As the movie begins, the Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir, Crypt Keeper sequences directed by Gilbert Adler) tells us that he's now got into making movies - and so introduces his latest movie - a story called...

Demon Knight

A man called Brayker (William Sadler) is on the run from a charming and mysterious individual who we later come to know as The Collector (Billy Zane).  After a high speed car chase, Brayker makes it to a run-down hotel, where he decides to stay the night.  For some reason, this particular night has some importance for both Brayker and The Collector.

There are an assortment of weird characters at the hotel.  As the movie progresses, the details of the story are revealed: The Collector is actually some sort of demon - who is after an artifact (in the shape of a key) that Brayker is carrying.  If The Collector gets his hands on this key, he will be able to unleash Hell on Earth!  This key holds the blood of Christ and the several other people it was handed down to.  Brayker uses this blood to seal off entrances to the hotel, so that The Collector and his demons can't enter!  Brayker, the Demon Knight, and the group must try to stay alive and make it through the night, while The Collector attempts to get the key.  Jada Pinkett plays Jeryline, a girl who works at the hotel, who might just have a lot more in store for her (in life), than she thought!

I had a great time watching this movie.  First of all I liked the way the story was not given up all at a stretch in the first few minutes of the movie - the story may not be that great but it was introduced nicely.  I liked The Collector's character too ("Humans!  You're not worth the flesh you're printed on!"), every scene he appeared in put a smile on my face!  And of course, there is a nice horror-like atmosphere maintained throughout and the movie looks stylish.  The "demon seal" thing impressed me a lot, it was a simple effect but thought it looked good.  I watched this on TV, so some of the gore (particularly a head ripping-off scene) was censored - but never mind, there was still enough of it to keep me happy.  I also thought the music was good, not only the score, but also the soundtrack (especially the song that plays in the very first car chase scene).  Some reviews I read about this movie gave it a very bad review, some praised it highly.  I think I'd belong to the latter category - this movie is in the style of all those horror movies I admire (particularly the Evil Dead ones) so I liked it a lot!

As with the other Tales from the Crypt movie I saw, the Crypt Keeper, an undead skeleton-puppet, makes some funny (because they're bad?) jokes here - "You're no GORY Cooper... why you ain't even a Robert DEADford!".

Some fun stuff to look out for -

• Brayker says that the key was handed to him by a soldier called Dickerson, heh, which is a reference to director Ernest R. Dickerson.  I read that Dickerson and Gilbert Adler did some rewrites on the original script, so I wonder if it was Dickerson who put in that line!!
• In the last scene, after Jeryline gets on the bus, the second Collector tries to board it - but can't because of the seal.  As the camera moves back, he starts whistling the Tales from the Crypt theme music (composed by Danny Elfman).

Running Time: 90 minutes | Country: US | Genre: Horror