Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a 1990 American horror anthology film. John Harrison directed it, and Michael McDowell and George A. Romero wrote it. It is a spin-off of the anthology television series *Tales from the Darkside* (1984–1988), which Romero created. The movie uses a frame story: a kidnapped paperboy tells three horror tales to a suburban witch who plans to eat him. The cast includes Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, David Johansen, William Hickey, James Remar, Rae Dawn Chong, Matthew Lawrence, Robert Sedgwick, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore (in her film debut), and Robert Klein. Produced by Laurel Entertainment and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it was released theatrically on May 4, 1990. It was a moderate commercial success and received mixed reviews from critics.

The plot begins with a suburban housewife and witch named Betty, who has captured a boy named Timmy and plans to cook him for a dinner party with other witches. To delay her, Timmy reads her three stories from a book she gave him, titled *Tales from the Darkside*.

In "Lot 249," graduate student Edward Bellingham is cheated by classmates Susan and Lee, who frame him for theft to ruin his scholarship chances. He reanimates a mummy to murder them. Susan's brother Andy kidnaps Bellingham, forces him to summon the mummy, destroys it, and burns its remains along with what he thinks is the reanimation parchment. He spares Bellingham, but Bellingham has switched the parchment, resurrects Susan and Lee, and sends them to Andy's dorm, where they greet him with Bellingham's regards.

In "The Cat from Hell," a wealthy, wheelchair-bound old man named Drogan hires hitman Halston to kill a black cat he believes is evil. Drogan claims the cat killed three other occupants of his house and that he is next, because his pharmaceutical company killed 5,000 cats testing a new drug. Halston takes the $100,000 job but is killed when the cat climbs down his throat. The cat then jumps at Drogan, causing a fatal heart attack.

In "Lover's Vow," struggling artist Preston lives in a studio with a skylight overlooking a stone gargoyle. After his agent tells him his art isn't selling, Preston gets drunk. A friend walks him home, but a gargoyle monster attacks, severing the friend's hand and decapitating him.