5.7/10229 votes#1 - Beetles
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/1987
An Egyptologist working on a sarcophogus ignores a curse and meets a horrific fate when he ignores it.
Director: Frank De Palma
Writer: Robert Bloch
5.3/10227 votes#2 - Mary, Mary
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/1987
A woman who lives with mannequins because she is unable to deal with real people gets a rude awakening.
Director: Katarina Wittich
Writer: Jule Selbo
5.7/10214 votes#3 - The Spirit Photographer
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 10/11/1987
Despite the discouragement of his friend, a middle-aged photographer, Algernon, tries to captures spirits on film.
Director: Bill Travis
Writer: Mark Patrick Carducci, Brian Thomas Jones
6.5/10244 votes#4 - The Moth
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 10/18/1987
Sybil, a woman on the verge of death, is obsessed with the thought that after she dies her soul will dwell within a moth, and she begs her mother to hold the moth until she can be restored to life.
Director: Jeffrey Wolf
Writer: Michael McDowell
6.6/10230 votes#5 - No Strings
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/1987
A mobster who has finally defeated his old rival hires a reluctant puppeteer to string up his rival and make it dance for him. The mobster is unaware that puppet and puppeteer both have agendas of their own...
Director: David Odell
Writer: David Odell
5.8/10225 votes#6 - The Grave Robber
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/1987
In this comedic episode, two treasure hunters discover a lost Egyptian tomb and accidentally revive a mummy. The mummy, Tapok, doesn't try to strangle them, but rather challenges the male explorer to a game of strip poker. The explorer loses, and with each piece of clothing he loses he takes on more of Tapok's wrappings until finally Tapok transfers his curse and leaves with the other explorer.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.2/10258 votes#7 - The Yattering and Jack
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/1987
A normal, everyday, plain-as-day man, Jack Polo, lives a normal, everyday life...despite the fact that strange poltergeist-like events occur around him. He seems oblivious to everything bad around him. We soon realize that a small demon, a Yattering, has been sent to torment him because his mother was a witch. The Yattering's boss tells him he can do anything he wants as long as he doesn't touch Jack. Jack's daughter comes to visit, and she is surprised at both the host of strange occurrences (including an animated Christmas turkey) that occur, and her father's increasingly strident attempts to deny anything amiss. His motto: ""Que Sara Sara"". Finally, driven out of its mind with desperation, the Yattering touches Jack...which makes him his willing servant. Jack knew of the demon's plans all along, and that he hoped to trick it into touching him. Now he is safe from Hell's revenge, and has a new servant in the process.
Director: David Odell
Writer: Clive Barker
4.6/10221 votes#8 - Seymourlama
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/1987
Much to his parents' frustration, a spoiled young boy, Seymour, is declared the High Lama by a group of monks.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/10339 votes#9 - Sorry, Right Number
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/1987
Katie receives a mysterious phone call from a woman warning about her husband's death...but he isn't dead yet. Katie ignores the phone call, and her husband dies. At the funeral, a despairing Katie calls up herself...and finds herself talking to...herself. She tries to warn her past self, despite knowing that it won't do any good, then collapses in despair.
Director: John Harrison
Writer: Stephen King
5.9/10207 votes#10 - Payment Overdue
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 2/14/1988
Michael, a heartless collection agent, finds out that Jeanette doesn't quite understand the rules of going into debt, and has some unpleasant problems as a result.
Director: John Drury
Writer: Richard Benner
6.6/10253 votes#11 - Love Hungry
Season 4 Episode 11 - Aired 2/21/1988
Betsy, an overweight woman, receives an anonymous package with an earpiece that will supposedly help her diet. It transmits the "voices" of her food as is being eaten, but Betsy still has problems and the next gift is a pair of glasses that let her "see" her food as well...
Director: John Strysik
Writer: Jule Selbo
5.6/10199 votes#12 - The Deal
Season 4 Episode 12 - Aired 2/28/1988
Screenwriter Tom Dash unwittingly makes a deal with the Devil and finds he must get out of it by finding a new victim or offer up his soul.
