You couldn't make a show like this now. You could barely make a show like this then.

The original Tales from the Crypt was one of the cornerstones of EC Comics in the 1950s, alongside The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror. These anthology comics specialized in short, macabre stories of monsters, magic, and murder, right up until the newly-established Comics Code forced EC Comics to abruptly cancel its horror line in 1955. That forced EC Comics' publisher Bill Gaines to refocus his efforts, which would lead to the debut of Mad magazine.

In 1989, Gaines and a superstar team of executive producers brought Tales from the Crypt back to life, so to speak, as a live-action horror anthology. The new Tales' episodes were all adaptations of stories from EC Comics' horror line (albeit sometimes very liberal adaptations), but Tales didn't have to abide by TV ratings standards by virtue of airing on HBO. These were the R-rated versions of those old stories as EC Comics could've never told them in the 1950s, with high production budgets and a shockingly deep bench of modern TV and film talent.

When you sat down to watch a new episode of Tales, you never knew what you were going to get or, more importantly, who you were going to see. It's a rare episode of Tales that doesn't have at least one recognizable actor, even 37 years later.

Tales from the Crypt has gone on to be remarkably influential on horror culture, but for all that, it’s had a weird history on streaming services. It's not that Tales wasn't out there, but that it was rarely on any of the platforms that you'd ever think to check, until it was brought to Shudder earlier this year.

In July 2026, all seven seasons of Tales debuted on Tubi, where they’re now streaming for free. The time is right to (re)experience what is, without exaggeration, a foundational work of Western horror.

Here's the thing, though: Tales from the Crypt is often deliberately camp, has occasionally aged poorly, and can go for long stretches without any truly standout episodes. Season 2 in particular comes off like the entire writers' room had recently gone through a messy divorce, as two-thirds of the season is about murderous spouses, black widows, and love that's curdled into hate. There's some genuine gold here, but first-time viewers can expect to have to dig a little. If you'd rather go for a curated selection, here are Polygon's picks for the top 10 best episodes of Tales from the Crypt.

10 "The Man Who Was Death"

The first episode of Tales from the Crypt is also one of its most memorable, particularly since it dodges what would turn out to be the show's most common mistake.

Niles (William Sadler, The Shawshank Redemption) is a prison executioner who's abruptly laid off after his state ends the death penalty. Out of pure love of the game, he decides to take his talents for electrocution in more of a… freelance direction.

In many of the lesser episodes of Tales, they introduce their premise and then the show spins its wheels for 20 minutes until you hit the final payoff. "The Man Who Was Death" starts weird, with Niles speaking directly to the camera like a murderous Ferris Bueller, then continues to escalate until its final moments. It's a genuine thrill ride, and sets a proper tone for the show straight away. This is the perfect starting point.

9 "You, Murderer"

This gimmick episode entirely unfolds from the first-person perspective of Lou Spinelli, who's played by Humphrey Bogart... sort of. Bogart's face is provided by archive footage and he's voiced by the late Robert Sacchi, who made a whole career out of being the Italian knockoff version of Bogart.

That adds a weird note to what would otherwise be a tight 25-minute film noir, given that extra macabre twist by the fact that Spinelli is already dead. He begins the episode narrating how it feels to be a corpse, before a flashback tells the details of how Spinelli got that way. "You, Murderer" rapidly becomes a multiple-plot pile-up co-starring John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Sherilyn Fenn, which gives it one of the best casts of any episode of Tales in a slow walk. It's a surprise David Lynch wasn't involved.

It's a must-see, especially for noir fans, but the weird necromantic casting keeps "You, Murderer" from going any higher on the list. It's like the late Peter Cushing's digital appearance in Rogue One, but somehow even more off-putting.

8 "Three's a Crowd"

You can see what's coming in "Three's a Crowd" from the jump, but this one's all about the ending.

As noted above, Tales' second season has an unofficial theme of love gone bad, and "Three's a Crowd" is one of the best in a strange batch of episodes. Richard (Gavan O'Herlihy, Happy Days) is trying to celebrate his 10th anniversary with his wife Della, but Della is suddenly spending a great deal of time with Richard's best friend Alan (Paul Lieber). Now Richard is alone too often, and drinking too much, as his jealousy eats him alive.

Richard rapidly unspools over the course of the episode, which leads to one of the most vicious final shots in Tales' full run. This isn't about the twist so much as the twist's execution.

