TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1989)S02E12: FITTING PUNISHMENT (1990)Horror Anthology RecommendationsWhen cro

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1989)

S02E12: FITTING PUNISHMENT (1990)

When crooked, miserly funeral director Ezra Thornberry is forced to take in his well meaning nephew Bobby, they strike a deal: room and board in exchange for Bobby working for free as an apprentice mortician. Their personalities instantly begin to clash, with Bobby trying to make things work and his uncle constantly mistreating him. As tensions escalate, an expensive workplace mistake brings Ezra’s hatred for his nephew to murderous levels…

This is easily the bleakest episode of TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1989). It’s just so grim! It starts dark, with Ezra (excellently played by Moses Gunn) taking his stinginess so far as to literally rip the gold teeth from his corpses, and descends further and further into darkness with each passing moment. Ezra is just evil, and the lengths he’ll go to to save a penny become more sinister as the episode rolls on. When it’s time for the finale, which is one of the show’s very best, you just can’t wait to see him get his comeuppance. And, boy, does he ever get his comeuppance. Karma comes calling for him the way it comes calling for only the most wicked of characters, and what happens has to be seen to be believed.

Such an excellent episode. Well cast, well written, and directed to perfection.