Tales from the Darkside was one of those anthology shows that got shunted around mercilessly by British TV schedulers when it came over here, and as such, is now fondly remembered only by insomniacs of the early nineties.

As is always the case with this type of programme – Tales Of The Unexpected, for instance, or the grand-daddy The Twilight Zone – the quality is somewhat uneven. The season opener, for example, despite being penned by producer George A Romero and having some decent acting and production values, is a somewhat lacklustre affair, even if it’s subtle rip-off of the old Hansel And Gretel myth.

However, Darkside scores slightly above its own reputation, a reputation that will always be eclipsed by the afore-mentioned Rod Serling show of the 1950s. The clue is in the title – this programme doesn’t promise a twist, shock, or even a little sermon in the final few minutes.

What you do get is, literally, a ‘dark side’ to life, twenty plus episodes of people suddenly caught in a situation that they don’t understand, and – crucially – isn’t necessarily explained to us, the audience. What pervades the entire season, then, is a over-bearing sense of ‘oddness’, of things not being quite right.

One episode – Slippage – is a neat, nasty version of It’s a Wonderful Life told from the perspective of the people who are not the main protagonist and answering the cynic’s question, what if you discovered that, actually, you really didn’t make a difference in the world? Elsewhere, there’s a Stephen King short story which looks at the opposite side of the coin, examining as it does wish fulfilment without (apparent) consequence.

The print here on the DVD does not look as if it’s had a great deal done to it, but your brand new flatscreen will no doubt make some episodes appear fresh and sparkly, although some other episodes are clearly a little more careworn than others.

Extras: Special features here are sparse, limited to an audio commentary from George A Romero on his episode, and indeed, this DVD has had just the minimum of attention paid to it (although, it seems, due to copyright issues, much of the original scores have been stripped away), suggesting that the stories should stand on their own merits. Luckily, for the most part, they do.

Released on DVD on Monday 21st November 2011 by Revelation Films Ltd.

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