I just wrote a review of the special edition DVD of "Halloween" (for print). It's after 8 p.m. on an icy Monday. And I just listened to a bit of holiday music.

So naturally my thoughts turn to "Tales of the Crypt."

I loved the old EC Comics version of "Crypt." And I've never forgotten the issue that contained one of the creepiest stories to invade my childhood (though it was in a revised version, not an original).

Does anyone else remember the Santa Claus story? If you do, more than likely it's because that story wound up in a film version and an extremely memorable episode of the TV series, the latter directed by Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump"). The title was "And All Through the House."

But it's the comic book treatment I remember best -- how it was drawn, the terrifying irony, the black humor.

The plot involves a woman who has just killed her wealthy husband on Christmas Eve. She drags the body outside only to miss a radio broadcast about a homicidal maniac dressed as Santa Claus who escaped from a mental institution and has killed several women ... with an axe.

Eventually, she hears the reports and, to her horror, spots bad Santa outside. She realizes she can't call the police because of her husband's dead body. Instead, she tries to barricade herself inside her home.

Doesn't work. When her young daughter sees Santa lurking outside, she does what any child anticipating a delivery of toys would do: She opens the door.

The lesson in this is never trust a saint bearing gifts.

OK, OK -- that's not the lesson. You know the lesson.

And you also know how creepy little stories like that stay with you.