critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 7.07/10. Allmoviesaid, "It has a certain magnetism about it that is hard to resist and which accounts for its enduring popularity. There's something about Crypt that makes even jaded viewers feel like they're kids sitting in their rooms late at night with the lights out, telling eerie tales with the aid of a flashlight." Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film lacks style and is too heavy-handed in its morality. Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote that "the undercurrent of sternness is tempered by a truly bottomless roster of campy excess". Chris Alexander of Fangoria wrote, "[F]rom its first frames to its invasive final shot, this classic British creeper offers an unrelenting study in the art of the macabre." Anthony Arrigo of Dread Central wrote, "The greatest strength in Tales comes not from the acting or directing – both of which are perfectly sound – but in the rich stories culled from the comics." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Time gave the film three out of four stars, saying “It's put together something like the comic books, with the old Crypt Keeper acting as host and narrator. In the movie version, he is played with suitable ham by Ralph Richardson”. Home media The film was released on VHS in North America by Prism Entertainment Corp in 1985, then by Starmaker Home Video in 1989, and finally by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment under their Selections label in 1998. In the UK it was released on VHS in 1988 by CBS Fox Video having been rated 18 without cuts by the BBFC. Tales from the Crypt was released on DVD in the United Kingdom on 28 June 2010. It received its first Blu-ray release from Shock Records distribution in Australia on 2 November 2011. The film, paired with another Amicus anthology, The Vault of Horror, was released on a double-feature DVD on 11 September 2007. Shout! Factory released the same double feature on Blu-ray on 2 December 2014. Points of interest Only two of the stories are from EC's Tales from the Crypt comic book. The reason for this, according to Creepy founding editor Russ Jones, is that producer Milton Subotsky did not own a run of the original EC comic book but instead adapted the movie from the two