10 One-Off Horror Movie Villains Who MUST Return
2. The Collector - Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
The first, and still best, Tales from the Crypt movie, 1995’s Demon Knight is a gem bursting with ghoulish atmospheres and goofy attitudes.
Conjuring the lovably campy tones, striking practical effects, and gnarly violence of the Night of the Demons and Evil Dead films – with traces of 1994’s The Stand TV adaptation thrown in for good measure – it’s a classic tale of Good vs. Evil done with the usual Tales from the Crypt tongue-in-cheek charisma.
Its star attraction is main baddie the Collector, a demon in human form who’s determined to get a key containing sacred blood from a ragtag group of colorful strangers who’ve barricaded themselves in a boarding house.
Played with menacing glee by Billy Zane, the Collector is a seductive but silly trickster who routinely toys with our heroes as he or his minions murder them in comically gruesome fashion. His cowboy swagger is truly magnetic, as he curses, dances, tells jokes, manifests objects, and even impersonates late writer Hunter S. Thompson just to mess with his adversaries.
Zane’s overzealous antagonist intentionally and alluringly chews the scenery for most of the runtime. His irresistible portrayal, plus the fact that Demon Knight wraps up by suggesting that the reincarnated Collector will continue his pursuit of the woman who beat him, shows why he deserves to remerge.