Creepshow

When I was about 13 years-old, I tried to rent this on VHS several times. Unfortunately, my mother kept walking in during a particularly violent segment and made me turn it off. It was a long time before I finally saw the whole film.

If you watch the accompanying Just Desserts documentary on the double-disc DVD, you'll see how lovingly crafted this film really was. Not only so, but this truly transcends the schlock horror of its E.C. origins. The acting is first rate and the plots surprisingly thoughtful, considering how short each segment is. For example, watch Aunt Bedelia's tortured graveside monologue in Father's Day, or the curious interplay between Henry and Dex in The Crate. E.G. Marshall totally nails it in They're Creeping Up On You, the segment most loaded with subtext.

Tom Savini's make-up effects are excellent and he doesn't scrimp on the gore. The one segment I dislike is Something To Tide You Over, as it's a particularly nasty and sadistic story (despite the just desserts moral).

Overall, this has a worthy place in the annals of 80s horror and will always hold fond memories for me; a young boy who just wanted to see that crate monster tear his victims apart like sour bread.

Despite some major problems (mainly contained in Stephen King's uneven and often heavy-handed script), this is still a pretty fun attempt to bring 1950s EC horror comics to the big screen. One of the best things about it is director George ('Night of the Living Dead') Romero's creative, vivid direction, that captures the bright color schemes and comic book framing to a tee. Each tale has a different horror theme usually tempered with some comedy and ranging from a rich patriarch returning from the dead to get revenge on his obnoxious family to a meteor that causes an outbreak of vegetation to a fanged, ape-like creature that's been locked away in a crate for decades. All five of the tales presented, despite some missteps, offer up good gory fun. Some of the acting is good, too, particularly Adrienne Barbeau as a heavy drinking, obnoxious faculty wife who gets what she deserves, Hal Holbrook as her hen-pecked husband and E.G. Marshall as a wealthy, obsessively clean old jerk who is savaged in his futuristic apartment by a legion of cockroaches. Talk about flesh crawling! Tom Savini's special effects are great, as usual.

This movie is divided in five stories, conducted by a leading segment where the stressed father of a boy that loves horror comic books throws his Creepshow magazine in the garbage. The wind changes the pages and discloses the tales listed below.

"Father's Day" - While waiting Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) for a dinner party, the greedy family recalls that she killed her own father seven years ago. Now her undead father returns from the grave as a zombie expecting to eat his cake. This segment is weak, and it is curious to see Ed Harris performing a minor role. (6).

"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" - The redneck farmer Jordy Verrill (Stephen King) finds a meteor in his property in Castle Rock County and dreams on selling it for the local university and raising a large amount. However he is affected by the meteor and strange weeds grow-up on his body. This segment is the silliest and the greatest curiosity is Stephen King performing the lonely farmer. (5).

"Something to Tide you Over" - Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is forced by the revengeful Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen), who is the former husband of his woman Becky Vickers (Gaylen Ross), to go to Comfort Point beach and to bury himself in the sand. Then he brings a television and a VCR to show Becky buried in the same conditions. With the high tide, their heads are submerged for the pleasure of the insane Richard. However, on the next night, he is visited by a couple of zombie lovers. This dark and claustrophobic segment is the scariest one and the only flaw is the lack of previous development of the characters. (9).

"The Crate" - When the janitor of a university finds a crate hidden below the stairs, he reports his findings to Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver). They open the container and soon Dexter finds that there is a hunger creature inside that devours the janitor and another scientist. When the disturbed Dexter tells to his colleague and friend Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook) what happened, Henry sees the chance to get rid of his bitch wife Wilma Northrup (Adrienne Barbeau). This segment is the funniest, and the situations of Henry imagining killing Wilma are hilarious. (8).

"They're Creeping up on You!" - The mean and selfish Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) lives in an expensive bug-proof penthouse and treats his employees like garbage. During a blackout, his fancy apartment is infested by coach roaches driving Pratt to a tragic end. This gruesome tale is simple but nasty, with many coach roaches. (7).

The lead segment ends with the boy using a voodoo doll to provoke pain in his father.

This is the third time that I watch these entertaining horror tales, now on DVD. I only regret that there are no sequels of these great stories. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Creepshow"

Note: On 27 Aug 2020, I saw this film again.

I think it's pretty clear that the amount of enjoyment you get out of this movie is directly related to how sick your sense of humor is. Those people with a fairly low tolerance for sick humor, such as myself, won't particularly like it, but people who thoroughly enjoy horror cheese like "Tales From the Crypt" should LOVE this.

Now, even though I personally don't like this movie, I have to admit it is very well made. Everything is perfectly over-the-top: the music, the gaudy colors, the makeup--it's all done to the point where it is totally ridiculous, which is what King and Romero want. And I must admit I did like the segment "The Crate." How can you NOT love a giant ape-monster running around tearing people to bits? Sick, sick stuff, but enjoyable all the same.

If you like gruesome black humor, this is the movie for you. "Creepshow" is shock schlock at its very best. And as an added bonus, it is not very well known today, so it can have a wonderful "What the hell are you WATCHING!?" effect on other people.

8/10 stars.

This is a homage to pulp E.C. comic books from the 50s, adapting an anthology which presents creepy looks and grotesque events at the horror genre. With writings by Stephen King and teaming up George A. Romero, both devise a gruesome terror tales. Stephen King mingles efficiently the spirit of ¨Vault of horror¨and ¨Tales from the crypt¨. The film is constituted by four scary stories. King even plays a redneck farmer who cultivates a rare meteor but gone wrong and create fantastic consequences. Viveca Lindfords and Ed Harris as a heirs when abruptly appears a living dead. Besides the perennial Leslie Nielsen confronting a ghoulish Ted Danson. And Hal Holbrook with a unbearable spouse Adrienne Barbeau alongside a strange monster. Finally, a man with an insect and germs phobia, played by E. G. Marshall as a Howard Hughes-alike , closed into flat, and suddenly bursting by hundred roaches.

The picture packs gory scenes, morbid humor with some jokes, creepy images and is quite entertaining though some moments is heavy-handed. Eerie and frightening stuff appointed for juvenile public from two masters of the terror genre and delight all enthusiastic of the terror vein. Followed by a sequel(1987) directed by Michael Gornick, cameraman of this one. Rating. Acceptable and passable , it will like to terror moviegoers