Werewolf Concerto
It's a rather Christie creature feature.
Crypt Keeper: (over a shot of a brain on a plate) This is your brain. (transfers the brain to a frying pan) This is your brain on drugs. (gestures to another brain on a different plate) And THIS is your brain after watching Tales From the Crypt! (smashes the brain with a sledgehammer; to the camera) Evening, creeps. We interrupt your regularly scheduled terror-vision program to bring you a bit of culture. That's right, kiddies. Tonight, instead of rotting your grave matter, I'm going to improve it with a tasteful tale about someone who just can't fright the feeling. I call it: Werewolf Concerto.
In a luxury resort surrounded by dense forest, a guest is found gruesomely decapitated by an unknown being. The rest of the guests are aghast at the news, and one of them, Carl Rechek (Charles Fleischer), is convinced that the death was the work of a werewolf, who he deems is among them. What's worse is that a storm has caused a mudslide that has blocked the only road leading away from the resort, leaving the guests even more frightened. Antoine (Dennis Farina), the manager, calms the guests by noting that he has been anonymously contacted by a werewolf hunter, who has offered to slay the beast in exchange for keeping their identity a secret. Antoine then introduces the guests to Lokai (Timothy Dalton), a rugged man who vows to eliminate the werewolf. Before he can do so, however, Lokai must first deduce exactly which guest, including Rechek, Antoine, and sultry pianist Janice Barid (Beverly D'Angelo), is the werewolf. Each suspect has their own motives and theories regarding the werewolf's identity, and it's up to Lokai to divine the truth among them. What Lokai isn't aware of, however, is that the werewolf might actually be closer than he thinks.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Lokai tries to hit on Janice several times, but she keeps refusing his offers of grabbing a bite to eat. Considering the true natures of both of them, there was a damn good reason why Janice didn't want to be alone with him.
- Actor Allusion: There are many references to James Bond throughout the episode, given that Lokai is played by Timothy Dalton, who was playing Bond when the episode was filmed.
- Lokai swipes a Walther PPK (Bond's weapon of choice) from Mr. Hertz and kills him with it.
- He's also seen wearing a Rolex Submariner.
- He's shown to be rather good at card games, saying that the difference between him and other players is that he never loses.
- Mr. Hertz is played by Walter Gotell, who played General Gogol in The Living Daylights. Once again, he's antagonistic toward (and this time is gunned down by) Bond.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Carl, who is said to have proof that Mr. Hertz is a Nazi war criminal, and was all too happy to throw him to a pair of federal agents for a reward.
- Ambiguously Evil: Janice does kill Lokai, the actual werewolf, but it's not clear if she did so just to get him out of the way, or if she just wanted to get him out of the way so she could eat the rest of the resort guests.
- Amnesiac Hero: Lokai can be seen as one, given how he appears to be unaware that he's actually the werewolf he's trying to hunt down.
- And I Must Scream: Lokai is implied to be aware that he can't fight his werewolf side. After being stabbed by Janice, she reveals that she's a vampire and sinks her teeth into him as he screams.
- Anonymous Benefactor: The werewolf hunter anonymously called Antoine to offer their services in hunting the creature ahead of time, provided that their identity be kept a secret.
- Anti-Hero: Lokai works to hunt the werewolf, and kills Hertz, who's revealed to have been a former Nazi, in cold blood. The climax reveals that he's been the werewolf all along.
- Anti-Villain: Janet, a vampire who actually kills the werewolf and ends his reign of terror, saving the guests and staff of the resort... unless wanted to get to them first.
- As Himself: Wolfgang Puck serves as the resort's head chef. In a humorous turn of events, he's left bamboozled when Lokai requests a simple cheeseburger for lunch instead of the elaborate dishes that are already on the menu.
- The Bad Guy Wins: A partial case. Janice stabs Lokai and feasts on him after he bursts into her suite, and may start feeding on the other guests of the resort afterwards. Despite this, Lokai did kill five people in the span of a few days (one while not transformed), so at least he won't be able to kill again.
- Bait-and-Switch: Partially subverted. Lokai isn't a werewolf hunter at all: he's the werewolf. Near the end of the episode, when he transforms, his werewolf half argues with his human half, indicating that Lokai somehow doesn't know that he's actually hunting himself. When he bursts into Janice's suite, it's because he thinks SHE'S the werewolf after Hertz was cleared.
