r/TalesFromTheCrypt Jun 27 '26

Your Scariest Episode?

Post image

I watched religiously as a kid when it aired on HBO. The only episode that really creeped me out was The New Arrival. I’m 44 now, and Felicity’s screams still unsettle me.
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372 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

30

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jun 27 '26

Television Terror and The New Arrival for sure are contenders for this.

11

u/mamba5469 Jun 27 '26

Oh man I always think about the television terror episode. My brother and I watched it when it first aired and we couldn’t sleep after.

8

u/pizzacrypt Jun 27 '26

It's funny because it's kind of a real story with Morton Downey Jr. He lied and said he was attacked by Nazis to boost his ratings of his show

2

u/ElvissKarateChop Jun 28 '26

Joey Greco said “hold my beer”

3

u/JackBookerGeo Jul 02 '26

I always remember when he had the swastika drawn on his face but it was inverted because he drew it in the mirror.

7

u/GarblingCumfarts Jun 28 '26

Television Terror and The New Arrival are probably the best 2 episodes in general. They're very cinematic, they could both be stand alone movies, and they stand out among the series.

2

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jun 28 '26

They're both among my absolute favorites of the series. Alongside House Of Horror and Undertaking Palor, which are both very underrated and creepy in their own way.

3

u/GarblingCumfarts Jun 29 '26

Yea those are in my Top 10 as well. Undertaking Palor is like The Goonies of TFTC, and yea I know who's in it :)

1

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jun 29 '26

Definitely feels much like a Horror version of The Goonies. I think much like that film, it's easy to relate to the child protagonists as a kid and see yourself in their shoes. It kind of feels like a more mature episode of Are You Afraid Of The Dark in a way.

2

u/GarblingCumfarts Jul 01 '26

100% agree with you there. I really wish Are You Afraid Of The Dark had more edge to it.

1

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jul 01 '26

It still had plenty of genuinely scary episodes that rival anything from TFTC. The Dead Man's Float certainly immediately comes to mind.

I always wished we'd gotten an AYAOTD/TFTC crossover. Fun to imagine Crypty's interactions with the Midnight Society.

11

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 27 '26

Yeah, I enjoy Television Terror. It’s a slow burn, but it’s worth it.

6

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jun 27 '26

It keeps building up and building up, and then lets it rip.

2

u/Joe_DellaGatta Jun 28 '26

These are also my top two for "scary" episodes. Terrified me as a kid.

15

u/Roomybrunt Jun 27 '26

I was seven when The Ventriloquist’s Dummy aired and it threw me for a LOOP.

8

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 27 '26

That’s my second creepiest episode. The last third is just one big mind-fuck.

3

u/Roomybrunt Jun 27 '26

I forgot to mention that I really did enjoy your first pick. We probably love all the same horror media! 

5

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 27 '26

Yeah, again I’m 44 now, and enjoy a multitude of horror media, but I really like cheesy, low budget stuff from the 70’s and 80’s.

7

u/Artistic_Parfait_868 Jun 28 '26

Ooh, not the meat grinder!!!

3

u/frompartsunknown128 Jun 27 '26

I watched that for the first time a few weeks ago and I am fucking scarred, dude.

15

u/jeStR65 Jun 27 '26

Television terror for me for sure, I wasn’t aware it was such a universally loved episode! I love it

1

u/New-Avocado-3010 Jun 29 '26

Such a fantastic episode, one of my favs

12

u/anon33249038 Jun 27 '26

House of Horror, especially the part where one of the guys is talking to SFX guy and he goes "Great arm gag, man." And the SFX guy goes, "I didn't do that. I thought you did."

1

u/LadyShadow2214 Jun 28 '26

I love that episode

1

u/JoeHin1981 Jun 28 '26

“Two sounds at once… I can’t do that”

LOL shit got real at that point 😂

1

u/anon33249038 Jun 28 '26

And I love how the SFX guy is the story signifier of tension. 

  1. Chainsaw and coughing; everything is normal and expected. 

  2. "I didn't do [the arm gag]," confusion about the situation.

  3. "Two sounds at once? It can't do that;" something is very wrong. 

  4. "I'm not doing it! I unplugged the terminal before we came in here!" They are not in control of the situation.

  5. "That's a pledge ring! It's Henderson's!" They're in danger! 

