Why M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Tales From the Crypt’ Reboot Was Canceled

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M. Night Shyamalan almost brought back Tales from the Crypt, which is a shame it didn’t happen. He really impressed audiences with the big twist in his 1999 film, The Sixth Sense, and that movie set a high standard for surprising endings in horror and thrillers. While he’s had some successes, like Unbreakable, not all of his films have landed well – The Happening, for example, is a bit awkward and has faced criticism. His 2024 thriller, Trap, starring Josh Hartnett, also suffers from some noticeable plot holes. The film centers on a father attending a concert with his daughter, who also happens to be a serial killer that everyone is hunting for.

M. Night Shyamalan is known for his surprise endings, so it wasn’t surprising to hear he was considered for a reboot of Tales from the Crypt. Ultimately, though, the project didn’t move forward.

Why M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Tales From the Crypt’ Reboot Was Canceled


HBO

Back in 2016, Deadline announced that M. Night Shyamalan was planning a reboot of Tales from the Crypt for TNT, including a new version of the Crypt Keeper. The original Tales from the Crypt was an anthology series that aired on HBO from 1989 to 1996, and it featured a host who was a corpse living in a coffin.

The director had several projects in development, including a dark thriller titled Creatures and a horror story called Time of Death. He was also hoping to reimagine the classic anthology series Tales from the Crypt. However, in 2018, he told Digital Spy that those plans were no longer moving forward, explaining it was due to issues with the rights. The original Tales from the Crypt series, which aired in the ’80s and ’90s, was created by Warner Bros. and HBO and based on comics from the 1950s. He added:

Honestly, getting that project off the ground was a nightmare. It felt like everyone had a claim on it – the comic book creators, the people who made the original series… it was a constant battle just navigating all the different rights and opinions. It was a really tough time for everyone involved, let me tell you.

I always love a good scary TV show, and I was curious about what M. Night Shyamalan had planned. But honestly, horror reboots are tough. It’s hard to recapture that original magic, and just relying on nostalgia doesn’t cut it if the story isn’t compelling or feels like a simple rehash. We saw that with Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot on CBS All Access – it was good at times, but pretty inconsistent overall.

M. Night Shyamalan’s horror films often have a playfully cheesy quality, which would have been a good fit for a revival of Tales from the Crypt. The original series struck a similar balance – spooky, but also a little silly, like Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Crypt Keeper was frightening and funny, and it’s a shame we won’t see his updated version. While Shyamalan’s films aren’t usually truly terrifying (except perhaps The Sixth Sense and that one scene with Mischa Barton), that wouldn’t have been a problem since the original Tales from the Crypt on HBO wasn’t particularly scary either.

Many feel M. Night Shyamalan’s weaker movies try too hard to be profound. For example, Old features a beach where people rapidly age, but the reason behind it feels weak and unfulfilling. A reboot of Tales from the Crypt, however, would have given Shyamalan a lot of creative freedom. Instead of being limited by a single movie’s story, he could have explored multiple, self-contained horror stories. This format would have been a great way to showcase his ideas – perhaps even concepts he hadn’t developed into full-length films.

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As a big fan of anthology series, I was really hooked by that HBO show – it had some seriously memorable episodes. There was one about a metal singer and a creepy tattoo, another about a couple discovering some dark secrets, and even a hilarious send-up of soap operas. It got me thinking about that Tales from the Crypt project M. Night Shyamalan was going to do. We probably won’t ever see that, but it’s fun to daydream about how good it could have been!

Sources: Deadline.com, Digitalspy.com

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2025-12-22 19:18