Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) The Ventriloquist's Dummy (1990) User Reviews

"I'm making a*shole casserole & your the main ingredient pal." Top tale from the crypt.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 17 March 2007]

Tales from the Crypt: The Ventriloquist's Dummy starts as wannabe ventriloquist Billy Goldman (Bob Goldthwait) calls on his idol Mr Ingles (Don Rickles) fifteen years after his career finished when his right hand was badly injured in a fire, however he finds Ingles less than receptive. Billy asks Ingles to come to an amateur night where he is scheduled to perform his ventriloquist act, Ingles turns up but discovers that Billy's act is terrible. After a prostitute (Symie Dahut) is found murdered nearby & witnesses claim that an old man was responsible Billy put's two & two together & comes up with Ingles, Billy confronts Ingles who reveals a shocking secret about himself...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 10 from season 2, the second of three Tales from the Crypt episodes directed by one of the show's regular executive producers Richard Donner I thought The Ventriloquist's Dummy was a great story & one that I specifically remember from years ago when the series used to play over here late at night in the UK. The script by Frank Darabont was based on a story from the 'Tales from the Crypt' comic book & goes for more standard horror fare than the morality tale, while there are a few humorous moments The Ventriloquist's Dummy has a pretty serious tone that finishes in a fairly grim twist ending which some may find a bit gross. I liked this story a lot, it's a pretty nasty little tale that is certainly memorable & is macabrely entertaining.

This episode looks as good as most Tales from the Crypt stories, it's well made with good production values & good special effects, this ones gorier than most Tales from the Crypt with someone hacking their arm off with a meat clever, someone has a large chunk bitten out of their throat, there's a fair amount of blood splatter & some freaky mutant creature effects.

The Ventriloquist's Dummy is a top tale from the Crypt story, it's gory, it's twisted, it's dark & it's well worth a watch.

A strange ending mars this silly, but fun Tales from the Crypt episode.

[TOMNEL · 7/10 · 20 June 2008]

Ventriloquist dummies can be scary with their lifeless eyes staring you down and their wooden mouths agape. This episode goes for the humor in ventriloquism, with a few elements of horror. I really like this episode, all except the ending which felt like the writer of this episode (Which happened to be the enormously talented writer of "The Shawshank Redemption", Frank Darabount) was just pulling ideas out of the blue how to finish off his masterpiece. The rest of the episode is sort of funny, very silly, but definitely a worthy addition to the second season of Tales from the Crypt.

All his life Billy (Bobcat Goldthwait) has wanted to be a ventriloquist just like his hero Mr. Ingles (Don Rickles). Years ago Billy had seen Mr. Ingles' final show, which ended in a fire and a disfigurement of Ingles' hand. Now Billy wants Mr. Ingles to teach him about ventriloquism so he goes to his cabin and asks Ingles to see his act. After the horrible show, Billy is ashamed, not only of himself, but at Mr. Ingles too for murdering a woman. A secret is revealed about the deformed hand, which leads to an amusing climax.

This episode is meant to be silly, and it succeeds quite well. I normally find Bob Goldthwait to be annoying, from his acting to his voice, but he worked well here. His voice added to the character, making Billy seem more uncomfortable than he might if played by another actor. Don Rickles is fine as Mr. Ingles, and Don and Bobcat work well together. The direction is flashy and fast paced, as it should be for this type of plot. The "twist" ending is stupid, but leads to a funny scene so I suppose it sort of worked. I didn't like the very end, as it made no sense and felt very random, but overall this episode is worth checking out for a Tales fan, or just a fan of goofy cinema.

