Creepshow

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.

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.

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.

George A Romero & Stephen King combine here to give us 5 joyously silly tales based on the style of the E.C. Comics that both men loved as youths.

The film begins with a young boy having his comic collection thrown away by his father, this angers the boy and he plots evil revenge that segues into the five stories.

"Father's Day" is the opening story and whilst it isn't short on the camp factor, it's a very inauspicious start, a zombie father returns to enact vengeance on his horrid family in the name of cake! Next up is "The Lonesome Death Of Jody Verill", which sees Stephen King himself in the title role of a less than dumb hick who touches a fallen meteor and thus starts to turn into a plant monster. King has fun with the role but overplays it to dangerously annoying ham proportions, but it's a tidy fable with a cool ending. We then get to my personal favourite of the bunch with "Something To Tide You Over," here we have a delightfully villainous Leslie Nielson burying his unfaithful wife and her lover {Ted Danson} in the sand up to their necks as the tide starts to come in, naturally there is a grizzly twist a coming.

"The Crate" sees the arrival of Hal Holbrook and Adrienne Barbeau into the proceedings, a smart message of not opening crates marked with "Danger, Do Not Open," and here we get a genuinely scary monster into the show. The final segment is "They're Creeping Up On You" which seems to be a favourite of many across the site, and although it has creepy impact for those scared of insects, it's not the crowning glory I was hoping for. We are then cut back to the boy and his thirst for revenge and the film finishes with a glint in its eye, more schlock and camp than outright horror, but still a great piece of 80s fun for fans to enjoy, 7/10.

"Creepshow" is a unique, funny, and creepy horror anthology from Stephen King and George A. Romero. The film centers around five stories - consisting of a murderous revenge tale of a father on fathers day ; a redneck (played by Stephen King himself) who begins growing a green substance on his body after coming in contact with a meteor ; a man who buries his wife and her lover up to their heads on the beach as the tide begins to come in ; a strange monster that lives in a crate that was discovered beneath a stairway ; and a Scrooge-like businessman who lives in a purely sanitized apartment that can't get rid of pesky cockroaches.

Each of the stories displayed in this movie are a little bit corny to a certain extent, but they are still well done and are quite amusing. There is a very good cast, including Ed Harris, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Adrienne Barbeau, and E.G. Marshall, whom all give good performances in the movie. The whole movie is tied in with the classic E.C. comics from the 1950s, each story as if it were from a comic book. I thought that whole comic aspect was pretty unique, and I liked the stories in the film ("The Crate" is by far the best of them all, the one with Leslie Nielsen is my runner up for second place).

Bottom line - if you are expecting some serious, intense horror movie, this is not for you. This movie isn't scary at all, I watched it when I was very young and it failed to even scare me then. "Creepshow" is a comical, campy, and well-done horror anthology. I only recommend it if you like this sort of thing, because it is more comic than horrific. Otherwise, it's really quite good for what it is. 8/10.