Review for Creepshow

I love horror anthology movies and TV series. There’s never time to get bored and, in common with their comic predecessors (principally EC and Warren titles like ‘Tales from the Crypt’, ‘Vault of Fear’ ‘Eerie’ and ‘Creepy’) they often combine the macabre with bizarre flights of imagination and dark humour. ‘Creepshow’ is no exception. It packs in five superbly creepy tales (all penned by Stephen King and/or George Romero) bound together by a tale of a father berating his son for reading a horror comic which itself has a suitably gruesome conclusion.
‘Creepshow’ was made in 1982 which was a time when Romero was the king of the horror castle, and where Stephen King was, well, the king of the horror novel, many of which had already become successful movies in their own right. Having met on several occasions in the two years that preceded Creepshow the two learned that they had both owed a huge debt to the horror comic of the 1950’s / 60’s and they agreed to create a film tribute. The result was ‘Creepshow’.

Whilst it has maintained steady-trade as an essential VHS / DVD and now Blu-Ray release, it was not the roaring box-office success that both men had anticipated. The comments seemed to be that it really wasn’t scary or gory enough to be a successful horror yet not funny enough to be a comedy either. There was a lot of hype about how scary the eventual movie would be and the film clearly didn’t deliver on its promise to be the scariest and spookiest picture of all time. Which is a shame because it’s certainly a lot of fun.

A few people felt a bit put out that Stephen King not only appeared in the film himself as a leading role in one story, but that his son was cast in the wrapping tale too – which all felt a little nepotistic. In truth, despite the fact that he turns in a hammy Jim Carrey style of gooning, both he and his son turn in perfectly good performances perfectly in keeping with the piece. But more on that later.

The movie opens with the bridging story of a father being grouchy about his son reading horror comics. This is delivered with such theatrical ham that everything that follows looks positively subtle by comparison. But then this film never set out to be sophisticated. There is a very eighties feel to the movie in terms of its lighting, film grain and sound-track and this carries through. Oddly, whilst this felt dated ten years ago (when the DVD was released) it actually seems less so now and merely adds to the movie’s charm.

So here are synopsis and comments on the five stories though I’ve stopped short of spoiling them for you as a twist in the tale is what they’re all about.



Father’s Day 
Things kick-off splendidly with a group in a large old family mansion patiently awaiting the arrival of a crazy relative who it transpires, on the very day ofher annual visit many years before, murdered her own father who was a curmudgeoness and deserving bully. Whilst the waiting for her arrival leaves time for some cheesy disco dancing, it’s only when folk step outside and into the graveyard that things take a turn for the worst. At least to start with. Hopefully without giving too much away, the zombie make up is really top-notch though I guess you’d expect that from a Romero film.

Weeds
Perhaps the weakest of the five stories, ‘Weeds’ sees Stephen King himself, hamming it up as a cross-eyed hill-billy who finds a steaming meteor in the middle of his farm-land. Being a bit stupid, rather than calling the authorities, he takes to poking it with a stick and before long he’s looking positively plant-like. This is a version of a tale we’ve all seen before where plant-life starts to spread at a rate that undoubtedly signals the end of the earth as we know it. As a light-hearted bit of fun it almost works, though horror it most certainly isn’t.

The Sea
Worth the cost of the set alone, this virtuoso performance from Leslie Neilson seems to get the balance between dark humour and genuine horror exactly right. He plays a TV Producer who discovers that his wife (Gaylen Ross – Day of the Dead) has been cheating on him with lover Harry (Ted Danson). As a result he has calmly devised the most macabre and cruel ending for them both imaginable in an elaborate murder. Burying them up to their necks in sand with the sea fast approaching, each is able to watch the other die on a TV set placed strategically in front or the other. Neilson then retires to the comfort of his luxury beachside mansion to watch the deaths himself on monitors he has set up, all the time eating peanuts and singing gaily to himself. Once the deaths are over he decides to take a shower and then there is a knock at the door. Cue the zombie make-up. Fab – but the best is still to come!

The Crate
Featuring The Fog's Hal Holbrook as Henry Northrup, a University professor who is also portrayed as the hen-pecked husband of a whining alcoholic (Adrienne Barneau).
When a mysterious crate turns up at the department, discovered lurking in a dark corner by a caretaker, it seems that a people eating monster with an apes body and sharks teeth is housed within it, supposedly from an Antarctic expedition from some 100 years previously. One of Henry’s colleagues, Professor Dexter Stanley, played by Fritz Weaver, creaks open the lid to disastrous results. Which gives Harry an idea. The beast, created by FX artist Savini, was nicknamed ‘Fluffy’ on set and was driven by a combination of poles and puppet operators and animatronics. After all, this was pre-CGI age. The results were impressively spooky and the tension, as Harry’s wife is encouraged to go near to the crate, is palatable. All great fun!

They’re Creeping up on You
So the best is saved till last. Set in a Kubrick styled white and minimalistic apartment, we see E.G. Marshall playing the role of an OCD suffering occupant who can bear no germs, bugs or marks in his beautifully, almost hermetically sealed apartment. That is until the cockroaches start to appear. Just one or two to start with, this soon descends into a Burroughsian insect nightmare, akin to Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ but with the added revulsion of millions (literally) of giant cockroaches.
The making of documentary is fascinating on this story in particular where real roaches were imported from Trinidad in an age where if you wanted to show thousands of roaches crawling through a building then you’d have to film thousands of roaches crawling through a building. Yeuch!! It’s a brilliant story well told and, for me, is the best of the bunch.

The Blu-Ray transfer is good enough though not stunning. There are signs of wear and tear during the opening titles and on occasions throughout. The extra features reflect many of those issued on the SE DVD but they are very worthwhile and offer up much in the way of contextual background. Here’s what you get.

Audio Commentary with George A. Romero and special make-up effects creator Tom Savini – Whilst of interest to fans, much of what you’ll see and hear ‘Just Desserts’ is repeated here. Audio quality is curiously poor on occasion with noticeable popping on some occasions.
· Audio commentary with director of photography Michael Gornick, Actor John Amplas, property Master Bruce Alan Miller and Make Up Effects Assistant Darryl Ferrucci – this is a far more technically informative commentary than the other and well worth a listen.
· Just Desserts: The making of Creepshow - feature length documentary with cast and crew interviews. A thoroughly well researched, well put together and very worthwhile featurette running for almost 90 minutes.
· Behind the screams with Tom Savini
· Deleted scenes
· TV spot, trailer and stills gallery

All in all, if you don't yet own 'Creepshow' and it sounds like your thing then this is the best pack yet. If you're upgrading from the single disc DVD then this is a no-brainer. For the rest, if you're on a determined Blu-Ray upgrade programme then you'll want this in your collection. If not then the two-disc DVD edition remains serviceable enough.