{"id":26916,"date":"2026-10-31T01:24:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T01:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/tales-from-the-crypts-kevin-yagher-on-making-horror-tv-history-exclusive-television-academy\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T01:24:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T01:24:33","slug":"tales-from-the-crypts-kevin-yagher-on-making-horror-tv-history-exclusive-television-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/tales-from-the-crypts-kevin-yagher-on-making-horror-tv-history-exclusive-television-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales from the Crypt's Kevin Yagher on Making Horror TV History (Exclusive) – Television Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello, nice to see you back!
Log in to your Television Academy account:
If you're seeking ways to connect with working television industry professionals, both in front of and behind the camera, joining our organization offers you unparalleled access, benefits and opportunities.
Learn more about Television Academy Membership<\/a>
If you're ready to join, click below to start the application process.
Kevin Yagher (right) poses behind the scenes with his creation, the Crypt Keeper.
Tales from the Crypt<\/em>'s Kevin Yagher on Making Horror TV History (Exclusive)
The legendary makeup effects artist reflects on working with producer Joel Silver and that time Crypt Keeper showed up in a Saturday morning game show for kids.
For more than three decades, Kevin Yagher\u2019s dream job has been creating the stuff of nightmares.\u00a0
From Chucky<\/a> to Freddy Kruger, the legendary makeup effects artist has spent more than 30 years working on creature and puppet designs for some of Hollywood\u2019s most notable horror franchises. His considerable skillset and talent led to collaborations with producers like Joel Silver and filmmakers like Steven Spielberg<\/a>, Richard Donner<\/a> and Robert Zemeckis.\u00a0
Working with Silver and executive producers Donner and Zemeckis on HBO\u2019s Tales from the Crypt<\/em> added another iconic character to Yagher\u2019s list of macabre accomplishments: The Crypt Keeper.\u00a0
In the first part of the Television Academy\u2019s two-part exclusive interview, Yagher revealed how Silver recruited him to work on the famous producer\u2019s adaptation of the comic book of the same name. Now, in our concluding interview, he reveals how designing the elaborate puppet put him on the path to direct two distinct episodes of the show. He also shares his thoughts on a little known corner of the Tales from the Crypt<\/em>-verse \u2014\u00a0a \u201cscary\u201d live-action game show aimed at children(!) \u2014 as well as his feelings on the character\u2019s legacy, 30 years after the HBO series\u2019 finale.\u00a0
Television Academy: Let\u2019s talk about the two Tales from the Crypt <\/em>episodes you directed: \u201cLower Berth\u201d and \u201cStrung Along. \u201cLower Berth\u201d is notable because it reveals the Crypt Keeper\u2019s origin. Given that most episodes of the show were standalones, how did this one come about?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
Kevin Yagher:<\/strong> It's from the comic book. I was surprised to see it, [too]. [The late writer and producer] Scott Nimerfro was working at [Richard Donner\u2019s company] at the time, and they would try to help you locate something that was right for you, story-wise. He mentioned an episode called [\u201cLower Berth\u201d], and I looked it up, and there it was. I'm reading it and thinking, \u201cOkay, there's a mummy. Okay, so she's dead. And then there\u2019s Enoch, the two-faced man, and they have sex.\u201d There\u2019s this weird, bizarre thing! You never see it, of course, but somehow she's pregnant with a baby? The whole thing was absurd.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

The baby Crypt Keeper from "Lower Berth"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Photo Credit: HBO<\/em><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The baby Crypt Keeper from "Lower Berth"
But when they show that it is the little baby Crypt Keeper from the comic, I went, "Oh, well, of course I have to do this one." I had gotten to know [writer] Fred Dekker, and he wrote an excellent episode for me. We built this whole 1910 carnival; a lot of money was being spent. We had top-notch people working on it.\u00a0
In \u201cStrung Along,\u201d you got to do a story about a puppeteer and their puppet, Coco. Was it interesting to tackle a scaled-back episode that had less makeup or animatronic effects?<\/strong>
It was, especially after [\u201cLower Berth\u201d]. Because my brother, Jeff, was in, I think, a four-hour makeup application when he played [the two-faced man in \u201cBerth\u201d]. We applied an animatronic face on the side of his real face, and it had little servos that were hidden in the back of his hump. That was complicated because of all the sets, costumes and performers that we used. [\u201cLower Berth\u201d] was great, but it was also very complicated.
[\u201cStrung Along\u201d] was a smaller story. At that point, I think they were trimming down the size of things. We went to a location. We had a couple of sets built, and then Greg Melton, the production designer, built this wonderful kind of Geppetto\u2019s basement where all the puppets were hanging. We went to Ren\u00e9 [Zendejas], who was a famous marionette puppeteer, and he built the body for the Coco puppet. We also did the animatronic face on it. Melton did a wonderful production design, with all these things hanging in the foreground, but it was a smaller story, basically. The puppet comes to life, and a couple of things in it, and that was that was it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Yagher's brother portrayed the two-faced man in "Lower Berth." <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Photo Credit: HBO<\/em><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yagher's brother portrayed the two-faced man in "Lower Berth."
What are your memories of working with the talented roster of filmmakers and creatives on Crypt<\/em>?\u00a0<\/strong>
It was incredible. I got to work on Walter Hill's \u201cCutting Cards" episode, with actors Lance Henriksen and Kevin Tighe \u2014 the one where they chop their fingers off. I got to watch Walter work, which was great. I also observed Dick Donner and Bob Zemeckis a little bit when they were directing. That, to me, was like going to [film] school, directing-wise. I came out [to Los Angeles] in 1983 to start my effects career. I had no idea I'd be writing and directing. Watching these guys work was amazing \u2014 I just picked up so much interesting stuff. I was just wowed by everything, starting with Joel. It was a dream come true. There was just nothing like it, and there hasn\u2019t been ever since.
Tales <\/em>could have been a disaster for me, but it was one of those things that was just magical. Dick Donner was a huge mentor for me. I recently told his wife, Lauren, that I really appreciated him \u2014 because he trusted me, had faith in me and he would promote me.
When the Tales from the Crypt<\/em> feature films were made \u2014 Demon Knight<\/em> (1995) and Bordello of Blood<\/em> (1996) \u2014 was there anything you were asked to do as far as making the Crypt Keeper ready for movie screens?<\/strong>
I think we were given a budget to sweeten him, certainly \u2014\u00a0like re-skin him. I went to all the [production] meetings for both Bordello of Blood<\/em> and Demon Knight<\/em>. I did an effect on Angie Everhart [for Bordello<\/em>], where she spits out a tongue. I was busy on both those films, so I believe Gil Adler directed [the Crypt Keeper segments]. He had already done some of the series, so he was familiar with the puppeteers and all of that.\u00a0
There was an animated series, Tales from the Cryptkeeper<\/em>. There was also a live-action, Saturday morning game show for kids, The Secret of the Crypt Keeper's Haunted House<\/u><\/em><\/a>, which used your puppet.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n