Creepshow

George A.Romero("Dawn of the Dead","Day of the Dead","Martin")after huge success with "Dawn of the Dead" directed his another masterpiece-an anthology of five short stories called "Creepshow".The script was written by Stephen King,and the special effects were made by F/X wizard Tom Savini("Martin","Maniac","The Prowler").The first story "Father's Day" is so-so-nothing special,but the zombie looks terrific;the second story "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril" is the funniest,Stephen King steals the show as a Jordy,a goofy farmer,who finds a strange meteor;the third story "Something To Tide You Over" is my favourite-it's ghastly,creepy,funny and a little bit disturbing,again great make-up of the drowned zombies;the fourth story "The Crate" is the longest and goriest-there's a lot of suspense and plenty of gore mixed with black humour.Finally we are getting to the last story "Creeping Up On You"-an enjoyable story about cockroaches with some rather gross special effects.Overall I must say that I love "Creepshow"-surely they don't make them like this anymore.This is a REAL horror,not a teen-oriented garbage like "Scream" or "Urban Legend".Check it out.

Despite some major problems (mainly contained in Stephen King's uneven and often heavy-handed script), this is still a pretty fun attempt to bring 1950s EC horror comics to the big screen. One of the best things about it is director George ('Night of the Living Dead') Romero's creative, vivid direction, that captures the bright color schemes and comic book framing to a tee. Each tale has a different horror theme usually tempered with some comedy and ranging from a rich patriarch returning from the dead to get revenge on his obnoxious family to a meteor that causes an outbreak of vegetation to a fanged, ape-like creature that's been locked away in a crate for decades. All five of the tales presented, despite some missteps, offer up good gory fun. Some of the acting is good, too, particularly Adrienne Barbeau as a heavy drinking, obnoxious faculty wife who gets what she deserves, Hal Holbrook as her hen-pecked husband and E.G. Marshall as a wealthy, obsessively clean old jerk who is savaged in his futuristic apartment by a legion of cockroaches. Talk about flesh crawling! Tom Savini's special effects are great, as usual.

This was after Tales from the Crypt, however, Romero and King both where heavily influenced by these comics that they developed a movie that was sort of a satire/parody of Tales but in the same time a tribute to that comic book. In this movie there are four scary stories being told some written by Stephen King from his short stories and some written by Romero and SK. These stores, for that time, were pretty scary and freaked me out when they came in theaters. There are many great things about this movie that I enjoyed but there was, however, one huge things that I did not like about this movie. Regardless, it's about time for two horror geniuses to team up and do something good for a change.

First off, the movie itself is about a comic book similar to Tails and the four stories in the movie come directly from the Creepshow comic books. The reason why that this idea works in not only the principle of bringing a comic book to life but the way it was shot, edited and lit. The camera angles had very defined and geometrical angels, similar to those that you would see in a comic book. The lighting when something horrible happens turns red, or if somebody is screaming the background turns to a shattered red background, thereby giving each scene a more comic book-like feel to visual picture. It had choppy edits and quick cuts, which we all know that comic books have. So we have a visual perspective of a comic, the overall pattern and texture of a comic and now we have the quick stimulus of a comic.

Between each story there is a sub-story dealing with a young boy who finds the Creepshow comic book and how little by little he becomes more possessed by it. These intermissions also incorporate The Creep or our host for the evening. This character is by far the Crypt Keeper or the Vault Keeper to our mockup of Tales. Like the Crypt Keeper in the actual comic, he begins each segment with a scene setup and a conclusion, however he does not talk, he just blows around in the wind. With the beginning of each new story it starts out with a still scene of that story with heavy rotoscoping to make it look as if it is a comic book page, then fades out to a real-life still image and then begins. The same could be said about the ending. The clever technique gives the viewer a further illustration that this is a comic book come to life.

Though this movie strikes it rich on my scare-o-meter there is just one thing that took me out of the movie just a little. I know what they where going at when they decided this concept and I understand it was a good idea but it doesn't work when it gets put on film. The campy one-liners, the cheesy sub-story and the lame screams. Of course its predecessor did the same thing, I don't think that it works as well on film as it does on paper. I think it was a nice try though.

Overall I do believe that this is a horror/parody classic and that many horror fans, if not cult horror fans, would like this movie for what it is. I certainly enjoyed it, even now; I recommend this movie to anybody who loves the zombie king and the horror king. A movie worth buying a ticket for.

This is one of my favorite horror movie anthologies. All five stories are pretty good; some of course are better than others. This one is also a lot better than Creepshow 2, which had only one really good story to it. The first story is an ok story involving this old man killed by his daughter. He comes back to life expecting a cake cause its father's day. Nothing to surprising happens here, but it is still pretty fun. The next one involves the story that has Stephen King as the main star. This is probably the weakest one of the five, but it is worth a chuckle or two as King does a somewhat good job of playing a slow fellow. This story involves a meteor that makes grass grow everywhere. The next story is one of the best, a revenge tale with Ted Danson and Leslie Nielson. Danson has been having an affair with Nielson's wife so Nielson takes him to the beach and buries him up to his neck in the sand. He had done the same thing with his wife and the tide apparently kills them both...or does it? The next tale is rather good as well as it has Adriean Barbeau in it as this obnoxious wife. Her husband finds out about a crate that may take care of her though. And the final tale is about a doctor or something, who is a bit of a clean freak. He lives in a special apartment that is supposed to be germ free, but it apparently has a roach problem. I don't even think he is a doctor, but he seems to be wearing a doctor's clothes. All in all Creepshow is a pretty enjoyable flick.

I think it's pretty clear that the amount of enjoyment you get out of this movie is directly related to how sick your sense of humor is. Those people with a fairly low tolerance for sick humor, such as myself, won't particularly like it, but people who thoroughly enjoy horror cheese like "Tales From the Crypt" should LOVE this.

Now, even though I personally don't like this movie, I have to admit it is very well made. Everything is perfectly over-the-top: the music, the gaudy colors, the makeup--it's all done to the point where it is totally ridiculous, which is what King and Romero want. And I must admit I did like the segment "The Crate." How can you NOT love a giant ape-monster running around tearing people to bits? Sick, sick stuff, but enjoyable all the same.

If you like gruesome black humor, this is the movie for you. "Creepshow" is shock schlock at its very best. And as an added bonus, it is not very well known today, so it can have a wonderful "What the hell are you WATCHING!?" effect on other people.

8/10 stars.