- Bludgeoned to Death: The transformed Lokai kills the maid who enters Janice's suite by bashing her to death on the room's piano (which is silent through the process, as it's filled with Transylvanian soil).
- Boom, Headshot!: How Mr. Hertz is killed, compliments of Lokai.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Janice remarks to the dying Lokai that she's killed many werewolves in the past, and makes cracks about how predictable they are as well, revealing that she's not only the actual werewolf hunter, but also a vampire.
- Call-Back:
- Janice has a great amount of Transylvanian soil hidden inside her piano. As was stated back in The Reluctant Vampire, Transylvanian soil is essential to a vampire's survival.
- Additionally, like in The Secret, the climax features a werewolf going up against a vampire. The difference is that this time, the vampire wins.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Pieter the bellhop, who Lokai bribes to inform him if and when any guests are contacted from anyone outside the resort. Towards the end of the episode, Pieter tells Lokai that Carl got a fax from a pair of federal agents he called, who were after Mr. Hertz for being a Nazi war criminal and are planning to give Carl a reward for his proof.
- *Click* Hello: Mr. Hertz gives one to Lokai after he follows him into the woods at sundown.
- Clueless Mystery: There's no physical evidence as to the werewolf's identity, so Lokai has to rely on the suspicions of the guests and staff to solve the mystery.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: The viewers already know the cause of Mr. Bailey's death, but among the guests, Funny Foreigner Carl was absolutely right that a werewolf was loose in the forest.
- Don't Go in the Woods: Because there's a bloodthirsty werewolf prowling about. Mr. Bailey and Mr. Hertz learn this the hard way.
- Downer Ending: Lokai is almost entirely unaware that he's the werewolf, and Janice easily stabs and kills him. If the ending is any indication, she'll start feeding on the rest of the guests soon after.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Every suspicion as to who the werewolf is, as well as some other matters, is proven wrong by new developments in the case.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: The episode paints every person Lokai investigates to hint at motives that they could be the werewolf. They're all rendered red herrings when the actual werewolf turns out to be Lokai himself.
- Failure Hero: Perpetual braggart Lokai spends the whole episode trying to uncover the true identity of the werewolf so he can kill them before they strike again. He fails miserably when it's revealed that he's the werewolf itself, and is killed by the woman he fingered as the prime suspect.
- Fantastic Racism: As a vampire, Janice thinks very lowly of werewolves (or "lupies" as she calls them), and exterminates them as part of her secret double life.
- Femme Fatale: Janice, who ultimately kills Lokai and reveals herself to be a vampire.
- Foreshadowing: Lokai and Janice's identities are hinted very early in the episode, when they talk about how they both "don't do breakfast". Mercedes and her husband even inform Lokai that they were expecting him at breakfast.
- Funny Foreigner: It's downplayed with Carl, whose accent and belief of werewolves set him up as one of these. The end reveals that he knew what he was talking about all along.
- Fur Against Fang: At the end, Lokai is revealed to be the werewolf, and he gets blindsided by Janice, who is a vampire.
- Genre Blindness: After she incapacitates Lokai, Janice derides werewolves like him for always being loud and sticking their chests out, which makes the job of a werewolf hunter incredibly easy.
- Genuine Imposter: Lokai was the werewolf the entire time, and his werewolf half was killing off the guests searching for the actual werewolf hunter who was hunting him.
- Hard Boiled Detective: Lokai plays the part for most of the episode, his grizzled-yet-smug attitude hoping to help him gain the guests' trust as he finds and kills the werewolf.
- Homage: The episode is one to the works of classic mystery authors like Agatha Christie, since it features a complex "Whodunnit?" as the plot. There are also a fair amount of homages to James Bond, since Lokai is played by the actor who was playing Bond at the time it aired.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Janice stabs Lokai In the Back with a silver candelabra several times, planting it in his body so hard that it pokes straight through his chest.
- Innocently Insensitive: Antoine tries to calm Mr. Bailey's grief-stricken wife by letting her know that he died instantly (per the coroner's words), which doesn't help her in the slightest.
- It's All About Me: Lokai vows to kill the werewolf because he's essentially a blowhard who wants to be hailed as a hero. He's actually the werewolf itself, and apparently isn't aware that he kills people.
- Karmic Death: Even though he technically wasn't aware of what he was doing, Lokai gets one from Janice, who is revealed as a creature of the night as well.
