Tales from the Crypt 1972

Five strangers wandering through the old catacombs in the English countryside are drawn into a dim chamber where The Crypt Keeper explains a chilling fate: each of them will die in a different way, a macabre pattern that unfolds through four stories and a twist ending.

…And All Through the House

Joanne Clayton is glamorous and driven as she murders her much older husband Richard on Christmas Eve to claim his life insurance. She frantically tries to hide the body and wrestles with a radio warning about a homicidal maniac roaming the night. The killer, dressed in a Santa Claus suit, stalks the house just outside, but calling the police would betray the crime. Joanne locks the doors and drags the body toward the basement, hoping to finish the cover‑up. Yet when she tries to summon help, her young daughter Carol—believing the maniac is Santa—unlocks the door and lets the intruder in, and he strangles Joanne by the fire before the来morning light can reveal the truth.

Reflection of Death

Carl Maitland deserts his wife and children to be with his secretary, Susan Blake. They slip away together, only to be torn apart by a catastrophic car crash. Carl awakens after the wreck, outside the burning car, and attempts to hitchhike home while others react with horror at the sight of him. When he reaches his house, his wife greets him with another man; she screams and slams the door. He then finds Susan, who is blind from the accident, and she tells him that Carl died two years earlier in the crash. Gazing at a reflective surface, he sees a corpse’s face staring back and screams. Carl wakes again to realize it was a dream—but the very crash he witnessed moments before soon happens in reality, trapping him in a harrowing loop of illusion and fate.

Poetic Justice

James Elliot shares a house with his father Edward, opposite the home of Arthur Edward Grimsdyke, an elderly widower who loves dogs and old-fashioned storytelling. James, arrogant and spiteful, hatches a cruel campaign against Grimsdyke: dogs are seized, an ally is courted to remove him from his municipal post, and parents grow fearful of alleged wrongdoing. Grimsdyke, however, secretly dabbles in the occult and holds a seance to commune with his late wife. On Valentine’s Day, James sends Grimsdyke a flood of poison‑pen valentines—falsely attributed to neighbors—which drives the old man to take his own life. Exactly one year later, Grimsdyke rises from the grave to exact revenge. The next morning, Edward discovers his son dead with a note that reads, “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY..YOU WERE MEAN AND CRUEL..RIGHT FROM THE START..NOW YOU REALLY HAVE NO..” The ending word remains hidden as James’ still-beating heart is revealed inside the crumpled paper, a shocking reminder of the cruelty he once spread.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY..YOU WERE MEAN AND CRUEL..RIGHT FROM THE START..NOW YOU REALLY HAVE NO..

Wish You Were Here

In a sharp turn of doom, Ralph Jason is a ruthless, money‑driven businessman teetering on the edge of ruin. His wife, Enid, notices an inscription on a Chinese figurine that grants three wishes. She wields the first wish to secure wealth, and Ralph dies in a car crash on the way to claim a payout. The lawyer Charles Gregory warns Enid that bringing Ralph back could be catastrophic, especially after hearing a cautionary tale about healing—yet she ignores the warning and makes a second wish to restore him to life just before the accident, only to find him embalmed and stuck in perpetual life. Desperate, Enid makes a final wish to let Ralph live forever, but the embalming curse locks him in a tormenting immortality. When she tries to end his life, she discovers she can’t; she has doomed herself to an eternity of suffering alongside him.

Blind Alleys

Major William Rogers takes command of a home for the blind, and his leadership quickly tightens the purse strings and tightens the supplies, leaving residents cold and hungry. George Carter, among others, pleads for humane care and medical help for fellow residents, but the staff refuse. Carter leads a revolt, subdues the workers, and traps Rogers and his faithful dog Shane in separate basement rooms, building a narrow maze of corridors between them. After days without food, Rogers is forced to navigate the treacherous maze while the dog shreds at the barriers. Narrow escapes and razor‑lined passages test him to the limit, until a final dire encounter with the hungry hound seals his fate in a merciless end.

Finale

The Crypt Keeper reveals the true twist: these stories were not warnings but records of what has already happened—each of the five has “died without repentance.” A lingering clue appears as Joanne wears the Christmas brooch her husband gave her before he was killed. The door to Hell opens, and Joanne, Carl, James, Ralph, and Major Rogers step into the flames, with Ralph first plummeting into a fiery abyss. The Crypt Keeper turns to the camera and asks, “And now, who’s next? Perhaps…YOU?” as the lair blazes behind him.