31 Days: Television Terror

This is the episode I show to people who have never heard of Tales From the Crypt. J. Peter Robinson's score. The sleazy performance of Morton Downey Jr. as Horton Rivers. The incessant hatred toward Rivers' slimeball personality from the producer. It has everything required in the EC formula- antagonist gets his come uppance in a mix of scares and ghoulish laughs. What makes this episode stand out for me is how the scares build.

Ada Ritter, a black widow who collected husbands the way collectors procure baseball cards, haunts the house. Episodes in the first four seasons perfected a comedy/horror balance with liberal doses of sex and violence. They culled the stories that would best translate from panel to screen. When I think of Haunt of Fear, the comic which this episode is taken from, Graham Ingels immediately jumps to mind. The creator of the Old Witch the way Johnny Craig was the master of the Vault Keeper and Jack Davis drew the Crypt Keeper. However, those three masters would not be responsible for the writing or drawing of this story. That job would go to Harvey Kurtzman. An editor before becoming a full time story writer/illustrator for EC Comics.

Television was the new sensation back in the 50's, so it made sense for it to revolve around a live TV broadcast. This was early in my years of horror movie/TV watching. What strikes me now more than the visuals is the idea of the house recording the hauntings and murders of Ada Ritter on a loop.