Creepshow (1982)

[slayrrr666]

“Creepshow” is one of the finest and best Anthology films ever.

**SPOILERS**

Flipping through a comic book, Billy, (Joe King) decides to read five tales from his favorite, Creepshow.

The Good Stor(ies): Father’s Day-Waiting around a huge mansion, Hank Blaine, (Ed Harris) Cass Blaine, (Elizabeth Regan) Sylvia Grantham, (Carrie Nye) and Richard Grantham, (Warner Shook) await the arrival of Bedilia Grantham, (Viveca Lindfors) to begin their Father’s Day celebration together. Visiting the grave of her husband Nathan Grantham, (Jon Lormer) his zombie is resurrected and begins to go on a rampage through the family members. Learning the reason for his return, they try to stop him from unleashing it. This is a pretty good entry. The resurrection of the zombie is a really great shock jump, the gnarled and rotting hand bursting through the ground near the grave-site attendant. The main zombie has a fantastic look, with a partially decomposing face packed with dirt in the crevices and wearing tattered remains that really sell the idea of it being dead for a while. The initial confrontation is quite creepy, as the fog-covered cemetery with quite hard-to-see headstones manages to get some fantastic mood out of it. There’s some great kills, with a snapped head being the big highlight. A really entertaining story.

Something to Tide You Over-Impatient of his wife, Richard Vickers, (Leslie Nielson) confronts Harry Wentworth, (Ted Danson) about his having an affair with his wife Becky Vickers, (Gaylen Ross) and spills the secrets about the relationship. Offering a chance to prove their love for each other, he puts them in a special trap on the beach before the tide comes to take them away. When he has his revenge, he believes he has finally rid himself of them. Returning to his home, he finds that their vengeance will come to play. This one is about middle-of-the-road in the film. The general concept is creepy enough, and the sequences on the beach are simply masterful. They’re full of suspense and are quite different from the usual affair offered in these entries. The fact that it stays on them being buried for so long is a great site, making them seem more in peril than usual. The full reveal of the corpses is quite nice, as they look great and the make-up is spectacular. The revenge stalking scenes are absolutely brilliant, and the early set-ups with the monitors and shadows are excellent. The one thing that makes this drag out is that it takes a little long to get to it’s payoff. The conclusion is foregone, there’s just a lot to get there before it happens. Watchable but won’t be a favorite of the entries.

The Crate-Finding an old crate, Professor Henry Northrup, (Hal Holbrook) dreams of looking at it rather than spending time with wife Wilma Northrup, (Adrienne Barbeau) at a party. Believing something is alive inside, they find that it is a vicious creature stored inside. Hearing of this, he tries whatever he can to feed her to it. This is a really good one. The creature used in it is a great look, being vicious while also being realistically done. There’s some fantastic gore in here, including some fantastic scratch marks on the body, a vicious gunshot wound and a lot of gore on the after-affect bodies. There’s also some good jokes with the hallucinations about the wife. The only thing that weakens this is that it’s kinda drawn out to a long length. There’s a sense of two stories going on at once, leaving it very much flipping back and forth between plots without really offering much. Watchable entry.

They’re Creeping Up On You-Fearful of germs, Upson Pratt, (E.G. Marshall) lives in a secure complex on the top of an apartment building with no way to get in or out. Fearful of cockroaches getting into his apartment, he tries whatever necessary to get rid of the bugs. When there’s no way possible to get in, he realizes that they have massed in large numbers and overtake his apartment, forcing him to take drastic measures to defend himself. This is one of the best ones in the series. It’s mostly shock value on the roaches and their massive numbers, which works. The site of them in every single location is an impressive site, and is based on a solid fear as well. The final shot, which is one of the most disturbing images and one of the goriest in the series, is a really wonderful shot. Not a whole lot wrong with it.

The Bad Stor(ies): The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill-Witnessing a meteor crash, Jordy Verrill, (Stephen King) thinks he can sell it off for lots of money. Trying to get it inside his house, it accidentally spills a blue liquid on the ground that he fails to notice. When a strange green plant grows on the ground in his yard and on everything in his house, he begins to get nervous about what was inside the meteor. When he starts changing himself, he does everything possible to reverse it’s effects. There’s only a few thing worthwhile about this one. The make-up effects on the main victim are incredibly good, looking otherworldly and managing to look good as well. The thing that ruin it is that it’s not that scary nor funny. The idea of it isn’t that creepy and isn’t played out as such, and with there not being any real jokes beyond who the title character is, it’s not that funny. Immanently skipable.

The Final Verdict: One of the greatest Anthology films ever, this one is a really great choice. There’s something for everyone, and while some might be better than others, this one’s got enough good parts to become a great view.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language

[Bartwald]

Actually, I must say that I like Cat's Eye better than this as far as Stephen King-based anthologies are concerned, while British Dead of Night is arguably THE creepiest and most coherent horror anthology ever, but Creepshow is pure fun and I do like it quite a bit. In fact, I always enjoyed the King-starring episode - to me it's both creepy and funny. The Crate, on the other hand, is a wasted idea for a great monster entry.

[slayrrr666]

Cat's Eye is alright, but to me, it's too tame. That PG-13 rating kills it a lot in my opinion, and the smoking one is just too cheesy to get into. Great idea, but I can't get behind it all that much. And beyond the dummy one, Dead of Night put me to sleep. It's the only reason why it's still around, as far as I'm concerned, as it's just deadly dull.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Decent movie, but I always felt it never quite lived up to its potential.

