Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
This Tales from the Crypt movie is unfairly maligned.
This underrated campy flick deserves a second look.
What’s Demon Knight About?
Frank Brayker (William Sadler) crashes his car on a dark dessert highway before fleeing to a boarding house. There, he encounters a motley crew of residents and workers, all of whom are ready to sell him out the moment a cop comes looking for him.
But Brayker isn’t worried about the people he’s surrounded by, he’s worried about the man speeding toward him. The man is The Collector (Billy Zane), a demon sent to take an artifact Brayker is guarding.
With The Collector surrounding the boarding house and offering all sorts of earthly pleasures to the inhabitants, Brayker must act fast. Can he trust anyone in the boarding house? Or is their no fighting the charisma of Billy Zane?
What Makes Demon Knight Good?
It’s evidently a bit of an unpopular opinion that the movie is good at all. Sitting at 37% at Rotten Tomatoes, Demon Knight was trounced by critics. Honestly critics can be so joyless sometimes…
But I’m going to step up and say that Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight has been unfairly maligned over the years. If you’re a fan of the HBO show, or the comics they’re based on, you’ll know that Tales from the Crypt is a silly campy take on the horror genre.
Demon Knight, which was Tales from the Crypt’s first feature film, and perfectly captures the vibe of the show. The Crypt Keeper introduces our story with a few puns and then we’re off to the races. The movie we get is gory, full of goofy humor, and features some genuinely wonderful performances.
Sadler, who’s been a stalwart character actor in films like The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist, holds the film well as beleaguered Brayker. He is both exhausted with humanity’s weaknesses and determined to protect the world from evil. Jada Pinkett Smith plays off Sadler beautifully as Jeryline, a woman tired of scrubbing ovens and hoping for a change. It’s a physical roll, and Smith is up for a fight, pummeling demons and shouting out one-liners. It’s a shame that she hasn’t done more action movies, she has a real talent for snarky tough-gal roles.
The real star of the film, however, is Zane. That’s right, I’m picking the demon. Zane himself has said The Collector is his favorite performance. It’s easy to see why. As a demon who must be both charming and threatening, sometimes all at once, Zane is clearly having a tremendous time chewing the scenery. He’s so gleeful in his evil ways that it’s easy to see why people might give in and choose evil over the gruff Brayker.
Overall, Demon Knight is the sort of campy late-night horror that you watch with friends at slumber parties. It’s goofy, gory and a hell of a good time, if you’re willing to embrace it.
Verdict
If you can’t get behind Billy Zane cruising down the highway while Filter’s “Hey Man, Nice Shot” blares on the soundtrack, you’re not fun enough to enjoy this movie.
