Forever Ambergris (1993) User Reviews (5)

Decent tale from the crypt.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 20 March 2007]

Tales from the Crypt: Forever Ambergris starts as the once great war photographer Dalton Scott (Roger Daltrey) & his hotshot apprentice Ike (Steve Buscemi) return from 3 months away in a war zone, however it's not long before they are back on a plane heading towards their next assignment in Central America. Once considered the best Dalton is now regarded as a has been & Ike is the up & coming photographer who everyone wants a piece of so when he is told of a village that was decimated by germ warfare he senses his chance to kill two birds with one stone by getting rid of the competition & getting some top shots as well, the village is still contaminated so he tricks Ike into going there to take the pictures, contract the horrible disease & get the photo's back which he intends to pass off as his own to him before he dies. All goes well until he gets back home & tries to seduce Ike's ex girlfriend Bobbi (Lysette Anthony) who got something interesting in the post from her dead boyfriend...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 3 from season 5, the second & last Tales from the Crypt episode to be directed by Gary Fleder I rather liked this gruesome little story. The script by Scott Rosenberg was based on a story from the 'Tales from the Crypt' comic book & is a great little horror fable about jealously, double crosses, sinister schemes & just deserts which are typical Tales from the Crypt themes. I liked Forever Ambergris as a whole, the build up is pretty good, the character's are decent & there's a fair amount of exploitation in this episode with Forever Amergris being one of the gorier & grosser stories. While neither new or amazingly original as far as the show goes I still reckon this is a pretty damned fine episode & is one of my favourites. The character's are good here especially the sleazy Dalton Scott & the likable Ike which also makes this episode very watchable along with the nastiness. Having said that it feels like an action film on occasions & not enough like horror & the black humour present in a lot of the best Tales from the Crypt episodes is sadly lacking.

This one looks as good as usual, a lot of it is set in a forest somewhere which doubles up as a jungle nicely enough I suppose. There's some top gore here & some of the best seen throughout the 93 Tales from the Crypt episodes that were made, someones eyeball literally oozes out of it's owners socket, there are various melted & rotting skin effects, there's bubbling & bursting vein effects, there's plenty of blood spurting around & someones nose falls off! The special effects are well done & look pretty gross at times. There's some nudity & sex here as well if that's your thing. The acting is good by the two 'name' leads, the great Buscemi is as watchable as aways & The Who founder British rocker Roger Daltrey does a decent job as the slimy villain.

Forever Ambergris is probably one of my favourite tale from the crypt stories, as a whole things started to go downhill from season 5 onwards so Forever Ambergris is a shining light in the show's latter seasons & I reckon this ones worth watching as just about any other episode from any other season, definitely recommended.

Strong episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 20 April 2012]

Sleazy and jaded burn-out combat photographer Dalton (superbly played to the slimy hilt by Roger Daltrey) wants to regain his former glory as well as lusts after Bobbi (a nicely sultry portrayal by the gorgeous Lysette Anthony), who's the eminently desirable wife of gifted up and coming colleague Ike (a fine performance by the always reliable Steve Buscemi). While on assignment in Central America Dalten figures out a way to both get rid of Ike and get his faltering career back on track. Director Gary Fleder, working from a dark and absorbing script by Scott Rosenberg, relates the compelling story at a steady pace, maintains a grim'n'gritty tone throughout, and neatly explores the themes of jealousy, loyalty, betrayal, and revenge. The sturdy acting by the able cast helps a whole lot: Daltrey, Anthony, and Buscemi all do commendable work in their roles, with sound support from Paul Dooley as cynical editor Randolph and Marshall Bell as tough mercenary Rock. Rick Bota's slick cinematography gives this episode an impressive polished look. Jay Ferguson's rousing score hits the stirring spot. The gruesome flesh-melting splatter set pieces deliver the hideously gory goods. As a yummy bonus, the lovely Ms. Anthony bares her delectable body a couple of times. A worthwhile episode.