My rating: *** out of ****. 24 mins. TVMA

Never idolize a ventriloquist

[callanvass · 8/10 · 7 February 2014]

Mr. Ingles is a ventriloquist, laying low due to a woman dying in a fire under mysterious circumstances 15 years ago. Billy Goldman met Ingles on the same day the woman died and idolized him from that point forward. He finds him to ask for advice, but Ingles says he'll think about it. Ingles flops miserably, even with Ingles appearing for moral support. After the event, Billy finds out that Mr. Ingles has a dangerous secret. After a few episodes from season two that ranged from average to mediocre, they finally got back on track to some of the greatness from season one. This one has the creativity that so many episodes in season two have been lacking. TFTC works best when it is combining black humor with suspense. They went back to basics and it paid off big time. I've always found ventriloquist dummies to be creepy, don't ask me why. It's sort of like the clown effect for some people, but for me it's ventriloquist dummies. Don Rickles is excellent as Mr. Ingles. I was a little bit befuddled when I saw he was starring, but he proved me wrong. Bobcat Goldthwait plays his part well as Billy. There is a huge twist at the end, one I didn't see it coming. It is beautifully bizarre and gory as hell. TFTC fans will love this one

8.5/10

The Ventriloquist's Dummy

[a_baron · 10/10 · 15 November 2014]

The ventriloquist dummy that comes to life is hardly a new idea, but this miniature packs a surprising - and dreadful - punch.

We begin with a ventriloquist performing in a night club; he gives a stellar performance and afterwards signs an autograph for an adoring fan, an eleven year old boy. This though will be his last ever performance; afterwards there is a fire in which he loses both the lady of his life and his right hand.

Fast forward fifteen years, and the young fan turns up at the ventriloquist's house after having driven for three days, He has a dummy, and hopes his debut will be witnessed by his hero. Alas, the fire and the passage of time have left this once charismatic star an embittered old man.

However, he does turn up for the young fan's debut, and the kid is awful beyond words. Clearly he should have become a doctor as his mother wanted. What happens next you will most certainly not have foreseen, but be warned, it's gory.

Among the funniest episodes in the entire series, and with a gory twist

[bellino-angelo2014 · 10/10 · 14 June 2021]

The story begins with Billy Goldman that as a child has the chance of meeting his ventriloquist idol Mr. Ingles (Don Rickles) and tells him that he would love to do his job as an adult. The episode then moves 15 years when he is an adult and tries his act, but everyone boos at him as he is terrible. One night when he drives home he sees that a prostitute is murdered and comes up with Ingles. He goes to Ingles' home and finds out a shocking secret about him: he had a small goblin like creature instead of his right hand. And when Billy manages to free it, it begins a house smashing sequence very reminiscent of HOME ALONE and PROBLEM CHILD. After he nearly chops the little monster, he agrees to use it for his act, but Billy should have followed his parents' advice to become a doctor!

This episode is great for the acting (Don Rickles was excellent here) and also for the twist of Rickles' hand and the house smashing part that made me nearly rolling for laughter. The first GREAT episode in the series, that's for sure!

Good episode

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 19 January 2024]

"Good evening, fear fans. You're just in time. Contents: one ventriloquist's dummy Hacme Novelty Company, Battle Shriek, Michigan. Oh, goody! Watch this, kiddies. You won't see my lips move. You know why? I don't have any! Well hello, Dickie. Would you like me to tell a tale from the crypt? No thanks, death-breath. Then how about sitting a little closer to the fire?!"

Directed by Richard Donner and written by Frank Darabont and Steven Dodd - wow, this episode is bringing the wattage, right? - "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" stars Bobcat Goldthwait as Billy Goldman, a horrible amateur ventriloquist who saw the final performance of his idol, Mr. Ingles (Don Rickles) and Marty, which ended in a fire, Ingles losing his hand, his girlfriend being killed and the end of his career.

Billy invites Mr. Ingles to see him perform and he bombs. The elder artist lashes out at him, telling him that he's horrible with no technique or ability to work an audience. Moments later, a woman who was seen with Ingles is found dead and Billy was covering the body with his coat. When Billy finds the man he has looked up to so much, Ingles is shooting morphine into his stump. Calling him a junkie and murderer, Ingles says that Morty is the one who hates women. The truth is that Morty is no doll. He's a conjoined twin at the wrist and the morphine is all that keeps him from killing. Now that he's taken so long to give him his medicine, Morty attacks him and then Billy, who makes a deal with him to be a star.

