Creepshow 2

Where Creepshow 2 suffers is that it is not as good as the first movie. You would think that with three stories instead of five this time it would be less condensed. Unfortunately, that's not the case out of the three stories only the second one is all that interesting The first story Old chief wooden head tells the tale of a ma and pa couple who own a store with a cigar Indian who end up getting killed by robbers and the statue comes alive to avenge their deaths. It's a decent way to start a movie although you kind of question the hokey acting from the murderers. In the second storyline, the raft involves a bunch of friends going out in the middle of a lake. They are then pursued by a blob monster. This is the best out of the three stories. Most time spent on it is full of suspense, and Tension invested in wondering how these people are going to get away from this oil monster. In the third and final story, the hitchhiker has a businesswoman who is having an affair while rushing home to beat her husband's suspicions she runs someone over and is pursued by them unable to get away. This one is honestly the slowest & worst of the three it just goes on and on and gets to predict where the outcome is going to lead.

Creepshow 2 has Steven King and George Romero returning for this sequel but only in the writing. The budget is substantially lower and so is the overall quality of the production. With that said, it is still fairly entertaining anthology horror based of the EC comics. In the original film there were 5 short stories, in this there are 3(because they ran out of money). Had there been a bigger budget and with George Romero directing this could have been closer in quality to the original Creepshow. Having said that this is still a good time passer and a basically a bridge between Creepshow and the excellent Tales From The Crypt series, which was awesome and would be on HBD for a long time.

Creepshow 2 was released in 1987 and was directed by George Romero's regular cinematographer Michael Gornick. Gornick, who was a late replacement for the original director FX maestro Tiom Savini, cut his directorial teeth on several episodes of Laurel's Tales From The Darkside and was a natural choice to make the film. He does a commendable job with what is clearly a modest budget and three stories that are not as engaging, gripping and frightening as those available to Romero in his original 1982 film.

Only one of the three stories has been previously published, the other two being originals devised for the film by Stephen King and scripted by Romero. The first story is called Old Chief Woodenhead and stars Hollywood veterans George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour. It concerns a wooden storefront statue of an old Indian chief that comes to life to avenge the death of two elderly people by a gang of youths. It is the least impressive of the three tales but retains a certain ghoulish charm.

The second story is The Raft. Originally published in King's 1985 short story collection Skeleton Crew (with a slightly different ending). The segment is about four scantily-clad teenagers who arrive at a deserted lake, late one summer, for an afternoon swim but find that something thoroughly unpleasant is waiting for them. The special effects are well below par with King himself commenting that the monster in the lake looks something like "a dirty old man's raincoat". However, this episodes's grim punchline would make The Cryptkeeper himself chuckle with approval.

The third and probably best story is The Hitchhiker and stars Louis (Moonraker) Chiles as a bored, rich housewife who regularly enjoys the services of a handsome gigolo. On her way home from such an encounter she accidentally runs over a young Hitchhiker (played by stuntman Tom Wright) killing him instantly. Terrrified by the consequences of her actions she quickly leaves the scene of the accident. However, a few miles down the road she sees the Hitchhiker, bloodied and amazingly returned to life, limping towards her. To reveal any more would be to dampen this segment's sick delights but I will say that it features a neat cameo by King himself as a foul-mouthed truck driver.

A fourth story called Pinfall was planned for the movie but later dropped due to the faltering budget. It concerned an overweight band of beer-chugging bowlers that are murdered by a rival bowling team and come back from the dead for revenge in true EC style. Its a shame we will never get to see this story but it is very close in theme and structure to both Oldf Chief Woodenhead and The Hitchhiker.

All in all, Creepshow 2 is worth a look and remains a guilty pleasure of mine that I have enjoyed with alarming regularity over the years. It may not be up to the standards set by the first Creepshow but there are more painful ways to spend an evening. Ask The Hitchhiker...

This time we got just three stories and new director. Sure, King's presence is felt throughout whole thing and sequel is more or less on the same level with original. Because of really great last story I even rated it bit higher than it's prequel. To all horror and King fans I strongly recommend to see at least that last one.

6/10

Hate to say it guys, but I liked this one better. One was good, but this one is so silly, so comical at times, that I just loved it. If you're unfamiliar with the format, there are 3 short stories featured here. Up first is a wooden indian that adorns the front of a general store, coming to life to kill the goons who gunned down his owners. Holt McCallany is very strong as the foul mouthed leader of the gang. And the way he gets his...hoo boy. Number two has a man-eating oil slick(?) snacking on teens on a wooden raft. And most people are right when they say it looks like a big hefty bag. And a moment that will have you rolling, and that will give teenage boys ideas and have men remembering fondly when they may have done it, is where the surviving guy takes a peek under the surviving girls sweater. Good to see where this dudes priorities are; two of his friends are dead, he's nearly been killed, and he decides its a good time to look at boobies. I loved it. But my absolute favorite of both Creepshow films is the hitchhiker story. It's so hysterically unrealistic that it still makes me laugh all these years later. With Lois Chiles mind-losing dialogue, and the dead guys constant "thanks for the ride, lady!" I can't imagine a funnier, more exciting short story than that. In a perfect world Tom Wright, who played the hitchhiker, wouldda been nominated for an Oscar. Also a high five to the campy look of the film, with all three films set in the middle of nowhere, one at sea, one (mostly) in the woods. A lot of fun I say, though most hated this one.