Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

IMDb
A man on the run is hunted by a demon known as the Collector.


NYTimes

Ernest Dickerson's garishly stylized horror film, "Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight," is a blown-up live-action cartoon that wants to be bone-chilling and funny at the same time. In its leering adolescent way, it half succeeds. Between scenes of splattering gore in which severed heads literally roll across the floor, the movie has a good time spoofing itself and a gallery of mostly sleazy characters who confront a crew of blood-thirsty demons.

Although not unduly frightening, "Tales From the Crypt" captures the moralistic gallows humor of the 1950's comic-book series that gave the movie its name. A zombie-faced Hollywood horrormeister called the Crypt Keeper (the voice of John Kassir) introduces the Demon Knight tale with a facetious grandiosity that recalls "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Referring to Gory Cooper and Robert Deadford in his opening spiel, the Crypt Keeper effectively sets the film's chortlingly macabre tone.

Only in comic-book land would you be likely to find the multicultural assortment of people menaced by demons in the movie's dingy New Mexico boarding house-cum-brothel, which is housed in a former church. The more vivid characters include Roach (Thomas Haden Church), a local redneck, and his prostitute girlfriend, Cordelia (Brenda Bakke); Uncle Willy (Dick Miller), a dirty old man, and Irene (C. C. H. Pounder), the establishment's tough-as-nails manager, who spends half the movie with a severed arm. As Jeryline, the boarding house's rebellious young housekeeper, Jada Pinkett plays a crucial role in the story, but the actress doesn't have enough screen time or good lines for her brand of sassiness to ignite.

Arriving on the premises are two survivors from a fiery car crash, who are soon revealed to be supernatural adversaries. Brayker (William Sadler) is the grim-faced embodiment of virtue who holds a key that contains the blood of Christ. His foe, the Collector (Billy Zane), who would do anything to possess that key, is a typically suave, devilish incarnation with a shaved head, lacquered eyebrows and a seducer's silvery tongue. In a series of lurid temptations (the movie's worst scenes), the Collector hypnotically coaxes the boarding-house denizens, one after another, over to his side by telepathically tapping into their romantic and sexual fantasies.

The allegory at the center of "Demon Knight" manages to be heavy-handed and coy at the same time. Although the film includes flashbacks of a lightning-slashed Crucifixion and refers to the blood of a carpenter shed at Calvary, the name of Jesus is conspicuously missing.

What "Tales From the Crypt" does best is sustain a look and tone that bring a comic-book's broad strokes into the realm of a live-action movie without seeming too mannered or arty. The film's gooey monsters with their electric green eyes and ferocious voracity are among the more convincing zombie demons to be found in a recent horror film. The movie wears a phosphorescent grin.

"Demon Knight" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It is very gory (with two decapitations) and includes nudity and strong language. TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS DEMON KNIGHT Directed by Ernest Dickerson ("Crypt Keeper" sequences directed by Gilbert Adler); written by Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris and Mark Bishop, based on the comic magazines originally published by William M. Gaines; director of photography, Rick Bota; edited by Stephen Lovejoy; music by Ed Shearmur; production designer, Christiaan Wagener; produced by Mr. Adler; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 93 minutes. This film is rated R. WITH: Billy Zane (Collector), William Sadler (Brayker), Jada Pinkett (Jeryline), Brenda Bakke (Cordelia), Thomas Haden Church (Roach), Dick Miller (Uncle Willy), C. C. H. Pounder (Irene) and John Kassir (Voice of the Crypt Keeper).

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