10 Best Tales From The Crypt Episodes

Christopher Reeve is Fred, a struggling chef whose niche dream of a squid restaurant isn't catching on. With ruthless landlord Chumley (Meatloaf) threatening to evict unless he can pay his rent, Fred soon turns to desperate measures with the aid of mysterious drifter Gaston, played by Breakfast Clubber Judd Nelson.

The episode is disarmingly light in spite of some of the subject matter, homicide, homelessness, cannibalism, and has fun wrong-footing your expectations, achieving twists on several of the series' formulaic set-ups after four seasons spent establishing them.

A generation's Superman, and arguably the definitive portrayal of the character, Reeve plays mostly to type with his Fred landing somewhere between his dorky Clark Kent and the latter's heroic alter ego, making Fred's flashes of anger genuinely surprising. His wholesome image is complimented by a pairing with a feisty Bess Armstrong (Jaws 3D) as Fred's long-suffering wife Irma, who finds herself faced with a proposition from the duplicitous Gaston.

Nelson here is convincingly slimy and the supporting cast of local patrons embody a suitable small-town innocence, all adding flavour to the recipe for another generous helping of just deserts.