The first thing to note about this movie is that it looks so much better than the TV show that it's spun from. Granted, the TV series has the disadvantage of 1980's fashion sense and some pretty bad accompanying music, but this movie was much easier on the eyes. The "wraparound" story is a pretty basic one. Debby Harry is a beautiful witch (there's an old-school broom leaning in a kitchen corner) whose captured a boy who will be the main ingredient at her dinner party. The little squirt turns out to be a resourceful catch, as he delays becoming a meal by reading the witch a trio of scary tales.

First up is story called "Lot 249" starring Christian Slater and Steve Buscemi. It's an old mummy story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's got all of the shadows and light in all the right places and looks good. When Slater flips the insanity switch, things actually get entertaining. It's not a very strong adaptation, but it's not bad, either.

Next it's "Cat From Hell", a Stephen King penned, George A Romero adapted story of a cat whose killed all but one of the inhabitants of a rich CEO's mansion. That one survivor is the actual CEO, who hires David Johansen to kill the cat. Johansen attempts to kill it with all of his hit man related tools of the trade. It's annoyingly silly and Johansen is such a caricature that the whole story never materializes. The best part about this is Johansen gets it in a disgusting one-on-one with the evil cat. It's gross and it's the only thing that makes the story worth watching. But it's still more funny than frightening.

Finally, "Lover's Vow" completes the trilogy and is the best story of the lot because it had a surprise ending twist. I'm not ruining anything by mentioning that this entry has a great looking gargoyle, too.

Recommending "Tales From the Darkside" isn't easy but if you like the TV series, you'll be just fine sitting down to watch this.