Creepshow

Creepshow (1982)

Runtime: 120 minutes

Directed by: George A. Romero (RIP)

Starring: Plenty of familiar faces, from Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen and E.G. Armstrong to Ted Danson and Ed Harris

From: Warner Brothers

I hadn't seen this movie in years so I was happy to give it another shot, even though I've never loved it. I still don't, but I can say it's good and in the wake of all those bad modern horror anthologies (most of them; Trick 'r Treat is really good), this looks all the better. Peep the details below:

What better time than last night to see a movie directed by George A. Romero? As I rewatched and reviewed Night of the Living Dead last August, I went with another movie of his for a review. I don't need to tell anyone how NOTLD was incredibly influential not only as a horror movie, but also its impact on independent filmmaking and pop culture as a whole; there wouldn't be any Walking Dead if not for the 1968 classic. RIP to someone who I wish had more mainstream success, but he still left his mark on pop culture. Creepshow I've seen before but the last viewing was a long time ago. It's a film I haven't loved like many horror fans do, but viewing it again I appreciate it more; no it's not because of Romero passing away... it's because of the few horror anthologies I've seen that have been made in the past decade, all of them have been pretty bad and that makes this look all the better.

I'll mention what I think of all the segments. The wraparound segment with Tom Atkins, simple yet effective.

Father's Day, by far the best part is the dance that Ed Harris and Elizabeth Regan (in her only film role) do; it's absurd, and it's hilarious because it's to a random-and great-disco song. Thankfully the entirety of Don't Let Go (by DeWolfe) can be found on YouTube. The rest of the segment... well, at least it has some great atmospheric and moody moments.

The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill has always seemed pointless to me and my opinion hasn't changed. While it's wacky to see Stephen King as that lunkhead Jordy-a backwoods Maine redneck-and I laugh that he was watching an old WWF wrestling match between Bob Backlund and Sika of the Wild Samoans tag team, I am not sure what its purpose is.

Something to Tide You Over is when the movie improves for the better and it stays good the rest of the way. Leslie Nielsen plays a real evil SOB; to think that it was only in his 50's when he started to become known as a comic actor due to being Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun TV show then movies. Before that it was dramatic stuff, and he was great at being an awful human being here. Plus, this segment had some quality 80's synth.

The Crate, it's quite amusing. What a drunken lout Adrienne Barbeau played; it's easy to understand why college professor Hal Holbrook is greatly embarrassed by her as that's his wife and why his fellow professor pal Fritz Weaver feels the same way. Plus, wondering what's in the titular crate is a nice mystery and it's darkly humorous throughout, along with having the scariest moments and

They're Creeping Up on You, it's basically E.G. Armstrong as an evil version of Howard Hughes; he's a severe germaphobe who lives in a sealed apartment and because he's a rotten human being, you don't feel bad when his place becomes infested with cockroaches. Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of bugs myself (and hell, soon after the movie I had to kill a cockroach in the house, which is a task I have to do infrequently) so while this admission will make me look “less cool”, at times I did look away.

It's an anthology so naturally it will be uneven; viewing it with fresh eyes, I can say that overall this is good. Look at all the talented people involved... in front and behind the camera. The cast is full of familiar faces, and the legendary Tom Savini did the makeup effects. In both obvious and subtle ways, they tried very hard to make this look like a living comic book, and they were successful at that task. I've never looked at any of the 50's EC Comics this movie was emulating, but I'll go with the consensus and say it was successful there too. Considering that at this moment the apparently astoundingly bad Wish Upon is in wide release, it'll be a far better use of your time and money to watch or rewatch this instead.