Disgusting but in a good way

[bellino-angelo2014 · 9/10 · 2 July 2021]

Dalton Scott (Roger Daltrey) is an old glory of combat photography than one day visits his boss and he tells him that he hasn't got the same edge anymore. That night Dalton visits his young disciple Isaac Forte (Steve Buscemi) while he is having dinner with his wife. Dalton soon has the hots for Isaac's wife Bobbi and plots a deadly scheme during their next assignment in the jungle: sending Isaac in a village ravaged by infectious diseases for the photos and then Roger can pass them as his own photos. All goes as planned (and Isaac will be gunned down) but once in the US, when Dalton and Bobbi make out she suddenly rots on top of him, and when Dalton washes up his blood he will lose something else...

This was a great episode for the main reasons: Roger Daltrey and the always reliable Steve Buscemi give great performances and there is even Titus Welliver in a small role. The special effects are very impressive for its time, and especially the scenes where Buscemi writhes in agony and loses his eyeball and also when he is rotting before he can tell the truth (and he is gunned down) are even funny in their own way. And the ending, despite being scary, was very unexpected. A must see, even tho you MUSTN'T eat while watching!

"You're starting to get a little ripe!"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 28 October 2016]

Now this was quite the fun and disturbing tale. Like Adam Ant in "Maniac at Large", I'm not sure Roger Daltry even was an actor as such, but I thought he was very good and convincing as a deviously underhanded and formerly-great photographer of bloody war atrocities who is no longer troubled by a conscience and who gets the eye for the beautiful girlfriend of a younger more popular photographing ace who still idolises him, and who devises a very cruel way to eliminate the unwitting competition by luring the naively trusting poor sap to a germ-infested war zone with the promise of once in a lifetime snapshots that he fully intends to steal and pass off as his own afterwards. While scouting there the man Isaac catches something hellish that soon has him dying an unbelievably gruesome death as he first writhes in diseased agony until his goddamn eyeball pops out of his head, and is after gunned down by Dalton before he can groan out the truth! Dalton seems to have clear gotten away with his evil deed until, after making his move on Isaac's former girlfriend Bobbi, he discovers that the both of them now also have the nightmarish mystery disease as she quite literally falls apart on top of him, and he races to the bathroom where he frantically attempts to wash off the tainted gore and instead loses something else... Before dying Isaac had sent a package of balsa he obtained from the pestilential jungle death village of "Valmalera" to Bobbi, and knowing this and Dalton's entire plan because of a letter she received from one of the mercenaries who escorted the photographers through the rotten jungle, she deliberately put it in the killer joint that they shared for revenge! This is surely the most nauseating Crypt episode, as the Steve Buscemi character melts down there's some seriously vile and disgusting makeup effects work done, and it made for one hell of a spectacular insane visual! Also quite striking on a smaller scale is when Dalton's nose plops into the bathroom sink in the blackly comical closing scene. The nose does seem a bit random and doesn't really play into anything except that Mr Daltry had a very prominent nose, and it also echoes back to the weird story told by the mercenary about a pal in 'Nam who had his nose eaten away by bugs. I like this episode more than I used to, the story and the buildup to the nastier scenes and ending is interesting, and it's alp nicely grim, it's probably not got too much else standing out about it besides the gore but it's still fun and it's definitely one of the series' best if you have a penchant for the good old blood and guts! It was cool to see Marshall Bell in an episode again so long after appearing in the classic and brilliant "And All Through the House". Back then the show was strangely more innocent.. Good story, I would really advise against eating while watching it though!

Awesome Yet Gory

[chinabelle-86222 · 6/10 · 27 August 2021]

Before I review, I have something to say to Foreverisacastironmess123:

Edit your review and correct the spelling to DALTREY! That is how it is and always has been correctly spelled, and you know it!

Now I can review. I first saw this episode on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000, meaning they cut out the nudity and gory parts.

I finally got to see the clip in its entirety on YouTube...his nose falls off! (15 years after this episode aired I asked Roger if I could give a nose kiss. He declined, stating he "smelled like fish" *lol*)

I was jealous seeing Lysette Anthony (Bobbie) make love to my Roger (Dalton).