However, Morty is always a step ahead of the person calling him a dummy.

This episode comes from the story of the same name from Tales from the Crypt #28. It was writtem by Al Feldstein and William Gaines and drawn by Graham Ingels, who the Mr. Ingles character is named for.

This is a really great episode that is, as I said above, filled with talented people.

"That's a joke, son, I don't see ya 'laughin!"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 9/10 · 23 February 2012]

I don't like dummies, they're nasty. ~So~ creepy. They can be the stuff of nightmares to a child. This is one of those sweet magic episodes, all the way through! Absolutely one of the best, most fun Tales From the Crypt's ever! It's only slightly tarnished by a far too nonsensical finale. Everything else is just perfect. I love The Ventriloquist's Dummy because it begins as one type of episode and becomes a completely different kind of one by the end. At first it plays as a pretty standard evil dummy tale until it gets to the big reveal about Morty the "dummy." At which point the episode very suddenly descends into a mad little maelstrom of insanity, blood, and a demonic right hand... Nobody could possibly have seen the big twist with the dummy coming. You think the obvious: that the Don Rickles character is an insane, split personality ventriloquist, that the dummy is really alive somehow. They're even careful not to spoil it on the little comic book picture the Cryptkeeper holds at the beginning. What is revealed is a truly great twist and a novel surprise, one of the very best in the history of the show. I would have thought that the Siamese twin thing is a rip-off of Basket Case, especially as all the troubles were because the mutant twin couldn't get any! But no, it's taken off some comic, isn't it? I tend to forget that.. I think it's great whenever this tiny genre of horror is brought back every now and then and kept alive this way. X-Files did the same thing with the excellent episode named "Humbug." TFTC itself tried to replicate the magic of the "twin brother reveal" to much lesser effect in the horrible season 5 episode People Who Live in Brass Hearses. When Morty, who is revealed not to be a dummy, but in fact an insane parasitic twin where Mr. Ingles right hand should be, madcap insanity ensues. After a battle of wills with his brother, he is soon hacked free of his moorings, and the episode is thrust into a total cuckoo clock!!! Morty the freak is one scary looking little dude. He's one of the most bizarre freaks you're ever likely to see in any horror feature. He looks a bit like Kuato from Total Recall! It's such a wonderfully loony scene as he hilariously scurries across the floor, insulting Bobcat, and making him madder and madder as he chases him around with a baseball bat! And what's that hysterical thing Bobcat calls him at one point? An "inbred f*****g cabbage patch kid!" Classic. Don Rickles is great in his role as the tortured Mr Ingles. He is of course hilarious, bitter, crazy, then, at peace. In that order. Both him and Goldthwait had good comic chemistry together and for me are both what truly make this episode great. I think it was most likely Rickles who was the voice of Morty, because right at the beginning, when he's doing his standard funny man stand up act, for a split second he sounds just like him. Bobcat Goldthwait is great also, playing a nervous timid wannabe ventriloquist. His character changes radically when he gets all raged up in the tale's best sequence. Both comedians capture both the horror and the humour in the horror, in equal measure very well. The reason I give this silly, sick, and sweet little offering a 9, rather than a perfect 10 is that final scene. That's stupid. It's a step too far, it spirals off into silliness. It makes no sense! How the hell would Morty merge with Bobcat's hand like that? Maybe because he was some kind of mutant he had some weird ability, I don't know... Who cares! Ha, I just love how during the scene there's still a couple of people in the audience watching when most of them have run away screaming! Apart from that, it's a hugely enjoyable episode if you're a fan of evil dummies, and/or evil mutant killer twins. I know I am! They brought the two horror mini-genres together so beautifully. Such a weird, twisted little episode, but I love it so. Thank you and goodnight everybody!

One of the better ones.

[shellytwade · 8/10 · 1 April 2022]

The less I say about the ending in this one the better but it is without a doubt, one of the stranger offerings this show ever delivered. Amazing FX work (as usual) after I string of pretty good episodes, this one really amps things up a notch.