7 "Korman's Kalamity"

While several Tales from the Crypt episodes really revel in the chance to show gore, violence, and nudity, a handful end up feeling more like Goosebumps stories for adults. That's "Korman's Kalamity," which would almost be good clean family fun were it not for that messy decapitation. Maybe it depends on your family.

Jim Korman (Harry Anderson, Night Court) is a staff artist for Tales from the Crypt, whose job is to draw all the creepy monsters and graphic bloodshed every month. Thanks to an experimental drug his wife insists he take, however, Jim's got a weird kind of artist's block. Worse, when he does manage to draw something gruesome, something just like it is quickly spotted in the city nearby.

Much of this episode rides on Colleen Camp (Bride Hard), who chews the scenery so hard as Jim's abusive wife that it cycles back around into John Waters territory. If she was any less of a cartoon villain, “Korman’s Kalamity” would suffer for it, but Camp hits exactly the right notes of, well, camp.

6 "My Brother's Keeper"

Frank (veteran TV actor Timothy Stack) and Eddie (Jonathan Stark, Fright Night) are a pair of conjoined twins who couldn't be more different: Eddie is a hard-drinking party animal while Frank is a calmer, straitlaced guy. They could live separate lives, but Frank is worried that the required operation could kill them both, but then Eddie does something to cross the line.

"My Brother's Keeper" has some impressive production design for a done-in-one episode, showing all the little compromises that Frank and Eddie have had to make, and its final scene is a nice twisted cherry on its cake.

5 "Easel Kill Ya"

There are several good movies that can be usefully described as "Tim Roth psychologically disintegrating," and "Easel Kill Ya" packs one of them into a tight 27 minutes.

Jack Craig (Roth), a struggling artist, finds a wealthy patron (William Atherton, maybe still best known as Walter Peck in Ghostbusters) who's willing to pay top dollar for truly morbid paintings. That leads Jack to find inspiration in several unfortunate places. If you think you know where this one's going, you don't.

4 "What's Cookin'"

The late Christopher Reeve spent much of his career typecast as an assortment of heroes and good guys, which is likely what you can expect if one of your first major roles was the definitive take on Superman. "What's Cookin'" is one of the few times Reeve ever worked in horror, alongside his performance in the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned, and it's an interesting departure from his usual norm.

Fred (Reeve) and Erma (Bess Armstrong, Bosch) are struggling restaurateurs who get a sudden boost in popularity when their employee Gaston (Judd Nelson) brings in some special barbecue. Now Fred is caught between his dream of succeeding as a chef and Gaston’s moral flexibility about the exact source of the barbecue.

The one ding against this episode: Meat Loaf is in it, playing a landlord, but his character is not made into meat loaf. I hope someone got fired for that blunder.

3 "Death of Some Salesmen"

This might be one of the more famous episodes of Tales from the Crypt, since it showcases Tim Curry. There are some people for whom nothing else has to be said.

Curry plays a triple role as three different members of the Brackett family, who are the next target for a con artist posing as a door-to-door salesman (Ed Begley Jr.). It's anyone's guess who's actually conning who here, however, and the Bracketts aren't quite who they initially appeared to be. As with several other episodes of Tales, this is an excuse for a veteran character actor to go so far over the top that he hits space (some reference intended), and Curry is more than up to the job.

2 "Cutting Cards"

One of the more intense episodes of Tales from the Crypt is also one of its most mundane. Reno Crevice (Lance Henriksen) and Sam Forney (Kevin Tighe) are a pair of feuding gamblers who talk themselves into an all-or-nothing series of games. It's a tense, hateful 25 minutes, like My Dinner with Andre if you were sure it'd end in a knife fight, and it's impossible to look away.

Many fans of the show will cite “Cutting Cards” as its single best episode. They aren’t wrong, but for our money, there’s another one that hits just a little bit harder.

1 "Abra Cadaver"

Many episodes of Tales from the Crypt are creepy, tense, or just gleefully ironic. The show didn't go for straight-up, unflinching horror as often as you might expect. Then there’s "Abra Cadaver," which has the single scariest last-second twist of any episode in the series.

Carl Fairbanks (Tony Goldwyn) played a prank on his brother Martin (Beau Bridges) that went wrong and left Martin partially paralyzed. That cost Martin a promising career in medicine, while Carl went on to become a surgeon. Now Martin’s out for revenge, through the use of a serum that will paralyze Carl right back.

To say any more would spoil what is, for my money, Tales from the Crypt's single best, scariest episode. Go into this one as cold as you can.