Tales from the Crypt #5

In "’Tain't the Meat...It's the Humanity!", a struggling butcher named Zach faces moral compromise during wartime rationing, turning to the black market and passing off horse meat as steak to keep his shop afloat. When a tainted batch causes several deaths—including the son of a regular customer—Zach’s wife, grief-stricken and furious, takes drastic measures to restore the shop’s reputation, ensuring the shelves are piled high with meat the next morning.

In "Roped In!" from Tales from the Crypt #5 (1992), a plane carrying the corrupt partners of a construction company crashes into a massive, unnatural web strung between two jagged mountains—just as a storm rolls in and the lights go out. What they thought were cables turn out to be threads spun by something ancient and hungry, and the only thing keeping them from falling is the very web they’ve now become trapped in.

In "Cutting Cards!", two reckless gamblers, Lou and Gus, push their already dangerous obsession to a grotesque new extreme after surviving Russian roulette. Now, they wager their limbs in a twisted game of chop poker—where each losing hand means losing a piece of themselves, one body part at a time.

In "Squash...Anyone?", a twisted circus act takes a horrifying turn when a performer’s obsession with ending a marriage leads to a deadly stunt gone wrong—only to be undone by a resurrection that’s as shocking as it is unforgettable. The story blends eerie suspense and macabre flair, turning a circus spectacle into a chilling tale of revenge and the price of betrayal.

In "This'll Kill You!", two longtime biologist friends, Vic and Joe, find their bond tested when a lab mishap turns deadly—only to spiral into a twisted game of revenge and mistaken identity. When Vic answers Joe’s phone call after tracking him down, he’s stunned to learn the “accident” was no accident at all, and the truth behind the prank is far more shocking than either man could have imagined.

In "Standing Room Only," Carl, a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain, devises a cold-blooded scheme to inherit his twin sister Cynthia’s fortune by taking her place after her murder. His plan seems flawless—until a single, careless moment at a restaurant exposes a fatal flaw in his disguise.

In "Return Blow," a young woman named Alma tends to her frail neighbor, Ms. Sanford, while a charming newcomer, Luke, quietly insinuates himself into their lives. As Luke and Alma conspire to win the old lady’s favor—only to be rewarded with a place in her will—their plan takes a deadly turn when Luke sends her a rigged package. But when the post office returns the box just in time, the real danger may not be what they expected.

In "Last Resort," a marriage built on money and deceit takes a deadly turn when Jerry, married to the wealthy Mona, grows restless on a road trip to Florida. His eye catches Jane, a young woman who stirs something dangerous in him, and he quickly decides Mona is no longer useful. When he disposes of her in a nearby lake, he thinks he’s covered his tracks—until he learns the lake is a tourist hotspot, its waters frequently explored by glass-bottom boats. Now, every passing boat feels like a threat, and the past is never truly buried.