- The Killer in Me: The werewolf that Lokai spends the episode looking for and hoping to kill? It's himself, and he doesn't even know it.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Lokai easily gains the trust of the resort's guests and staff, but he's smug, arrogant, and full of himself, and he doesn't even know that he's the werewolf who's been killing everyone.
- Model Couple: Mercedes and her husband, the kindest guests at the resort, who invite Lokai to their table and tell him who they suspect the werewolf to be without fuss. They also playfully humor Lokai when he suspects Mercedes of being the beast, and mourn Mr. Bailey's death at the creature's hands.
- Mystery Episode / Noir Episode: This is perhaps the only episode in the series where there's a genuinely complex mystery that gets the viewers' brains working to solve it. There are also plenty of noir elements included, such as a femme fatale, sleazy sleuthing music, and a variety of alibis.
- Mythology Gag: Carl is played by voice actor Charles Fleischer, who previously auditioned for the role of the Crypt Keeper.
- Off with His Head!: The werewolf kills Mr. Bailey by slashing his throat and tearing his head off with its bare hands, raising the head to the sky and howling in victory.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: This is heard in the opening scene as the werewolf kills Mr. Bailey, its first onscreen victim.
- Only Sane Man: Nazi fugitive he may be, but Mr. Hertz is the only person who questions the insanity of the episode's premise.
- P.O.V. Cam: We see brief glimpses of the werewolf's point of view as it chases after Mr. Bailey.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "I think I will take you up on breakfast after all." Said by Janice, who reveals her fangs and feeds on Lokai.
- Properly Paranoid: Carl, the Funny Foreigner guest who firmly believed that a werewolf was the culprit of the deaths of Mr. Bailey and two other guests, was absolutely correct in his suspicions.
- Red Herring: Mr. Hertz refuses to believe that werewolves are real and is suspiciously found running into the woods at sundown, threatening to shoot anyone who follows him. After Lokai kills him, Pieter the bellhop reveals that he was actually a Nazi war criminal who was trying to evade the Feds.
- Road Block: Antoine tells the guests that they can't leave the resort because a storm last night has caused a mudslide that's blocked the only road that leads back to the highway.
- Self-Deprecation: The Crypt Keeper's intro makes it clear that he knows just how tasteless the series is, so he tells the "kiddies" that tonight's episode is chock full of culture and contains a complex mystery to exercise their brains.
- Silver Has Mystic Powers: Lokai displays the classic lycanthropic vulnerability to silver when Janice stabs him with her candelabra.
- Skewed Priorities: When one of their own is found dead in the forest and Lokai assures them all that they're under his protection, the resort guests spend the daylight hours playing a guessing game as to who amongst them is the werewolf and the hunter. Notably, they do this when they could just as easily be barricading their doors and windows to keep the werewolf from killing them next.
- Smug Snake: Lokai is unbearably smug and full of himself, to the point where Mr. Hertz mocks him for it before he's shot dead.
- Sore Loser: Carl is noted to be a perennial loser when it comes to games, prompting Lokai to say that he must lose professionally, which gets a rise out of him.
- Spot the Thread: Janice's piano makes no sound when Lokai smashes the doomed maid's head over and over on its keys. We soon find out that it's full of Transylvanian soil, as Janice sleeps in it while she's on the road.
- Tempting Fate: Lokai boasts to Hertz that he never loses. Janice is quick to disagree.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Janice is a renowned pianist who performs symphonies at the Hollywood Bowl and the like. What no one knows is that she's a vampire who kills werewolves for a living.
- Wham Shot: When Lokai transforms into the werewolf.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The rest of the resort's guests and staff disappear after Lokai goes hunting for Janice. As Lokai is out of the picture by the end of the episode, we don't know if Janice killed him just so she could feed on them first.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Janice is known by the guests for not being seen during daylight hours and only emerging in the very late afternoon. Pieter thinks she's an alcoholic, but Lokai deduces what he believes to be the truth.
Crypt Keeper: (wearing a fancy dress shirt) Poor Lokai. Thought he was starring in "La Boo-hème", turns out he was second lead in "Romeo and Ghoul-iet." (snickers) I hope you're not cultured out, kiddies, because the next part of our program is a little parda-die I've been working on. (the camera zooms out to reveal him holding a skeleton dressed as a ballerina) I hope you like the gore-ography. (to the skeleton) Whenever you're ready, Isadora! (throws the skeleton in the air; it lands behind him a second later with a clattering sound) Hmmm. I guess it's back to the corpse du ballet for her. (cackles)
