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The Worst Episodes of Tales from the Darkside

Every episode of Tales from the Darkside ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Tales from the Darkside!

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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 a plot twist. The series' episodes spanned the genres of

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  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Tales from the Darkside Season 4 Episode 20 - Basher Malone
    1.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Basher Malone

    S4:E20

    A wrestler seeking one great opponent finds himself tricked into fighting a demon from Hell.

    Director:Anthony Santa Croce
    Writer:Peter O'Keefe

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  2. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 23 - The False Prophet
    2.0/10(2 votes)

    #2 - The False Prophet

    S1:E23

    Cassie Pines is a woman travelling on her own who believes in astrology, tea leaves...everything. She comes into a diner with a most unusual mechanical fortune teller named Horace X. "Horace" is uncanny with his predictions but Cassie soon finds that Horace is demanding and possessive - despite her misgivings she enters the booth one more time...and disappears.

    Director:Gerald Cotts
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 14 - Dream Girl
    2.0/10(1 votes)

    #3 - Dream Girl

    S2:E14

    A group of people find themselves trapped in a scenario with Otto, only to discover that he is a stagehand and they are a theater group all trapped in his dream.

    Director:Timna Ranon
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Tales from the Darkside Season 4 Episode 8 - Seymourlama
    2.0/10(1 votes)

    #4 - Seymourlama

    S4:E8

    Much to his parents' frustration, a spoiled young boy, Seymour, is declared the High Lama by a group of monks.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 24 - The Casavin Curse
    2.3/10(3 votes)

    #5 - The Casavin Curse

    S2:E24

    A family finds themselves cursed because of their great grandfather killing his wife, and the curse won't die until they all die too and there is no one else to carry on his name.

    Director:Frank De Palma
    Writer:Edithe Swensen

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  6. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 11 - All a Clone by the Telephone
    3.0/10(3 votes)

    #6 - All a Clone by the Telephone

    S1:E11

    Leon, a hapless TV writer, buys an answering machine that has a mind of its own - it initially helps him out by providing him with new material, but Leon soon finds that it's taking over his life.

    Director:Frank De Palma
    Writer:Haskell Barkin

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  7. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 14 - Snip, Snip
    3.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - Snip, Snip

    S1:E14

    A warlock and a witch get into a battle over a $10 million lottery ticket when each claims that the spirits gave them the winning number.

    Director:Terence Cahalan
    Writer:Michael McDowell

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  8. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 18 - If the Shoes Fit...
    3.0/10(1 votes)

    #8 - If the Shoes Fit...

    S1:E18

    Fast-talking politician Bo Gumbs finds himself in serious trouble when he arrives for a meeting and waits at a nearby hotel.

    Director:Armand Mastroianni
    Writer:David Gerrold

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  9. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 22 - The Unhappy Medium
    3.0/10(3 votes)

    #9 - The Unhappy Medium

    S2:E22

    The family of a dead preacher show up for a reading of the will but discovers he left them nothing specific. Rather, he warns them on his video-taped will that he will send them a sign.

    Director:Dusty Nelson
    Writer:Edithe Swensen

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  10. Tales from the Darkside Season 3 Episode 3 - The Bitterest Pill
    3.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - The Bitterest Pill

    S3:E3

    A boy treated poorly by his parents gets the upper hand when an eccentric uncle shows up and tries to convince the parents to finance him to develop his newest invention - a pill that increases brain power and memory. He has a stroke and dies but not before the boy swallows the one and only prototype, and soon puts his parents into the same position he was before.

    Director:Bryan Michael Stoller
    Writers:Michael P. Kube-McDowell, Jule Selbo

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  11. Tales from the Darkside Season 3 Episode 19 - The Social Climber
    3.0/10(3 votes)

    #11 - The Social Climber

    S3:E19

    A shoemaker's apprentice discovers a strange power when he finds he can step into other peoples' lives simply by putting on their shoes.

    Director:Armand Mastroianni
    Writer:Ellen Sandhaus

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  12. Tales from the Darkside Season 4 Episode 19 - Barter
    3.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - Barter

    S4:E19

    A mother tries to get a reprieve from her noisy drums-practicing son by making a deal with an ammonia-seeking alien. Spoofs the I Love Lucy television series.

    Director:Christopher T. Welch
    Writer:Jule Selbo

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  13. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 10 - Djinn, No Chaser
    3.8/10(4 votes)

    #13 - Djinn, No Chaser

    S1:E10

    A couple inadvertently buy a magic lamp that contains a genie. Unfortunately, the genie is anything but amiably. Confined in the lamp for thousands of years and still trapped, he refuses to grant wishes and instead terrorizes the couples with plagues, rains of frogs, etc. The husband finally has himself committed, but a few days later his wife brings him home. Their apartment is now richly decorated and they have plenty of money. The genie is now an amiable and willing wish-granter. The wife's solution to freeing the genie: a can opener.

    Director:Shelley Levinson
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 16 - Printer's Devil
    3.8/10(4 votes)

    #14 - Printer's Devil

    S2:E16

    Junior Harman is a third-rate writer who discovers that his new agent, Mr. Kellaway, can make things happen for him. All it requires is a little blood - a few animals, the occasional bum... Junior is reluctant to go along but he soon finds he has no choice in the matter.