A satisfyingly warped yarn

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 18 February 2011]

Aspiring ventriloquist Billy Goldman (a fine performance by Bobcat Goldthwait) tracks down his idol Mr. Ingles (well played by Don Rickles), who dropped out of show business following a mysterious incident involving a fire and now lives in seclusion as a bitter recluse. Billy finds out that Ingles has a very dark secret pertaining to his success in the profession. Director Richard Donner, working from a compact and engrossing script by Frank Darabont, relates the twisted story at a constant brisk pace, maintains a bleakly serious tone throughout (Billy bombing on stage with his amateur night stage debut is downright painful to watch), further spices things up with some appropriately sick touches of pitch-black humor, and delivers several effectively gruesome moments of graphic gore. Funnymen Rickles and Goldthwait both do excellent and impressive work in totally straight dramatic parts. Ingles' brother Morty makes for a memorably nasty and grotesque little mutant freak. The grim surprise ending packs a pretty mean punch. Tim Suhrstedt's slick cinematography gives the show a nice glossy look. Miles Goodman's shuddery score does the shivery trick. Another worthwhile episode.

The stupidest episode to date

[SleepTight666 · 2/10 · 1 July 2009]

The goriest but also the stupidest episode to date. The acting is all over the place and every single joke is too cheesy to even make you chuckle.

The episode is about a retired Ventriloquist and an amateur that met him 15 years ago. He wants to be in the biz and asks the retired Ventriloquist to give him some tips. Billy finds out that the Ventriloquist's dummy is not like any other, it is actually like a half brother living as his hand. Together, they have killed women in the past and now try to murder Billy.

The last 10 minutes are just too silly to even mention, and the performances are preposterous. Overall, this is one of the worst hours of the show.

Hands Down

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 19 April 2016]

***SPOILERS*** Wanting to be a top ventriloquist like his idol Mr. Ingles, Don Rickles, young Billy Goodman, Bobcat Goldthwait, attended what was to be Mr. Ingles' last performance that ended with the entire comedy club burned down with a number of people getting killed. Still wanting to learn how to throw his voice Billy now 15 years later goes to see a reclusive Mr. Ingles in a shack in the woods to get to know his secret of throwing his voice without anyone noticing it.

As it turns out Mr. Ingles' secret is not as a master ventriloquist but in fact he's a freak of nature. A secret he kept from the public all these years and it was at his last performance that it came out into the open and ended up killing a number of people attending it! Billy who had no clue in what he was dealing with ended up taking Ingle's place as a master ventriloquist and soon was to suffer the same fate that Ingles did.

***SPOILERS**** Mr. Ingles was in fact two persons in one and the one that was in control the dummy part took over and ended up doing old Ingels in. Now Billy taking over Mr. Ingles act the dummy was soon to do the same thing to him without him at first, with Billy totally blinded by his "success", realizing it. Don Rickels in a dramatic role ended being upstaged by his ventriloquist dummy who got all the laughs until you realized that he wasn't just part of the act but really part of Mr. Ingles.

Morty is No Dummy!

[mattressman_pdl · 31 August 2011]

Richard Donner steps behind the camera to bring one of the finest, most twisted episodes to the screen in The Ventriloquist's Dummy. Billy Goldman is a timid, novice ventriloquist who tracks down his idol, Mr. Ingles, for a few trade tips. But Billy finds a broken down old man with a major secret: Ingle's dummy was controlled by his savagely deformed twin brother who hangs from his wrist...a little, murderous twin named Morty.

Ingle's hacks free Morty, who quickly tries to kill Billy and the aging ventriloquist. Pretty warped stuff, huh? This episode was amazingly true to it's 50's comic origins, in both style and substance. Don Rickles is surprisingly quite a good actor as the tortured Ingles and comedian Bobcat Goldwaithe is even a hoot to watch! Watch for director Richard Donner in a the background as Ingles sits a the bar.