Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) Spoiled (1991) User Reviews

Cable romance

[SleepTight666 · 7/10 · 11 June 2010]

One of the funniest episodes of Tales up till now. I love episodes that are different from others, and despite this not being horror, or scary in any way. It sure did entertain.

The episode is about a sleazy housefrau that watches way too many soaps. She idolizes this sexual character on TV that sleeps with whoever she wants to.

Her own husband is a doctor, but he is busy playing with a bunny to notice her. So she starts quoting her idol and starts sleeping around with the cable guy.

Eventually, it comes back to bite them as her husband catches them in the act and switches their heads and bodies.

Overall, a tame but very funny and well-done episode.

Another different episode, and in a good way

[bellino-angelo2014 · 7/10 · 19 June 2021]

Janet and Leon are a couple that has different obsessions. Janet is obsessed with the soap opera THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW and watches the show religiously, but she is also annoyed with her husband that when he should spend time with her, spends time experimenting on a rabbit in his underground laboratory. When one afternoon the TV loses signal at a crucial moment in the show, Janet calls Abel, a cable man that installs cable. Inspired by the soap opera's vain lead character, Janet begins a steamy affair with Abel, but when Leon catches them in the act, he decides to use his experiments on rabbits on them, and it works (and the end result is quite shocking).

After some losers, this was another return to greatness in the series and the story was very compelling. The fact that Janet was obsessed with the soap opera was very realistic as it happened even to me a few times. And the ending was very unexpected. Another decent episode despite there isn't blood splattered.

Cable romance is disconnected and axed! Scrambled into different body parts!

[blanbrn · 7/10 · 16 March 2008]

This crypt episode from 1991 titled "Spoiled" is well done and entertaining and the plot takes a surprise revenge twist at the end. You have Faye Grant as a bored and lonely spouse who's husband is an all work and no play doctor who happens to be working on a new medical invention. So with no time at all for passion play the Grant character's only escape is by watching hot and steamy daytime soap TV, then when a mishap occurs with a TV losing it's signal she calls Abel the Cable Guy(Anthony LaPaglia). This cable guy is willing and able to play and he will hook up more than just premium cable! Soon a very hot and passionate love affair develops that is very hot and enjoyed, but like so many guilty pleasures it takes an unexpected twisted end. As you the viewer see the cable romance becomes scrambled into different body parts! Overall good crypt episode one of the better ones of season three.

Caaaaaaaable Guuuuuuy!

[Coventry · 10 March 2006]

Very lackluster and ordinary "Tales from the Crypt" episode that really hasn't got anything to offer apart from a couple of mild grins, maybe. The story seriously lacks originality, excitement and – most of all – the solid hand of a real director. Andy Wolk mainly just did TV-drama's and late Friday night thrillers and his work for HBO's series is pretty weak compared to great directors like Walter Hill, Russell Mulcahy or Tom Holland. Fed up with her workaholic husband and inspired by her favorite soap opera on TV, housewife Janet starts a sexual relationship with hunky cable guy Abel. As a matter of course, her husband finds out about his wife's infidelity and uses his medical breakthrough discovery to avenge himself. 98% of the story is really boring and it shamelessly uses footage from another fictional soap opera as pure padding. There's not the least bit of gore and the attempt to black humor entirely misses its effect, simply because the premise is so unoriginal. I usually think Anthony LaPlagia is a cool dude, but he looks rather stupid her as God's bubblegum-chewing gift to women. Besides, how many lame ambiguous jokes can they possible make in 30 minutes? Abel's powerful cable represents the male reproductive organ, yeah okay we get it.

I like this one a lot.

[shellytwade · 7/10 · 11 April 2022]

Some reviews are more mixed on this one but I find it really enjoyable and fun. It just has a light-hearted deranged vibe that I think suits this show perfectly. Sometimes doing episodes with bright colors in the daytime is a good change of pace from the cemeteries and graveyards.

Average tale from the crypt.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 7 April 2007]

Tales from the Crypt: Spoiled starts as lonely housewife & soap opera addict Janet (Faye Grant) decides to get cable TV, Janet takes a shine to Able (Anthony LaPaglia) the cable guy since her scientist husband Leon (Alan Rachins) spends all his time in their basement conducting research on a new anaesthetic. Janet seduces Able & they have an intense affair, however Leon discovers this & decides to to take his experiments to the next stage...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 13 from season 3, directed by Andy Wolk this is actually pretty average stuff. The script by Connie Johnson & Doug Ronning was based on a story from the 'Haunt of Fear' comic book & feels more like a drama than horror with a neglected soap opera loving woman having an affair, this is what takes up most of this episode, it's pretty dull watching to be honest & even though the twist at the end almost saves it from mediocrity it's a bit predictable. I will admit even though some of the sexual innuendo & chat between Janet & the cable guy are amusing this isn't really much in the way of compensation for a pretty lifeless 30 odd minutes.

