The Trailer For ‘Sketch’ Reminds Me Of One Of My Favorite ‘Tales From The Crypt’ Episodes

Sometimes my brain works in strange ways. Maybe stuffing it full of horror media for decades has trained it to work on a specific wavelength, because I inevitably relate everything I see back to something from a horror movie or TV show. Such is the case when I saw the trailer for the fantasy/adventure film Sketch.

What is ‘Sketch’?

Sketch is an upcoming film starring Tony Hale (Arrested Development) as Taylor Wyatt, a father whose wife recently passed away. His children Amber and Jack deal with their grief in different ways, with Amber channeling her emotions into drawings of monsters. When her art book is dropped into a magical pond, her sketched monsters come to life, and it’s up to the kids to try to stop their path of destruction.

Sketch has been compared to films and shows like Inside Out (2015), Jurassic Park (1993), The Goonies (1985), and Stranger Things (2016-2025). My brain, naturally, went straight to horror. Specifically, to the goofy horror of a second-season episode of the show titled “Korman’s Kalamity.”

The ‘Tales From The Crypt’ Episode

“Korman’s Kalamity” first aired in 1990. It stars Harry Anderson (Night Court) as Jim Korman, an artist working for the Tales from the Crypt comic book. Korman’s aggressively unpleasant wife Mildred wants a baby, and she has him taking experimental fertility pills to get the job done. The pills mess with Korman’s mind in unexpected ways, causing the monsters he draws to come to life in different parts of the city, often with deadly results.

Spoiler alert, but the ending of the story shows Korman getting increasingly frustrated with Mildred, and he pours that frustration into a drawing of her as a monster. The Mildred-monster comes to life and attacks the real Mildred, killing her as Korman goes on to live happily ever after with a police officer who previously encountered one of his monsters.

“Korman’s Kalamity” is definitely one of the sillier episodes of the series. Colleen Camp (Clue) is over-the-top as Korman’s comically angry (and comically dressed) wife Mildred, the final monster is cartoonish, and there are jokes aplenty. It’s not my favorite episode of the series—that would be “Television Terror” which also aired during season two—but I like it a lot. It’s also one of the few I remember extremely well, largely thanks to the fantastic monsters scattered throughout the episode. I particularly enjoy the zombie that emerges from an old refrigerator.

What’s The Point?

So, why do I bring this up? Well, I’ll take any excuse to talk about Tales from the Crypt. I love it, and it’s a show I need to revisit in its entirety. The rights surrounding the TV series are apparently a nightmare, and it’s infinitely frustrating that it can’t be streamed on any major platform. There are ways to see it, and the DVDs are surprisingly affordable, but a new release is needed for sure.

But besides advocating for the rights holders of the show to get their act together so I can give them money, I bring up “Korman’s Kalamity” because I love seeing how similar plot devices can be presented in so many different ways.

Sketch will almost certainly be nothing like this episode of Tales from the Crypt, but their foundations aren’t so different. Amber and Korman both use art as a way of expressing their emotions during a rough time in life. Both characters encounter something magical which brings their art to life. Both are (presumably) freed from their negative emotions after their inner monsters become outer. It’s basically the same story, only vastly different.

It’s like when people say that there are no original ideas anymore. That’s debatable, but it’s also beside the point. You can start with an idea that’s similar to something else and still make it unique. It’s not like Sketch or “Korman’s Kalamity” have a monopoly on the idea of drawings coming to life. The beauty in art is seeing how inspiration can be taken in so many different directions. That’s why I loved revisiting one of my favorite episodes of Tales from the Crypt, and it’s why I’m looking forward to seeing Sketch when it releases later this year.