It Hails From the Crypt Episode 11: “Three’s a Crowd” | Tales from the Crypt S2E5

Jealousy, paranoia, marital misery and one of the nastiest punchlines Tales from the Crypt ever delivered.

In Episode 11 of It Hails From the Crypt, we tackle “Three’s a Crowd,” Tales from the Crypt Season 2, Episode 5, originally aired May 1, 1990.

And fair warning: this may not be the most politically correct or even the most well-liked trip into the Crypt.

First we go all the way back to EC Comics’ Shock SuspenStories #11 and the original seven-page “…Three’s a Crowd”, plotted by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, scripted by Feldstein and illustrated by the great Jack Kamen.

We compare the original 1953 comic with HBO’s 1990 adaptation: what changed, what stayed remarkably faithful, and how expanding a brutally efficient seven-page EC story into a half-hour television episode changes our relationship with Richard, Della and the story’s vicious final revelation.

Gavan O’Herlihy stars as Richard, a down-on-his-luck husband whose marriage to Della (Ruth de Sosa) is already showing some serious cracks when the couple is invited on an anniversary getaway by their wealthy friend Alan (Paul Lieber). Richard soon becomes convinced that his wife and best friend are having an affair behind his back.

We dig into an episode that can be deliberately unpleasant, darkly funny and genuinely uncomfortable, with a protagonist whose attitudes and behavior haven’t exactly become easier to stomach with age. Is “Three’s a Crowd” an underrated piece of pitch-black EC horror? An ugly relic of another era? Or does its ugliness actually make the final twist hit even harder?

We also look at director David Burton Morris, composer Jan Hammer, and the performances that turn what begins as a story of marital jealousy into something considerably darker.

And, as always, we finish by heading deeper underground with our Vault of MORE Recommendations: movies, comics, books and other obscurities connected to the episode’s themes of jealousy, paranoia, murderous husbands, marital horror, fatal misunderstandings and twist endings.

Episode Cast & Crew

🎬 David Burton Morris — Director / Co-Writer
David Burton Morris on IMDb

🎭 Gavan O’Herlihy — Richard
Gavan O’Herlihy on IMDb

🎭 Ruth de Sosa — Della
Ruth de Sosa on IMDb

🎭 Paul Lieber — Alan
Paul Lieber on IMDb

💀 John Kassir — The Crypt Keeper
John Kassir on IMDb

So grab a drink, ignore those suspicious whispers coming from the other room, and join us as we revisit one of the meaner, messier and more divisive episodes of Tales from the Crypt.

Because sometimes three really is a crowd.

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