Creepshow

Creepshow (1982) was a horror fan's dream come true. Two of the masters in their respective fields joining forces to collaborate on a movie. Several tales filmed in an anthology style based upon the E.C. Comics that the two enjoyed reading in their youths. With Stephen King writing and George A. Romero directing plus Tom Savini creating the gory special effects how can you go wrong? You just can't and the aforementioned duo delivers the goods.

The story begins as a young kid is being punished by his overbearing and brutish father for reading "trashy filth" and is punished. During the night the tossed out comic book comes to life and plays out all the stories (in comic book form) with the "Creepshow Ghoul' leading the way. Black comedy has never been funnier.

All the stories are excellent and well directed. The set pieces are very well designed and are brilliantly executed. You have to love the lighting schemes. The cast is a mixture of new actors and classic ones. George A. Romero stated that he finally got to work with Fritz Weaver and Hal Holbrook and E.G. Marshall. Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, Ted Danson and Ed Harris co-star as well. A couple of Romero regulars such as his wife Christine, Tom Savini and who can forget Stephen King as Jordy Verill.

Creepshow is a true modern day horror classic. I have enjoyed this as a child and I still consider this movie one of my favorite horror films. Sadly the two could never capture the magic they once had. Maybe they'll work together directly in the near future. This movie was near flawless in design. They set out to recapture the old E.C. Comics aura and they succeeded. Followed by a absolutely bad sequel.

Highly recommended!

George A Romero & Stephen King combine here to give us 5 joyously silly tales based on the style of the E.C. Comics that both men loved as youths.

The film begins with a young boy having his comic collection thrown away by his father, this angers the boy and he plots evil revenge that segues into the five stories.

"Father's Day" is the opening story and whilst it isn't short on the camp factor, it's a very inauspicious start, a zombie father returns to enact vengeance on his horrid family in the name of cake! Next up is "The Lonesome Death Of Jody Verill", which sees Stephen King himself in the title role of a less than dumb hick who touches a fallen meteor and thus starts to turn into a plant monster. King has fun with the role but overplays it to dangerously annoying ham proportions, but it's a tidy fable with a cool ending. We then get to my personal favourite of the bunch with "Something To Tide You Over," here we have a delightfully villainous Leslie Nielson burying his unfaithful wife and her lover {Ted Danson} in the sand up to their necks as the tide starts to come in, naturally there is a grizzly twist a coming.

"The Crate" sees the arrival of Hal Holbrook and Adrienne Barbeau into the proceedings, a smart message of not opening crates marked with "Danger, Do Not Open," and here we get a genuinely scary monster into the show. The final segment is "They're Creeping Up On You" which seems to be a favourite of many across the site, and although it has creepy impact for those scared of insects, it's not the crowning glory I was hoping for. We are then cut back to the boy and his thirst for revenge and the film finishes with a glint in its eye, more schlock and camp than outright horror, but still a great piece of 80s fun for fans to enjoy, 7/10.

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 movie is divided in five stories, conducted by a leading segment where the stressed father of a boy that loves horror comic books throws his Creepshow magazine in the garbage. The wind changes the pages and discloses the tales listed below.

"Father's Day" - While waiting Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) for a dinner party, the greedy family recalls that she killed her own father seven years ago. Now her undead father returns from the grave as a zombie expecting to eat his cake. This segment is weak, and it is curious to see Ed Harris performing a minor role. (6).

"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" - The redneck farmer Jordy Verrill (Stephen King) finds a meteor in his property in Castle Rock County and dreams on selling it for the local university and raising a large amount. However he is affected by the meteor and strange weeds grow-up on his body. This segment is the silliest and the greatest curiosity is Stephen King performing the lonely farmer. (5).

"Something to Tide you Over" - Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is forced by the revengeful Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen), who is the former husband of his woman Becky Vickers (Gaylen Ross), to go to Comfort Point beach and to bury himself in the sand. Then he brings a television and a VCR to show Becky buried in the same conditions. With the high tide, their heads are submerged for the pleasure of the insane Richard. However, on the next night, he is visited by a couple of zombie lovers. This dark and claustrophobic segment is the scariest one and the only flaw is the lack of previous development of the characters. (9).

"The Crate" - When the janitor of a university finds a crate hidden below the stairs, he reports his findings to Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver). They open the container and soon Dexter finds that there is a hunger creature inside that devours the janitor and another scientist. When the disturbed Dexter tells to his colleague and friend Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook) what happened, Henry sees the chance to get rid of his bitch wife Wilma Northrup (Adrienne Barbeau). This segment is the funniest, and the situations of Henry imagining killing Wilma are hilarious. (8).

"They're Creeping up on You!" - The mean and selfish Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) lives in an expensive bug-proof penthouse and treats his employees like garbage. During a blackout, his fancy apartment is infested by coach roaches driving Pratt to a tragic end. This gruesome tale is simple but nasty, with many coach roaches. (7).

The lead segment ends with the boy using a voodoo doll to provoke pain in his father.

This is the third time that I watch these entertaining horror tales, now on DVD. I only regret that there are no sequels of these great stories. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Creepshow"

Note: On 27 Aug 2020, I saw this film again.

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.