Director: T.J. Castronovo
Writer: Granville Burgess, Allen Coulter
6.4/10215 votes#13 - The Apprentice
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 5/1/1988
Jane is hired by a Puritan museum but ends up mysteriously going back in time where she is forced to work as a near slave in the past.
Director: Eleanor Gaver
Writer: Ellen Sandhaus
7.3/10295 votes#14 - The Cutty Black Sow
Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 5/8/1988
On her deathbed, Jamie's great grandmother tells him the tale of a Celtic demon, the Cutty Black Sow, that comes to claim the soul of anyone dying that night, and Jamie vows to protect her soul from the beast.
Director: Richard Glass
Writer: Michael McDowell
7.0/10271 votes#15 - Do Not Open This Box
Season 4 Episode 15 - Aired 5/15/1988
An aged inventor and his wife come into possession of a box marked "Do not open this box." The wife opens it and finds it empty. The next day a man comes to claim the box and the lady makes up a story about losing the box. The man begins giving them nice things in exchange for eventually getting the box back. The couple begin living the sweet life thanks to the stranger but when they finally give the box back, the man tells them that it contained a human soul - since the box was opened the soul has escaped and now the man needs a replacement.
Director: Jodie Foster
Writer: Franco Amurri, Bob Balaban
7.2/10272 votes#16 - Family Reunion
Season 4 Episode 16 - Aired 5/22/1988
Janice, a young mother, swears to a social worker, Trudy, that her husband Robert kidnapped their son Bobby six months ago and she hasn't seen either of them since. Trudy agrees to find the father and son, but discovers that everything isn't what she was led to believe.
Director: Tom Savini
Writer: Edithe Swensen
5.1/10213 votes#17 - Going Native
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 6/19/1988
An alien is sent to Earth to study the nature and behavior of human beings. The alien, who resembles a normal Earth female, meticulously studies photographs of still life from large cities, simultaneously fascinated with and disgusted by the disarray and degeneration depicted in the pictures. The alien joins a therapeutic support group in an effort to better understand the seemingly contradictory humans. As she develops personal relationships with each group member, she begins to further understand the origin of and reasons for the behavior of humans, albeit from an outside observer's vantage point. The other members of the group see the alien as distant and detached, a condition that they assume is rooted in a self-denial complex. As the alien speaks at one of the group meetings, she suddenly realizes that she has been experiencing the exact same feelings as the humans that she has been studying. She has become human-like through assimilation, trapped within the emotional shell of ano
Director: Andrew Weiner
Writer: N/A
6.5/10251 votes#18 - Hush
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 7/10/1988
A babysitter is called in to take care of a sick boy. As a game, the two make up a pretend creature out of household parts, one that eats sounds. The creature comes to life, sucking the sound and the life out of everything in the house. The two try to evade it, but the boy's uncontrollable coughing gives him away. The creature then becomes sensitive enough to the girl's heartbeat to find and kill her too, then goes out into the world for more "food"".
Director: Allen Coulter
Writer: John Harrison
3.6/10221 votes#19 - Barter
Season 4 Episode 19 - Aired 7/17/1988
A mother tries to get a reprieve from her noisy drums-practicing son by making a deal with an ammonia-seeking alien.
Director: Christopher T. Welch
Writer: Jule Selbo
4.2/10216 votes#20 - Basher Malone
Season 4 Episode 20 - Aired 7/23/1988
A wrestler seeking one great opponent finds himself tricked into fighting a demon from Hell.
Director: Anthony Santa Croce
Writer: Peter O'Keefe
The Best Episodes of Tales from the Darkside Season 4
Every episode of Tales from the Darkside Season 4 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Tales from the Darkside Season 4!
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero, each episode was an individual short story that ended with...
Genres:DramaSci-Fi & Fantasy
Network:Syndication
Season 4 Ratings Summary
"Beetles" is the best rated episode of "Tales from the Darkside" season 4. It scored 5.7/10 based on 229 votes. Directed by Frank De Palma and written by Robert Bloch, it aired on 9/27/1987. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Mary, Mary".