Unfortunately, my planned review/ look at 'Avengers: Endgame' will have to be postponed until November, so I can do my regular two- part Halloween edition. I can promise it'll be worth the wait, though!
In the meantime, I've got quite a "Treat" in store for you readers this time to help prepare you for the spookiest time of year:
Back in the Late 80's- mid 90's, the TV network HBO aired the cult- classic horror anthology series 'Tales From the Crypt.' Based on the EC horror and crime comics of the 1950s and directly adapting several of their stories, each episode had the terrifying yet hilarious undead host the Cryptkeeper (Voice of John Kassir) sharing with us a different tale of terror.
(Say hello to the Cryptkeeper; Handsome guy, isn't he? Credit for this image and the next one goes to SummerTaffy896 on the 'Tales From the Crypt' wiki at https://tftc.fandom.com/wiki/Fitting_Punishment?file=FPclosing.png)
Sometimes the stories were supernatural, other times they were more grounded in reality. The show boasted a LOT of surprisingly heavy- duty talent, between actors like Kirk Douglas, Michael J. Fox, Demi Moore and Tom Hanks, and producers and directors like Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver and Richard Donner.
It could often get pretty graphic in terms of its violence, language, and other such adult situations, though my first exposures to it when I was younger were the edited- for- television re- airings of it they did on networks like Fox and Sci- Fi Channel.
Now, you might think that a show like this could not ever hold any kind of theological message, even for someone like myself who has at times found such messages in other such unlikely sources, and even though many of the episodes function as dark morality tales.
However, I was recently reintroduced to an episode that changed all that, known as "Fitting Punishment."
WARNING! There will be heavy spoilers for the episode in question, and it's an episode that can be rather graphic, so use discretion before watching it or letting children watch it.
(Imagine this being said in the Cryptkeeper's trademark voice) Now, come a little closer, kiddies, and let's get started. RA HA HA HA HA HA!
(In keeping with the show's roots in horror comics, each episode featured a title card showing something from that episode rendered in comic book style; This image was found at https://tftc.fandom.com/wiki/Fitting_Punishment?file=Fitting-Punishment-tales-from-the-crypt-41326221-720-540.png)
In this episode from the show's second season, we meet Ezra Thorntonberry (Played by the late Moses Gunn), the director of an inner- city funeral home. He presents himself to his clients as an honest, good- natured, Godly fellow who will treat their deceased loved ones with the dignity and care that they deserve. However, it soon becomes clear that this is all just a facade, and Ezra is in fact a despicable, corrupt, greedy old hypocrite only concerned with making as much money as possible with as little effort or personal expense as possible. He secretly cuts corners left and right in his work to save money (i.e. He uses regular tap water instead of embalming fluid to preserve the cadavers, and orders cheap undersized caskets from Taiwan which he presents to his clients as being American- made with the best materials), and doesn't even have a problem with swiping gold teeth from the cadavers he operates upon.
A person unfortunate enough to be brought into Ezra's life early in the episode is his teenage nephew, Bobby. A nice enough young man with an affinity for basketball, Bobby just lost his parents in an accident and was thus sent to live with Ezra, his only living relative. As further proof of the sort of person Ezra is, rather than expressing any kind of grief at learning his only sister died in a likely- horrific car crash, he instead says with a little smile, "Head- on, huh? Messy, I'll bet. That's good for business. Charge a pretty penny to make their loved ones look presentable." While Ezra initially is not keen on taking his nephew in, he realizes that he can use the boy for free labor around the funeral home and agrees.
Sadly, as you can probably guess, Bobby's bad luck at losing his parents doesn't improve any when he goes to live with his uncle. Ezra treats his nephew horribly, giving him a wheeled metal gurney for a bed, constantly referring to him as "Boy," and treating him like a slave. When Bobby makes an apparent mistake that costs the funeral home a customer, Ezra brutally beats him with a crowbar in a fit of rage (It is very difficult to watch, as you can guess), paralyzing him from the waist down. When the bills for Bobby's consequent medical care start piling up, Ezra flat- out murders the poor boy and makes it look like an accident. Then, as one more insult, the twisted old creep cuts off his dead nephew's feet so Bobby's tall body will fit into one of the undersized Taiwanese coffins for burial.
