Written by Happywax June 2011Rating 8.5 out of 10
Director - George A. Romero
Writer - Stephen King
Cast
Hal Holbrook - Henry Northrup
Adrienne Barbeau - Wilma Northrup
Leslie Nielson - Richard Vickers
Stephen King - Jordy Verrill
E.G. Marshall - Upson Pratt
Ed Harris - Hank Blaine
Ted Danson - Henry Wentworth
Hey all you Creepy CREEPSHOW lovers Happys in the dungeon tonight and I'm bringing you one of my all-time favs!!!!! To have a good horror anthology, you MUST have the following ingredients:
--Original or source material that's halfway decent.
--A talented cast that can do more than just act their way out of a paper bag.
--A director who has at least some knowledge of how to maintain a consistent tone throughout the movie.
VERY rarely does any horror film, (or any film, for that matter) hit the magic 'trifecta.' CREEPSHOW happened to luck out in all three areas, and then went on to excel in so many more ways than that.
Basically a blood-spattered love letter to William Gaines' notorious '50's comic serials like TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR, lifelong fans George Romero, Stephen King and Tom Savini joined forces to make what is basically the best collection of its kind. Better still for the whole project, is how they managed to sign on some great actors who were, in turn, staunch fans of Romero who'd been dying to work with him and LEAPED at the chance!!!
Based on original material and short stories by "The King", CREEPSHOW is deliciously packaged in a ghoulish wraparound tale. A macho tool of a father (Tom Atkins) severely chastises his son (King's real-life son, Joe), when he catches him reading a copy of the deliciously diabolical "CREEPSHOW" comic book and throws it out. You think Daddy overreacted a bit? Wait until you see him get his, as the horrific host of the book's spooky stories, "The Creep", comes to leering life and invites us to watch the torrid tales of terror unfold before our widened eyes...
--Original or source material that's halfway decent.
--A talented cast that can do more than just act their way out of a paper bag.
--A director who has at least some knowledge of how to maintain a consistent tone throughout the movie.
VERY rarely does any horror film, (or any film, for that matter) hit the magic 'trifecta.' CREEPSHOW happened to luck out in all three areas, and then went on to excel in so many more ways than that.
Basically a blood-spattered love letter to William Gaines' notorious '50's comic serials like TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR, lifelong fans George Romero, Stephen King and Tom Savini joined forces to make what is basically the best collection of its kind. Better still for the whole project, is how they managed to sign on some great actors who were, in turn, staunch fans of Romero who'd been dying to work with him and LEAPED at the chance!!!
Based on original material and short stories by "The King", CREEPSHOW is deliciously packaged in a ghoulish wraparound tale. A macho tool of a father (Tom Atkins) severely chastises his son (King's real-life son, Joe), when he catches him reading a copy of the deliciously diabolical "CREEPSHOW" comic book and throws it out. You think Daddy overreacted a bit? Wait until you see him get his, as the horrific host of the book's spooky stories, "The Creep", comes to leering life and invites us to watch the torrid tales of terror unfold before our widened eyes...
FATHER'S DAY: Lucky Henry (Ed Harris) gets to spend some quality time with his girl-fiend Cass and her rancid relatives, (Elizabeth Regan, Warner Shook and a great turn of trademark bitchiness by the late Carrie Nye). The greedy, grasping Grantham family is celebrating the seven-year anniversary of the death of their nasty patriarch, Nathan (Jon Lormer) on Father's Day, at the hands of his unstable daughter, Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors.) THIS Father's Day, however, will mark the unexpected, UN-dead appearance of the guest-of-honor...who wants to have his cake and BLEED it, too...
THE LONESOME DEATH OF JORDY VERILL: The Author Himself takes on the role of a redneck who would make the hillbillies from DELIVERANCE look like Rhodes scholars. Jordy makes contact with a small meteorite, resulting in deadly consequences...Let's just say he's one nincompoop who turns stupidity into a 'growth' industry...
SOMETHING TO TIDE YOU OVER: Before THE NAKED GUN and CHEERS would make them household names, TV and movie vet Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson star as Richard, a pathologically possessive husband and Harry, the man sleeping with said husband's wife (DAWN OF THE DEAD'S Gaylen Ross), respectively. Nielsen's character devises a diabolical punishment for the cheating lovers that he feels suits their crime, never dreaming that one grim turn will deserve another...
THE CRATE: The longest and best of all the episodes. Hal Holbrook stars as a college prof with the Shrew From Hell for a wife, (Adrienne Barbeau, playing it marvelously, MMMMM BOOBIES ). As his BFF, Fritz Weaver can only offer his sympathies, but a crate underneath some stairs in his lab is about to pose one helluva problem for him and several doomed people...and an ultimate solution for his harried friend...
THEY'RE CREEPING UP ON YOU: The final episode and the one that had people talking - and GAGGING , stars the late, great E.G. Marshall. He sinks his teeth into a virtual one-man piece about evil industrialist and 'germophobe' Upson Pratt, who considers everyone else to be nothing more than useless vermin, like bugs to be squashed under his heel. But if you think that every dog has his day, wait until you see what REALLY 'bugs' Mr. Pratt...
And there you have it, as the conclusion to the wraparound story brings CREEPSHOW to a satisfying end. Every department was firing on all cylinders here, with photography, acting, a marvelous score by regular Romero associate John Harrison, and direction as it should be when a comic book comes to life on the screen.
No Oscars for this one, of course, but it's great fun for what it is and I love it so just go with it and have a good time...
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