I enjoyed this solid little film anthology. In my opinion, it’s right up there with Creepshow as one of the better-executed horror films. There are also art history references.

In the main story, or ‘wrap-around’ as it’s typically called, the characters (led by the Tour Guide) are stuck in a movie-set house and, to pass the time, tell disturbing tales from their past. (Francis, n.d.) A painting in the house appears at the film’s beginning and hints at the stories the characters tell.

Judith Beheading Holofernes, circa 1599

Caravaggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

You can see a reproduction of this painting in the background of this IMDb screenshot.

The characters’ stories are very female-centered and revolve around the violence they commit, wittingly or unwittingly. Even when the male characters tell their stories, a female character takes charge. Including Caravaggio’s painting, rather than, say, Artemisia Gentileschi’s version, adds serendipitous commentary on the film itself. Men created both the film and the painting. (Holwerda, 2018, pp. 122-149) Furthermore, as my Baroque art history once pointed out years ago (And this 2016 essay confirms this), the difference between Gentileschi’s version and Caravaggio’s is this: Gentileschi’s version shows a righteous Judith determined to destroy someone terrorizing her people. In contrast, Caravaggio’s shows a Judith unsure about the violence she commits. (Judith and Holofernes: Reconstructing the History of a Painting Attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi, 2018) In the film, certain female characters express various negative feelings about the violent situations they found themselves in.

The painting reappears in the story Stanley’s Girlfriend (a story of two filmmakers and an enigmatic woman), suggesting that the Girlfriend (in a reproduction that manipulates Judith’s face to resemble the actress Amelia Cooke) is much older than the main characters realize. Because Stanley is a fictional version of Stanley Kubrick, we see portraits of Napoleon, and anyone familiar with Kubrick lore knows about his failed attempt to make a movie about the Corsican emperor. (Napoleon, n.d.) One scene features a group of paintings of Bonaparte in battle, his coronation, and his decline. (Le Sacre ou le Couronnement de Napoleon (Napoleon’s Consecration or Coronation), 2007)

Antoine-Jean Gros, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jacques-Louis David, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jacques-Louis David, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Another story, titled Jibaku, takes place at a gallery in Japan that exhibits art ranging from classic woodblock prints to more contemporary-looking works. I had quite the enlightening journey looking them up. The story first showcased a portrait titled Narcissus by Kitagawa Utamaro. After some searching, I learned about two other prints by Katsushika Hokusai that were clearly featured in the background of the art gallery scene. (Katsushika Hokusai – The Complete Works, 2026)

Fujimigahara in Owari Province (1830-2).

Katsushika Hokusai, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mt. Fuji Seen from the Minobu River, 1830-2

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Placid-looking illustrations, yes? However, I couldn’t identify two prints, but they seemed to foreshadow the horror to come in Jibaku. One resembled two animals fighting, and the other appeared to depict a female phantom holding another person’s head. If anyone knows anything, please leave your information in the comment section.

Returning to the wrap-around story, besides the Caravaggio painting, the house also features floor murals depicting demons and the humans they torment. One panel reproduces a mosaic depicting Hell, originally found in the Florence Baptistery in Italy. Another panel possibly shows a scene from William Blake’s adaptation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Whirlwind of Lovers. This suits these stories about couples who sometimes torment each other while demons torment them. I also saw Blake’s other work, Ancient of Days, reproduced on a floor panel. (The Last Judgment of the Baptistery, 2025)

AKA Europe, A Prophecy

William Blake, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Why include this painting? I wondered, and you probably did too. I theorize they chose it because the Tour Guide is a white-haired older man who manipulates everything and everyone, and the painting shows a white-haired, godly being who does the same.

References (These were recommended by Grammarly after I used the Citation Finder)

Francis, Freddie. “Tales from the Crypt.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Crypt_%28film%29

Holwerda, Joslin. “Art in Early Modern Italy: Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio.” The General: Brock University Undergraduate Journal of History 3 (2018): 122-149.  https://doi.org/10.26522/tg.v3i0.1673 Accessed October 15, 2026 (Broken Link)

“Judith and Holofernes: Reconstructing the History of a Painting Attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi.” MDPI 2, no. 3 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3390/arts2030132 Accessed October 15, 2026 (Broken Link)

“Napoleon.” Kubrick Wiki.  https://kubrick.fandom.com/wiki/Napoleon Accessed October 15, 2026

“Le Sacre ou le Couronnement de Napoleon (Napoleon’s Consecration or Coronation).” napoleon.org. 2007. https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/paintings/le-sacre-ou-le-couronnement-de-napoleon-napoleons-consecration-or-coronation Accessed October 15, 2026

“Katsushika Hokusai – The Complete Works.” Katsushika Hokusai. 2026. https://www.katsushikahokusai.org/ Accessed October 15, 2026

“The Last Judgement of the Baptistery.” Opera Magazine, October 4, 2025. https://duomo.firenze.it/en/opera-magazine/post/11789/the-last-judgement-of-the-baptistery

Also, I used Grammarly to help edit and rewrite this post, so a little bit of AI may have leaked onto the text.