decent community

Hello boils and ghouls, this week The Decent Community would like to honor our all-time favorite instigator/terrorist/storyteller, the daunting and hideous looking skeleton known as the Crypt Keeper! Holding court from his casket every week on HBO from 1989 to 1996, the Crypt Keeper shrieked and spooked in a trademark wise-cracking style that has gone unmatched since he was beheaded and the series was taken off the air.

Unabashed by his below-average looks, the Crypt Keeper’s decent and spine-chilling outlook on life permeated through every story he told. I can still hear that high-pitched laugh from the cellar of his haunted mansion and recall waiting with anticipation of what Tales From the Crypt had in store. Sometimes it was a boob. Sometimes it was blood and gore. But usually it was boobs, blood, and gore neatly packaged into an engaging, hair raising narrative.

Under the lead of the Crypt Keeper, the show became so successful that Hollywood stars lined up for the opportunity to appear on the program. Celebs with roles in Tales included: Hank Azaria, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Craig, Benicio del Toro, John Lithgow, Meat Loaf, Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, Christopher Reeve, and John Stamos. Directors included Tom Hanks, Michael J. Fox, and the Governator Arnold Swarzenegger. But if you asked any of these A listers who ran the show, they’d all reply with the same swift response: The Crypt Keeper.

And so it is — we honor the Crypt Keeper for being one of the most respected personas ever to grace the silver screen. While he may have been a skeleton with intentions of frightening his viewers, in the end he was a gracious and lovable host who performed his job like nobody else in the world could. The Community truly admires the Crypt Keeper and yearns for the day when we’re once again captivated by his gruesome tales.