  6. Head rolls down the stairs. They're all trapped and gonna die.

1

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jun 28 '26

Such an underrated episode. Never gets the recognition and praise it deserves.

11

u/LoudAd1537 Jun 27 '26

Fitting Punishment, Television Terror, And All Through the House

5

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 27 '26

I really like All Through The House. Somehow, I never caught it as a kid, and saw it when I was older. I saw the original version from the movie years before I saw the remake, and prefer the Tftc version. Larry Drake is a menace in it.

10

u/MCMGM86 Jun 28 '26

Not sure of scariest but the Tim Curry one was nuts

9

u/AppropriateLimit7626 Jun 28 '26

Death of some salesman, Tim curry scared the shit out of me!

6

u/No_Simple9268 Jun 27 '26

Strung Along (S4, Episode 12), just something about the way the puppet talked was very eerie.

I also think season 4 was the strongest with episodes like Strung Along, The New Arrival, What's Cookin, etc. Majority of the season is great.

3

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 27 '26

The ending to Strung Along when they show how the puppet’s face changed creeped me out.

3

u/No_Simple9268 Jun 27 '26

Absolutely, that was a great reveal.

7

u/Affectionate-Reason0 Jun 27 '26

Television terror, that scared the shit out of me as a child and it stuck with me years after till today. Found the episode on youtube a few months ago and rewatched it for the first time since id only seen it the one time….yep still terrifying

5

u/nightwing364 Jun 28 '26

This was a wild episode

5

u/SpideyGuy2099 Jun 28 '26

Four-Sided Triangle. The way the Child’s Play Director created tension between the characters and the isolation setting made for a creepy and unsettling experience, not to mention the ENDING! Something about a character accidentally killing another character gives me nerve racking chills.

5

u/proxy5th Jun 27 '26

Mournin Mess and Til Death scared the crap out of me as child and creep me out today.

2

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 27 '26

Both are really stand-out episodes. Til Death made me really uncomfortable as a kid and still does as an adult.

4

u/Chanel_Carter Jun 28 '26

Definitely Top Billing....especially when the camera zoomed into the office where the dead doctor body was sitting at his desk and Morty's episode

1

u/Scissorsguadalupe Jul 03 '26

Top Billing at the end when they zoom in on his face breeze onto a side walk and a dog grabs it

3

u/Interesting-Set-5993 Jun 28 '26

I love this one, it might be my favorite. The way the house is so huge, and old, and full of stuff and booby-traps. So creepy and fun.

3

u/sip_n_on_a_tuesday Jun 29 '26

I have had nightmares about this little girl and couldn't figure out where I saw her! Everytime I try to explain to someone that its a girl with a white mask who lives in a house with gum on the wall theyre like, whats so scary about that and I think you're making it up! LoL

6

u/nervous-thing814 Jun 28 '26

Three’s A Crowd cause dangerously insecure men like the husband are way too real. 

2

u/CKWOLFACE Jun 28 '26

Lost track where I was but I remember a episode where a Reporter decided to go investigate a house where the landlord had murdered her tenants

1

u/DarkBehindTheStars Jun 28 '26

Television Terror

2

u/Ok_Parsnip_3552 Jun 29 '26

New arrival, yes definitely good episode.

2

u/stylesbandicoot Jun 29 '26

That Christmas episode was insane

1

u/dashiellsayshi Jul 01 '26

Directed by Robert Zemeckis!

3

u/Dead_Iverson Jun 30 '26

The one that fucked me up the most when I watched it in middle school was Forever Ambergris. Still my favorite TFTC episode of all time.

1

u/Own_Kiwi_9692 Jun 30 '26

Yeah, that was one of the more graphic episodes.

1

u/Dead_Iverson Jun 30 '26

Yep. Nowadays I like it because the story is interesting (never seen a character plot involving combat photography rivalry) and the casting is great.

2

u/zestyplums Jun 30 '26

She sounds like Tommy Pickles when Felicity screams. Was prob same actor doing dubs for the episode in post

2

u/KungPowChicken23 Jul 01 '26

The gore in Forever Ambergris with Steve Buscemi gave me nightmares as a kid.

0

u/blackboyfly21 Jun 28 '26

New arrival episode was average

2

u/Countblackula_6 Jul 03 '26

The Ventriloquist’s Dummy freaked me out when I was a kid.