CreepTales

This film reminds me of another pretty obscure low budget eighties horror anthology that I like called Chillers, except this was a little better, they're both not quite great but they have a lot of heart to them and a certain kind of tacky shot on video retro charm that makes them quite enjoyable to sit through, least I thought so! Anyway in this flick some of the tales were poor but the ones that I did like made it worthwhile, I love the crazy taped-on wraparound segment that feels like it's from another movie entirely with the zombie Bill and Ted lookalikes digging up a VHS tape called "Creeptales" to show at their local monster bar to all their rowdy monster buddies! Except the zombie who's grave they stole the tape from eventually wakes up and isn't too happy! Very zany and bizarre, and so grainy you can barely make it out! So as to the tales themselves, I didn't enjoy the first one called Warped about a girl and her hillbilly aunt and a nasty old woman in a wheelchair who brays like a donkey, very strange amd confusing crap, I laughed my butt off when the enourmous overweight police officer charged straight through the door! I loved the following tale Snatcher, which was very brief but a lot more fun, being about a mean punk who likes to steal purses from little old ladies until he picks the wrong one and ends up stealing a little monster that happens to look exactly like a purse! It was absurd but I loved the effects of the purse, it was a lot like a mimic, a monster that disguises itself as a treasure chest you commonly find in a lot of fantasy video games! Third story called The Closet I didn't care for, it's so short and thin on content it feels practically pointless, and the closet monster suit looked terrible, very mediocre tiny tale.. Next there was Groovy Ghoulie Garage which was about two pals who like to amateur rap together pretty well, and who, while on a road trip, find themselves in a very weird little town that has a very spooky secret. Not the best but fun because the two guys are kind of funny together and I love their lame rap together! Next there one called Howling Nightmare which feels like a scene from Silver Bullet where some hunters on a werewolf hunt finds themselves become the prey! Pretty dull although the gore wasn't too bad, poor werewolf effects however.. It ended on another fun solid tale thankfully though, Sucker, about a bitter nasty woman who hates her husband and is given a magical minivacuum by a sinister salesman that he guarantees will suck up everything that's bad and vile that she points it at, including people!! I found this story interesting and the effects were nauseatingly effective as the woman becomes like a bloated gigantic monster as all the filth and badness she vacuums away seems to become a part of her, confusing use of male butt nudity near the end as she tries to hoover up her husband but only strips him off his clothes, as he's not really the bad one in this situation! Creeptales is far from perfect but it's certainly worth a look if you have an appreciation of low budget direct to video old school anthology movies, it's more fun than scary but it's very entertaining. This would make for a great little watch around Halloween, it's like Creepshow but cheaper and very schlocky indeed, very fun too though, I had myself a blast! Monsters get free pizza!!! X

I'm glad that at least one other person (so far) in this user comments section has seen this movie as the disaster it is. I can't believe that anyone would like this movie. Watching it, it doesn't take long to imagine what the makers of this movie said at their first meeting: "Hey, let's make a horror anthology movie, even though we are either too cheap to spend serious money or have no money at all@ Instead of coming up with our own stories, we'll just buy some shorts made by struggling filmmakers - since there is almost no market for short films, we can buy them cheap! Then we'll spend our bottle return money on a wraparound segment, and presto, we'll have a movie!"

That wraparound segment is the worst segment of the movie, appallingly cheap, murky, and dark to the eye. But how are the other stories? Well, the first segment concerning the family reunion has plot twists that you'll see a long way coming. The second segment, about a purse snatcher, is just dumb, and thankfully is very short. The next segment, "The Closet", is even shorter, but is totally bankrupt of imagination and surprise. The next segment, about the werewolf, has some not bad makeup effects, but has no surprises whatsoever. The last segment, "Sucker", is the most ambitious of all the segments. It tries to have a "Twilight Zone" feel (though more comic), and it's clear some time and money was invested in making it. However, the stuff at the end falls flat.

It seems this movie spent some time on the shelf after completion. No wonder.

As horror compilations go, this one is one of the better ones. Of course, there aren't many out there. But there should be.

If you ever liked Creepshow or Tales from the Crypt, you'll like this one. In some respects it's better. All the stories are classic horror/gore mix with some ghoulish humor thrown in. My personal favorite is the one called "Sucker." The "Wrap-around" -- the segments between the segments -- is a bit cheesy, but deliberately so. Too bad all the drive-ins are gone. This one would be fun to see at midnight in the open air.

Watch this one with your favorite date and snuggle close. You're in for a good time!

CREEPTALES is a horror anthology film consisting of six short segments. They are:

WARPED- A woman seeks revenge for an incestual rape she suffered as a child. This one has some very nice, unexpected twists.

SNATCHER- A purse-snatching punk picks on the wrong old lady and her handbag from hell.

THE CLOSET- A boy who's afraid that there's a monster in his closet finds out that some nightmares are real.

GROOVY GHOULIE GARAGE- Two young men get stranded in a small town that seems to be frozen in time.

HOWLING NIGHTMARE- A weak, blessedly short film about werewolf hunters. It's gory, but lame.

SUCKER- The best of the bunch. A traveling vacuum cleaner salesman sells a strange and sinister product. This one is lots of fun!

All of these little movies are watched by a group of popcorn-munching monsters in their living room on Halloween night...

This is a collection of scary stories from obviously different sources. Most of the stories are no more than ten minutes long. They have a look of amateurishness to them and were made in the 1980s. High quality, low budget fare.

The main story is called Halloween Night. It's the glue that holds all the other stories together. A bunch of friendly monsters are having a party on Halloween, and they want to watch a video. Two ghouls go to the video store, only to find it closing. So, they go to the graveyard to retrieve the video buried along with their uncle. They unearth the coffin and wrench the 'CreepTales' video from his clutching hands and take it back to the party. They then view the stories as we see them. In between each story, the monsters laugh and order a pizza. But we know that the uncle is now awake and angry. He is coming to take the video back from them.

The first story (inside the story) in CreepTales is called 'Warped'. It concerns a young woman who visits a house out in the country where two elderly women are living. She is a relative of theirs who has come to settle an old family grudge.

The next story is called 'Snatcher'. It is a clever tale of a young man who steals purses in San Francisco. One day he makes a terrible mistake when he steals the purse from the wrong old woman!

Next comes a very short and amusing story called 'The Closet'. A young boy lies awake in bed on a stormy night afraid of something in his closet.

The next story is called 'Groovy Ghoulie Garage'. Two young men are driving across the country on Halloween night. They have a small breakdown near a town called Tower Springs. Fortunately, a tow-truck from town comes by to help them. They go to the town and find out it has a terrible secret.

The next story is 'Howling Nightmare'. A bunch of men are hunting a werewolf in a dark forest. Too bad for them that the werewolf is much faster, stronger, and smarter! There may also be more than one werewolf!

The final story is called 'Sucker'. It concerns a middle-aged woman who lives in a messy house and has a lot of anger at her husband. One night very late, a door-to-door salesman shows up with a very special vacuum. The user can remove all dirt and evil, but must be careful where they point it. This gives the woman some terrible ideas.

Entertaining stuff. There is no nudity, a little gore, and quite a lot of dark humor. Rated: PG.