What’s Up With These Shymalan TNT ‘Tales From the Crypt’ Teasers?
Last we heard, TNT’s M. Night Shyamalan reboot of Tales From the Crypt ran into legal challenges, so we’d know if they’d come far enough for a trailer, right? There’s a mystery afoot in these promos leaked to the web, which feature Shyamalan actively discussing the project, but may otherwise be works of fiction.
Like you, I was tempted to dismiss the above promos (h/t BloodyDisgusting) as enthusiastic fan promotion, at least until the second spot featured Shyamalan himself discussing TNT’s horror block reboot. That promo is also accompanied by a large collection of footage from other films and TV series, which could suggest the reel was intended as proof-of-concept, or some sort of placeholder until actual filming began.
Prior reports claimed that “budget issues” with the project scuttled TNT’s new horror block, which also featured seasonal anthology Time of Death and new series Creatures. Said TNT of the Tales From the Crypt delay:
The underlying rights to this classic, vintage property are complicated. TNT and others have been pursuing a solution for more than a year, with significant progress being made. We look forward to the potential for further active development of this valuable franchise once the clearance process is fully resolved.
Previously greenlit for 10 episodes to air in 2017, the new Tales from the Crypt anthology series was said to feature a “newly reinvented Crypt Keeper” along with writing inspiration from the crowdsourced platform Wattpad. Tales From the Crypt is best remembered by its seven-season run on HBO in the ‘90s, despite the show’s origins having roots in the 1950s EC comics. From 1989 to 1996, the series also hosted countless celebrities as both actor and director, among them Michael J. Fox, Tom Hanks, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis.
We’ll hear more as Tales From the Crypt continues pushing for the rights, but do the promos above make a good case to move forward?