After settling down to a post-murder meal at the local restaurant, he discovers the town is home to a nest of vampires: Donna is not as dead as he thinks, and he becomes the dish of the night when his jugular vein is tapped out as a beverage dispenser (this last scene is blacked-out in the U.S. DVD release).

Sebastian plays the flute, and the rope rises; realizing that they have discovered a piece of genuine magic, the couple begin plans to work it into their act.

"Bargain in Death" (Tales from the Crypt #28) Maitland is buried alive as part of an insurance scam concocted with his friend Alex.

When Maitland's coffin is opened, he jumps up gasping for air, scaring Tom and Jerry who run out into the middle of the road in front of Alex's car, which crashes into a tree and explodes.

Sebastian remains behind and explains that they are all damned Souls compelled to tell the stories of their evil deeds for all eternity.

Roger Greenspun of The New York Times was dismissive, writing that of the several distinguished actors who appeared in the film, "none is ever quite so bad as the material warrants.

"[6] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a very tepid, static affair despite the presence of many luminaries of the English stage and screen.

"[7] Tom Milne of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that the film was "even less satisfactory" than Tales from the Crypt, "mainly because the Freddie Francis atmospherics have been replaced by pedantically flat direction by Roy Ward Baker in which each story plods squarely through yards of exposition before erupting in all too brief explosions of Grand Guignol.

"[9] Jeremy Aspinall of Radio Times gave the film three stars out of five, describing it as a "suitably ghoulish companion piece to the excellent Tales from the Crypt", "fiendishly fun", with "a touch of class in the cast", concluding "if you like your fright fables darkly droll, then this should certainly do the trick.

The version used is the edited U.S. theatrical PG re-release (the original theatrical release in the U.S. was the unedited R-rated version), which replaces some of the gorier scenes with still images (notably the final shot of "Midnight Mess" showing Daniel Massey's neck being tapped for blood, and Terry Thomas dropping from a hammer blow in "The Neat Job") to receive an MPAA PG rating.

An uncensored version was first shown on the British TV channel Film4 on 25 August 2008, and later released by Scream Factory on a double-feature Blu-ray with Tales From The Crypt.