Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) ***1/2

I kind of can’t believe I had never seen Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) before. It was way better than I expected it to be. An exquisite blend of action, horror, and humor, Demon Knight features jaw-droppingly good practical f/x, striking imagery, and a great cast of character actors.

Enest R. Dickerson blends a siege film (à la Night Of The Living Dead (1968) (my review here), Assault On Precinct 13 (1976), and Demons (1985)) with Evil Dead II (1987) (my review here) antics to fantastic results. The 1990s always get a bad rep for horror fare, but this gem would have fit perfectly alongside 80s cult classics.

Billy Zane oozes charm as the villain of the piece and looks like he was having a blast spouting all the amusing one-liners. William Sadler is reliably stoic and the legendary Dick Miller gets more screen time than is usual, which is always welcome. DK is thin on plot but big on fun. The story is fairly predictable but it moves along so well that you just enjoy the ride. This is one film I'm very much looking forward to revisiting.