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While the quality of the opening trio of episodes that signify a new season of the Crypt is hardly a guarantee of the state of the rest of the series, it’s always good to get off to a strong start. With Russell Mulcahy’s fantastic “Let The Punishment Fit The Crime kicking things off in style, it seems that that strong start has definitely been had; but now that the baton has been passed to William (House On Haunted Hill) Malone’s “Only Skin Deep” (not to be confused with season one’s “Only Sin Deep”), can season six maintain that early momentum?
Well, the answer is a confident yes; but not only is Malone’s first entry from the crypt a great episode, it’s one of those rare offerings that tries to go for actual scares, rather than just settling for wry irony. In fact, there’s a chance that with themes of domestic abuse and misogyny at play, this could be one if the most mature Crypts of all time.
Accountant Carl Schlag is not a nice guy. While he makes all sorts of excuses for his conduct, his rage issues have led to him having a history of violent and abusive behavior especially against women. In fact, we meet him trying to infiltrate the costume party of a friend in order to reconnect/confront his ex-girlfriend, despite the fact that everyone is trying to keep her safe from him. After causing a scene and dropping some acts of intimidation and gaslighting just for good measure, Carl prepares to leave the party in disgust when he spies someone with a noticeably different vibe.
Dressed in a revealing outfit that’s apparently supposed to be a bodybag, and utterly uninterested in giving her real name, Carl finds himself drawn to “Molly” due to her fatalistic attitude and seductive wiles due to how unorthodox she is compared to other women. Even the fact that her face is covered in mottled, grey mask isn’t enough to deter Carl who ends up going back to her place to have his world rocked.
However, while engaging in some incredibly spirited (some would say violent) sex, Carl discovers to his surprise that under Molly’s tutelage, he’s literally fucked his rage away and announces afterwards that he’s a “cured” man. However, while lying in the afterglow, Molly doesn’t have the same after-sex outlook as Carl and becomes distant and dismissive of her confused conquest. But while Carl is shocked by the irony of a woman turning cold on him, he’s further unnerved by the sight of a ghostly screaming man who appears before him as he angrily stalks around Molly’s oddly large apartment.
Of course, there’s a twist in the air and a life time of abusive behavior is about to come crashing down on an increasingly furious Carl. That’s not a mask that Molly is wearing – it’s her actual face and the disfigured woman has something of a grisly past time to match her edgy personality – she’s a killer who collects the faces of her male victims and Carl’s next in line.
It’s always somewhat tricky whenever Tales From The Crypt actually attempts to pull off something semi-serious that goes beyond the bad-things-happen-to-bad-person template the show usually lives by. There’s no famous face here expertly mugging for the camera, there’s no by-the-numbers scam that’s predictably going to come to a sticky conclusion and there’s no sudden influx of random zombies to send us out with a bang (although a featured ghost is admittedly a little surplus to requirements). No, “Only Skin Deep” seemingly has something to say about abusive men who use their fists to purge their personal frustrations and them claim to feel sorry about it in the aftermath. While we don’t delve into matters as deep as, say, Nil By Mouth (thank god), the script and performances are strong enough to deliver the point without having to show it to preserve some of the show’s impish nature.
Peter Onorati’s Carl is a sneering thug, who attempts to physically or mentally dominate anyone who looks him in the eye too long – but worse than being a quick-to-temper abuser, he’s one of those possessive types too who doesn’t think twice about sneaking masked into a friends party to continue pulling his shit. However, while most other episodes would simply keep Carl a one-note asshole, the episode interestingly gives its lead character the belief that he’s found some sort of redemption in the form of Molly. Fascinated by a mystery woman who can seemingly stand up to his flaws, Carl seems to think that this strange, faceless woman could be the key to his salvation after she literally fucks the rage out of him. While there’s a joke here that men would rather screw a faceless serial killer than go to therapy, the real joke here is that Carl hasn’t been “cured” at all and once Molly goes cold on him, he soon goes back to his old ways by trying to get rough with a woman who won’t play by his rules.
However, he’s met his match in Sherri Rose’s enigmatic Molly, who ensnares him with her forthright sexual nature and uncouth demeanor (“Oh, I tell ya… you could light a pack of Luckies between my thighs…”) and then drops him after sex in a way that most males do with their various conquests. While the episode does well keeping her mostly a mystery, there’s a sense that Molly is one of those rare Tales From The Crypt “villains” (and I use that term sarcastically when comparing her to Carl) that you’d love to find out about more than we do. The fact that we discover that the discoloured, porcelain mask that covers her features are her features, she’s nevertheless defiantly confident and sexually aggressive – and she cuts of the faces of abusive men to boot.
Aiding both Onorati and Rose is director Malone, who creates an appropriately squalid world for these two predatory souls to collide in. Plus, Molly’s look is appropriately memorable that someone looking for opportunistic sex wouldn’t be put off by the fact that masked rage-fucking would only add to the danger and excitement of hooking up with someome who actually looks like a broken china doll. While the ghost stuff doesn’t seem to fit the story well (Is Molly supernatural then – or is it there to just add to the freakish imagery?) fans of Malone’s work will recognise it as precursor to the same, twitchy, visual tricks he went on to apply to the supernatural in his House On Haunted Hill remake – but the real memorable stuff involves Carl getting his just desserts when his one-night stand ultimately gets abusive with him. Molly’s collection of man-faces is suitably macabre and Malone is certainly in his element here, especially with that last shot that shows that Carl’s visage has joined the line up being nastily effective.
The sixth ride of the Crypt Keeper maintains the high standard of the previous episode by delivering something far gritter and socially conscious than some of its usual fare. While Tales From The Crypt doesn’t take advantage of the freedom it has to include sexual content anywhere near as much as it does spraying the gore around, it’s good that when it does, it’s for a bloody good cause.
