Tales from the Crypt, the TV show began simply from a fan of EC Comics. A director/producer named Walter Hill happened to stumble upon the Tales from the Crypt comic book reprints in the early 1980's. Remembering that he enjoyed them as a child, he picked them up. Upon reading them, the idea for the TV show began to formulate in his mind.
At first it was simply suppose to be a feature film that was a collection of short horror skits (much like the Tales from the Darkside movie, or Creepshow). They decided that Richard Donner (of THE OMEN fame) should direct it. He agreed and signed on almost immediately.
They idea of a clip-show movie was shot down by major studio almost immediately due to failures of other moe recent films of the same nature. Bill Gaines (the creator of the Tales From the Crypt comics) was leary of signing the rights anyway, feeling that his material were too strong for mainstream America and therefore his stories may be watered down. Then HBO showed interest. Gaines agreed that HBO was the best place it should be. He gave his OK. And production began....
