Tales from Cryptville: Lost Tales from the Crypt Spin-Off
The Tales from the Crypt franchise is seeing a revival in 2026 – nearly thirty years after its seventh and final season concluded in 1997. John Kassir has returned to voice the iconic Crypt Keeper for AMC’s FearFest and the network has acquired rights to broadcast and stream the original Tales from the Crypt series. Quite a few years ago, however, we almost had a revival in the form of spin-off series Tales from Cryptville, a project that’s virtually unknown today.
Many of the press announcements tied to the series have been wiped from the internet over the years. One of the earliest surviving mentions of the series exists in a press release from ICv2. The article is dated March 10, 2009, and describes Tales from Cryptville as “a 90-minute live action film,” one that “is targeted at tween viewers and is likely to make an appearance on one of several kid/tween cable networks here in the States.”
Tales from Cryptville Plot & Development
Plans were mentioned to revive the Crypt Keeper as a narrator for the film, and a brief synopsis was detailed:
“The protagonist of Tales From Cryptville is teenager James Frost, whose family moves to the small, snowy town of Cripvale where he stumbles into a decades-old mystery that soon has him knee deep in a series of scary happenings.”
Further details were shared the following month on April 20, 2009 by Cookie Jar Entertainment’s Ann Austen. At the time, Austen served as the company’s Senior VP. She discussed a slate of projects for the company including Tales from Cryptville which was said to be gearing towards pre-production. As shared via WorldScreen:
“We are super excited to see that one move forward,” says Austen. “We have a green light from our broadcaster in Canada, TELETOON, and we’ll be doing a 90-minute movie to launch the franchise premiering this fall. We are in the throes of preproduction right now, getting it all together—getting the cast, setting up our partners, finalizing the script—and it’s looking terrific.”
Tales from Cryptville Trailer & Concept Art
In fact, pre-production seemed to be so far ahead that journalist & pop culture writer Spencer Bollettieri found a trailer for the project. Fortunately, he was able to capture a copy of the footage, which has since survived on YouTube for sixteen years and counting. Interestingly, the trailer not only mentions Cookie Jar Entertainment, but the involvement of “scare masters Robert Zemeckis, Richard Donner, Walter Hill, and Joel Silver,” who were producers of HBO’s original Tales from the Crypt series.
The trailer consists mostly of stock footage, including clips from the original HBO series and newer footage that has since been identified by Bollettieri as belonging to a series called Dark Oracle. As one might imagine, Dark Oracle is another fantasy teen series co-produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment. While the footage seems to mostly be a sizzle reel of sorts to pitch Tales from Cryptville, there is a glimpse at a newly-designed Crypt Keeper that would be portrayed via CGI.
Fans would have no doubt considered it blasphemy to even consider portraying such an iconic practical character with CGI. The extremely disappointing design for the trailer also doesn’t do much to hype one up. There is, however, some intriguing concept art created by artist Mitchell Stuart. The designs are buried under Stuart’s portfolio on his own website, but they are credited as belonging to “Tales from Cryptville.” The Crypt Keeper is portrayed in a recognizable albeit different way when compared to both the original puppet and the CGI version teased in the trailer.
The Final Moments of Cryptville
After locating the trailer, Bollettieri continued to research the project. After several failed attempts to contact anyone involved with the project, he reached out to Crypt Keeper voice actor John Kassir. Despite the names attached, Kassir doubts the trailer’s authenticity, and he believes the project was nothing more than “a send up or sizzle real [sic].” He further confirmed he “had nothing to do with it” and he’s “positive our guys aren’t involved either,” bringing into question whether or not the original HBO show’s producers should have been mentioned in the trailer.
Aside from occasional mentions of the series in press releases and trades, and other false leads, Tales from Cryptville quickly faded into obscurity after the release of the original trailer. In fact, the original website upload is no longer available, and Bollettieri’s recording is believed to be the only source of the trailer left. The story ends with the dissolution of Tales From Cryptville Productions Inc. as discovered by Bollettieri on Canada’s federal business records website. The corporation was marked defunct on August 31, 2011.
With an incorporation date of December 3, 2008, the formal announcement in 2009, and later the production company’s dissolution in 2011, Tales from Cryptville had less than three years of development before it was axed. Granted, it wasn’t the last Tales from the Crypt project to face such a treatment, especially as rights issues have plagued the brand in the years since. With recent developments in 2026, it at least looks like Tales from the Crypt is back on the right track, with Tales from Cryptville remaining behind as a mysterious footnote. One that should absolutely be more recognized in the franchise’s long and complicated history.
Hopefully we’ll see more details come to light someday. For the time being, this should serve as an interesting reminder for how much work goes into reviving a property and how easily such attempts can slip away. Obviously Tales from Cryptville certainly wasn’t an ideal revival, especially being a series for teens narrated by a CGI Crypt Keeper. But it could have been a fun novelty in the vein of Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and thus could have also rejuvenated interest in reviving the brand proper.