    Director:John Harrison
    Writer:John Harrison

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  15. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 15 - Answer Me
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #15 - Answer Me

    S1:E15

    Joan is apartment-sitting for a friend but finds herself tormented by a phone that won't stop ringing.

    Director:Richard Friedman
    Writer:Michael McDowell

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  16. Tales from the Darkside Season 1 Episode 16 - The Tear Collector
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #16 - The Tear Collector

    S1:E16

    Prudence is a young woman who can't stop crying, but finds a peculiar way to make a profit when she meets Ambrose Cavender, a man who collects tears.

    Director:John Hayes
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 1 - The Impressionist
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #17 - The Impressionist

    S2:E1

    An impressionist, "Mr. Personalities," is brought in by the government to try to help them communicate with an alien. Mr. Personalities is at first stumped but finally makes "contact." The alien departs and Mr. Personalities is depressed...until the alien returns for him.

    Director:Armand Mastroianni
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 2 - Lifebomb
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #18 - Lifebomb

    S2:E2

    Ben Martin, a rich businessman, is contacted by a special medical firm, "Lifebomb" which offers him an expensive policy that will let him live forever. They give him an implanted device which, every time he "dies," activates and places him in a cocoon until the corporation can arrive and revive him. His wife soon leaves him and since Ben is close to death, the Lifebomb goes off constantly. Tired of life, he finds that he is trapped since Lifebomb refuses to call off the policy so that they can make money off of him.

    Director:Frank De Palma
    Writer:Michael P. Kube-McDowell

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  19. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 10 - Ursa Minor
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #19 - Ursa Minor

    S2:E10

    When Joan finds a new teddy bear in her son's room no one seems to know where it came from. Then night after night huge claw marks are found on the walls and the sounds of something very large can be heard moving through the house. It seems that this little bear has a murderous life all its own...

    Director:Theodore Gershuny
    Writers:John Sladek, Theodore Gershuny

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  20. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 13 - Comet Watch
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #20 - Comet Watch

    S2:E13

    Englebert Ames, an astronomer, is watching Hailey's Comet and is in for a shock when Sir Edmond Hailey himself arrives - he's been riding "his" comet all these years trying to elude Sarah, the woman pursuing him out of obsessed love.

    Director:Warner Shook
    Writers:Jule Selbo, Harvey Jacobs

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  21. Tales from the Darkside Season 2 Episode 15 - A New Lease On Life
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #21 - A New Lease On Life

    S2:E15

    A man is overjoyed to find a nice apartment with all the modern conveniences at an incredibly cheap price. The eccentric landlady asks nothing more than for the man to provide her with plenty of garbage for the disposal unit. The man is puzzled when the walls ooze blood after he attempts to hang a picture with a nail and hammer. He is further disturbed when the floor shakes as he hears an ominous roar bellow throughout the building complex. He soon realizes that the building itself is a living entity that survives on the trash created by the tenants. Angered by the situation, the man fills a garbage bag full of household cleaners with the intent of poisoning the entity. He throws the bag into the disposal unit and the creature begins to roar. Suddenly, the landlady confronts the man with her two sons and they throw the man into the disposal, providing the beast with a full course meal.

    Director:John Strysik
    Writer:Michael McDowell

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  22. Tales from the Darkside Season 3 Episode 2 - I Can't Help Saying Goodbye
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #22 - I Can't Help Saying Goodbye

    S3:E2

    A young girl develops a talent for seeing the fate of those about to die and develops the habit of saying "Goodbye" to them when she does, and her family grows increasingly upset as a result.

    Director:John Strysik
    Writer:Jule Selbo

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  23. Tales from the Darkside Season 3 Episode 7 - Heretic
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #23 - Heretic

    S3:E7

    A rich art collector buys a stolen painting from a thief. The painting portrays a man before the Spanish Inquisition. The collector, Harte, is soon visited by a mysterious man who begs him to repent of his sins and give up the wrongfully-gained picture. Harte ignores the warnings and finds himself sucked into the painting where he is to be tortured as a sinner and heretic. He recants to the Inquisitor, who lets him go. Once out of the painting, Harte refuses to give it up, and receives a personal visit from the Inquisitor in the real world. The thief returns to take the picture, and Harte is nowhere to be found...in this world.

    Director:Gerald Cotts
    Writer:Edithe Swensen

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  24. Tales from the Darkside Season 3 Episode 9 - Baker's Dozen
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #24 - Baker's Dozen

    S3:E9

    Ruby Cuzzins, a New Orleans baker, sells "magic" cookies and gives unscrupulous Henry adman a sample of her wares. Convinced, Henry tries to get her to go into business with him but gets his comeuppance when she refuses.

    Director:John Harrison
    Writer:George A. Romero

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  25. Tales from the Darkside Season 3 Episode 15 - My Own Place
    4.0/10(1 votes)

    #25 - My Own Place

    S3:E15

    Laura, a desperate woman, tries to get an apartment by herself but is forced to take in Ram, an immigrant from Calcutta. When Ram dies partly due to her involvement, Laura finds that she has inherited an entire family of ghostly Hindus.

    Director:Theodore Gershuny
    Writers:Theodore Gershuny, Perry Lang

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Basher Malone" is the worst rated episode of "Tales from the Darkside". It scored 1/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Anthony Santa Croce and written by Peter O'Keefe, it aired on 7/23/1988. This episode scored 1.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The False Prophet".