Not a quote! At least not one that's spoken aloud anyway. Those words are scrawled on a rock with the blood of what's left of a doomed man's hand... I've noticed it a few times before with some of this show's episodes, not that it's something that especially matters that much because it's generally so much fun, but the plot of this one is pretty ridiculously thin! "Thing From the Grave" is as straightforward as a Tales episode is likely to get. A fashion photographer and an abused model embark on a dangerous relationship, and he promises to always protect her, then things turn deadly when her jealous, psychotic boyfriend lures him to an isolated cabin one dark and stormy night to murder him, and then decidedly undeadly(!) when the unjustly murdered man, thanks to the power of his promise as well as those of a mysterious amulet, spectacularly rises from a shallow grave to save his beloved - and it's really as simple as that! I understand that it's a less than half-hour television episode and that things need to happen fast, but the stories just usually feel like they have a bit more 'meat' to them, that's all. But overall I can't complain, that plot device of the Mayon god of truth necklace may have been corny and painfully tacked-on, but it was sure as hell all the motivation I need to actually buy that the poor guy later resurrects as a zombie - and that really is one awesome zombie. I love the way he bursts out of the ground and roars his outrage! It might start near-enough how it ends, and that's usually kind of interesting because you see how things got to such a point, but the whole episode is just one big build-up to the excellent ending where "Devlin" keeps his promise to "Stacey", if only long enough to rescue her from the brutal "Mitch" by dragging him back down into the grave to be buried alive with him! Really great, classic-looking undead corpse with the eyeballs missing and almost his whole face falling off so it shows all his teeth and everything. Nicely gross! I suppose he does look a little over-decomposed for the amount of time he was buried, but it's not supposed to be logical it's supposed to be creepy, and it's obviously a lot scarier to be seeing a rotting corpse chasing after somebody as opposed to just a normal looking dead guy. And the story does specify that he was down there for a good week! The eight-for-great rating is all for the buildup to the climax and the special effects, but the characters were okay too, with Miguel Ferrer definitely putting in the strongest performance. I get that, in the scene after he tells to photographer to shove the camera up his ass and storms out, and then the photographer says after he leaves:"I love that guy!" That's what Miguel as" Bob Morton said in Robocop! I occasionally get things.. It was weird seeing him acting with Teri Hatcher again when he was in Desperate Housewives for a little while so many years after they were in this together! And I thought Kyle Secor was good. He was sweet and kind, and the little relationship with Hatcher was bright enough that you felt bad when he dies. I like some of this episode's aesthetics. Like the sunset image in the studio in the scene where they embrace in front of the window, and the pink neon heart around the image of Stacey at the end when she realised it was the magic of the amulet. I found those little touches stylish and kinda cool. It's moving in a strange kind of way... He was her guardian angel when he was alive, and then he was her guardian zombie. It's so romantic! This is another of the classic greats of season 2, it's probably not one of the very best of the series, but it's one of my personal favourites, because it's just such a fun blast to watch. It's mighty predictable, but hey, that's why we love it so...
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