However, as is often the case in episodes of 'Tales From the Crypt,' what goes around comes around. Also as is often the case on the show, the restless dead don't stay dead for very long before returning to seek a little payback. The episode's title ends up coming to full fruition, as Ezra ultimately receives an extremely "Fitting Punishment" for his many evil deeds. The Cryptkeeper closes the episode by giving probably the funniest (In a dark way, typical for him) summation monologue I can ever recall him doing on the show.
While "Fitting Punishment" is not my favorite episode of 'Tales From the Crypt' (That honor goes to the Season 4 episode "What's Cookin'," which featured Christopher Reeve as one of a pair of struggling restaurateurs who save their business by, shall we say, changing up the menu of what they serve), it's still pretty high up there on my list. The story is good and creepy, the music was extremely well- chosen as it ranged from a kind of somber Dixieland jazz for the scenes involving the funeral home and Ezra's work in it to then becoming more soft and mystical near the end, and the performances from the various actors are all great. Ezra makes for one of the vilest and most intentionally easy- to- hate characters the show has ever produced, but generally in an amusing way that makes you eager to see him ultimately get what he deserves. It also gets points for being the only episode of the series with a completely African- American cast.
There were definitely some theological messages to be taken from "Fitting Punishment." The first and foremost would be on hypocrisy and false faith. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 that ""Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!'". Ezra in this episode was pretty much the embodiment of that sort of person. He may have been able to present himself outwardly as a righteous and Godly man, but this seeming piety was only skin- deep. He frequently misquotes Scripture, and much of his pseudo- pious prattling consists of things that aren't even in the Bible at all! For instance, he at one point justifies his practice of using water instead of embalming fluid by pompously saying, "Like the Bible says, 'A penny saved is a penny earned,'" a quote which was actually first said by Benjamin Franklin. Then, of course, there's obviously the fact that the crooked ways Ezra runs his business and the heartless things he does to his nephew are hardly in keeping with one who really walks with the Lord. The Bible makes it clear that people of faith are to conduct their business with honesty and integrity, and treat their family with compassion, especially those like Bobby who have already gone through so much hardship. Simply going to church and saying some impressive- sounding words doesn't make a person a Christian any more than standing in a garage would make them a car. There are many people out there who are skilled at playing religion and claim to know Jesus, yet whose hearts are far from Him. I must appeal to all of you to make sure that you truly have Jesus as your Lord and Savior in your hearts and let your lifestyles be a reflection of this, and not become self- righteous, hypocritical phonies like Ezra.
Another Scriptural lesson to be taken from this episode is on not associating with ungodly people. Near the end of the episode, shortly before Ezra meets his well- deserved end, his assistant Clyde, whom he treated almost as badly as he treated Bobby, abruptly resigns. The reason Clyde gives for why he quits is because he knows full well that Bobby's death was no accident, and while he doesn't have enough substantial proof to get the authorities involved, he can't in good conscience bring himself to work for someone as immoral and frankly evil as Ezra another minute. The Bible frequently points out that believers should not associate with people who are known to be unrepentantly wicked. In 1 Corinthians 5:11, it says "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler- not even to eat with such a one." In Psalm 26:4-5, the psalmist says "I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked." We need to be careful to not connect too closely with people who we know are deeply involved in sinful, ungodly things. Such people can become really bad influences on us, and hinder both our Christian witness, and our personal relationship with God. Bad friends can easily lead good people astray and bring a lot of trouble down on them. For a personal example, when I was in college, the leader of the local fraternity at one point approached me with the offer to join. Something about the way he presented things set off a bit of a red flag for me, so I didn't accept his offer and politely avoided him afterwards. That ultimately proved to be a wise decision for me, as a year later, that fraternity was forcibly shut down by the university when details of a highly inappropriate hazing ritual came to light. Had I joined the fraternity and connected with its members, my reputation would have been damaged along with theirs when that happened. I'm not saying completely shun everyone who isn't perfect in every way, as we all have sinned, just to recognize that there are some people in our lives who we need to steer clear of and not associate with due to the corrupting influence they can have on us and our faith.
So, that's my look at "Fitting Punishment," a great episode of a classic show and an equally great cautionary tale about having a true Christian faith, not being religious frauds or hypocrites, and avoiding those whose ungodly lifestyles can lead us astray.
With that, I wrap up this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back on the 31st when I'll hopefully have part 2 of this year's Halloween special ready for you. Until then, may God bless you all!
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