and Julianne Moore. The second story Cat from Hell is enjoyable and is one of William Hickey's last roles.A great horror movie to watch over and over one of the best ever made.

Much like Cat's Eye was a series of three short stories, Tales from the Darkside is done similarly. In this Stephen King work a boy tries to avoid being cooked and eaten by a witch by occupying her with fanciful stories.

There were three total stories featuring some well known actors. Some were already established, like Rae Dawn Chong and William Hickey. Others I don't believe were as well known at the time, such as Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi, and Jullianne Moore.

I thought the three stories were solidly done. I can't remember the order but the order of preference for me was: 1.) Mummy story, 1A.) Gargoyle story 3.) and a distant third was the cat story.

None of the stories were very spooky or scary, in fact you could say they were somewhat comical (especially the mummy story), but they all had an intriguing premise. The three stories all wrapped into the initial story made for a good movie.