This one looks alright but it has no sense of style, it's forgettable, there's no tension or scares & it's all rather flat & bland, a bit like the conveyor-belt soap opera's that Janet seems to love so much. Forget about any gore either, there's some blood stained medical equipment but nothing else. The acting was a bit too cheesy & tongue-in-cheek for my liking.

Spoiled is far from the best tale from the crypt episode, maybe just about worth a watch but I'd struggle to really recommend this one to anyone except the fans.

Funny comic episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 19 May 2011]

Frustrated and neglected housewife and soap opera addict Jenny (a fine and appealing performance by Faye Grant) can't get her workaholic doctor husband Leon (a perfectly stuffy portrayal by Alan Rachins) to pay any attention to her. So Faye starts a steamy extramarital affair with hunky cable guy Abel (excellently played with swaggering macho bravado by Anthony LaPaglia). Director Andy Wolk, working from a witty script by Connie Johnson and Doug Running, relates the lighthearted story at a constant quick pace and neatly mines a funny line in cheerfully silly humor (the dialogue exchanges between Jenny and Abel are loaded with lots of spot-on sly and sidesplitting sexual innuendos and the mock soap opera is uproariously awful). The cast attack the tongue-in-cheek material with tremendous joy and vigor: Ravishing redhead Anita Morris delightfully vamps it up as predatory soap opera vixen Fuchsia Monroe and Annabelle Gurwitch contributes an amusingly daffy turn as Jenny's ditsy friend Louise. Moreover, the ending with Leon exacting a wacky, yet still suitably twisted revenge on Jenny and Abel delivers one hell of a gut-busting outrageous punchline. Levie Isaacks' slick cinematography gives the show a nice bright look while Craig Saffan provides an appropriately cornball score. A real hoot.

Spoiled

[a_baron · 9/10 · 28 November 2014]

Janet is a stereotypical but bored American housewife. Her husband is a hospital consultant who is doing bizarre experiments in his basement laboratory, apparently attempting to kill rabbits and bring them back to life, something he hopes will earn him the Nobel Prize.

Totally obsessed with his work, he doesn't have the time to kiss his wife, much less perform his husbandly duties. When Janet's TV goes on the blink she decides to have cable television installed, and in walks a tall, muscular cable guy to do the job. Two jobs actually, his and the one the man of the house isn't doing. Hubby may not be attentive, but when he catches them in flagrante delicto, he is transformed from an obsessive scientist into a mad one, as in angry.

It's obvious this is going to end in tears, but the ending is one you will almost certainly not have foreseen.

"You lose your head in romance!"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 27 February 2015]

From the horrifically brutal to the incomprehensibly bizarre, there were many kinds of stories that the Crypt had to offer, with lots of them - particularly in the completely worthless season 7 - being a hell of a lot harder to stomach than this tale of steamy romantic bliss which ends up turning into a sci-fi nightmare... I never had anything against it, I dig all the over-the-top sexual innuendo and suggestive puns, I find it pretty hilarious, the wordplay is spoken with just the right amount of knowing humour without it coming off as obnoxious. I also enjoy the misleading moments where it'll make you think that something raunchy is going on but it's only something commonplace like her doing aerobics, and I like the whole spoofing of cheesy soap operas and it kinda feels at the same time like the show's poking a little gentle fun and its own frequently tongue-in-cheek style and self- parodying, which is something that I think is done slightly better here than in some of the other more lighthearted comedy episodes that they did, and if you try to watch this bearing all that in mind it's a lot more enjoyable. It's so charmingly ridiculous, the scenes are like classic porn scenarios! The late Mrs. Morris was kooky and sweet and brought a lot of lightness to her scenes, and Anthony Lapaglia was one sexy dude as a repairman named Abel with a cable that he knew what to do with! And Alan Rachins was very low-key and in the background mostly but he certainly gets larger-than-life when it counts.. "Spoiled" isn't really about any kind of horror, and there's no gore to speak of either, but there is a rather ghoulish closing scene which is strongly reminiscent of the one from Frankenhooker, and in my opinion it doesn't work out any better than in that movie. To me the moment comes off as a bit awkward and laughably silly more than anything else.. I mean Alan Rachins does do a great job of selling the scene as his character totally goes benzooey after discovering his wife's infidelity, and his insane laugh is just perfect, but I just think the moment falls a little short of its mark and doesn't work out as well as it could have. And the special effect looks really bad too, you can easily see how it was done, it sticks out like a sore thumb.. I blame the wife more than the husband. Sure he may have neglected her because of his research, but only a complete airhead moron would want her life to be just like some vapid soap opera! So in closing it's very campy goofy and dumb and definitely not one of the better episodes horror-wise, but I still find it a lot of lovably-schlocky fun. Some will be left on a high note, while others will be left confused by a romance that's matched only by its weirdness. Good one, Mr.Cotton Tail.