I thought "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" was cute and having King play the role is fun, but the whole setup was right out of THE BLOB.
If memory serves, "They’re Creeping Up On You" was probably the most effective story overall. Just the sight of all those roaches and like Slayrrr mentioned, "That ending!".

I've never seen all of "Cat's Eye", but just the bits and pieces I have seen when channel surfing have never really made me want to make the effort to sit down and watch the whole thing.

[Bartwald]

Apr 13, 2008 11:47:53 GMT -5 Heineken Skywalker said:

I've never seen all of "Cat's Eye", but just the bits and pieces I have seen when channel surfing have never really made me want to make the effort to sit down and watch the whole thing.

Gotta recommend it, Heineken. PG13 or not, for me it was actually scarier than Creepshow - even the Drew Barrymore story seemed quite creepy to me. And there are some good actors in it, of course - James Woods as the quitter, Robert Hays as the ledge-walker. Good stuff.

As for Dead of Night: it put me to sleep first time I was trying to watch it, too. Literally - I didn't even see the dummy episode. But the second time was a charmer - not all stories are equally good but they are nicely tied at the end. And I think the haunted mirror episode is just as good as the one with the dummy.

[Heineken Skywalker]

I think I've seen most of the Drew Barrymore story with the little troll, or whatever he is, and the cat defending her. Seemed kind of silly to me, but maybe I'd have to see it in context to appreciate it better.
I'll try to catch it sometime, based on your recommendation, Bart.

[slayrrr666]

I'll certainly give Dead of Night another look, but so far, everything that I've hated on first viewing hasn't improved on second viewing, they've only gotten worse. I've slipped down expectations occasionally if I liked it, but if I didn't like it to begin with, I haven't liked it on return viewings.

[Quorthon]

Firstly, I must say that I absolutely love Creepshow. My Mom had the comic adaption of it and my brother and I sneakily fought over it over the years with him eventually claiming ownership of it when he had it in his things when he moved away (bastard!), so I've read the comic version of this as well. Both are awesome.


I consider this one of the best all-around horror films of all time, and it's easily my favorite of this style. Better than Creepshow 2, Twilight Zone the Movie, Tales from the Hood (ha ha ha), Tales from the Darkside, and the relatively dreadful non-horror Amazing Stories movie. I think there are a few more I've seen but don't remember.


Say what you will about the comic book frames and the like thrown into this film, Romero rarely delivered atmosphere like this. The music, the look, the feel, the atmosphere--thick, creepy, fitting, and perfect in my opinion. I also enjoy all the stories, with my favorite probably being "They're Creeping Up On You."

I also love the Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill as it's arguably the deepest written of the stories since Jordy's father issues play a prominant role--his visualizations of dealing with the college and the doctor both involve him inserting his father in the roles. It also has very classic Tales From the Crypt feel, in which it follows one man as he struggles with something he doesn't understant until the end. Having reprints of classic TftC comics, I can say this is something that was pretty common.


It's apparently not widely known, but the "water zombie" of Ted Dansen is reused in Day of the Dead as just a regular zombie during the climax of the film. Look for him, you'll see him.


Creepshow, to me, is pretty much a perfect 10 horror film. Even the stuff that should be cheesy is used to brilliant dramatic horror effect. And I just love the music.

Also, Slayrrr, you appear to have forgotten to critique the wrap-around story.

[slayrrr666]

I never did the wrap-around because there was nothing there to critique. It was just the father yelling at him in the beginning with the child looking through the pages of the comics, and then we go there again at the end where we see the revenge. There's nothing to critique about that.

[Fenril]

This IS a very good movie, and certainly one of the best horror anthology movies (it's too bad they don't really do these anymore). Atmosphere, as some of you guys mentioned, is the key here. The whole thing looks and feels very much like an EC horror comic book (which was clearly the intention, so, mission accomplished!). I enjoyed all stories equally, can't remember liking of disliking one in particular.

As for other anthologies: I remember seeing Cat's eye decades ago, but not much of the movie itself, except bits of the Drew Barrymore story (that were pretty Creepy, at least according to my memory). Dead of night survives because it was one of the earliest horror anthologies... I think you really have to be in the right mood to enjoy this one. Plus, some stories in it haven't aged very well.

I loved (and reccomend): Trilogy of terror (the infamous one with the Zuni doll); Kwaidan (japanese folktales); Tales from the crypt (British movie, very different from the american tv series); Vault of horror (like Tales this is an Amicus production, so like a British Hammer movie); Night gallery (through I liked the regular series more).

And enjoyed (but not as much as the above): Tales from the darkside (fun and oh-so-90's but just not that scary); Twilight zone: the movie (good, but nowhere as good as the original series. Then again, what could be?); Spirits of the dead (the Euro Poe anthology... Mega-weird, but again, not that scary).

All of this brings back a lot of memories...

[Quorthon]

Oh, Cat's Eye. Damn, I always forget about that movie when talking horror anthologies. The idea that the film revolves around three stories which all involve this one cat makes for a nice wrap-around. Look for countless Stephen King references popping up here and there. For instance, there is a classic car with a bumper sticker that says, "I am Christine" and the woman playing Drew Barrymore's mother is reading one of his novels. The Quitters, Inc segment comes from a short story of the same name in King's Night Shift collection (as I recall).

I have to kick myself, though, for still never seeing Trilogy of Terror.