Creepshow (1 & 2)

CREEPSHOW (18)

D: George A. Romero

United/Laurel (Richard P. Rubenstein)

USA 🇺🇸 1982

120 mins

Horror

W: Stephen King

DP: Michael Gornick

Ed: George A. Romero, Pasquale Buba, Paul Hirsch & Michael Spolan

Mus: John Harrison

Carrie Nye (Sylvia Grantham), Viveca Lindfors (Bedelia Grantham), Ed Harris (Hank Blaine), Stephen King (Jordy Verrill), Leslie Nielsen (Richard Vickers), Ted Danson (Harry Wentworth), Hal Holbrook (Henry Northup), Adrienne Barbeau (Wilma Northup), E.G. Marshall (Upson Pratt)

A compendium of grizzly tales (titled "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something To Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up On You"), all of which were written by horror maestro Stephen King and presented in a comic-book style.

Some of the stories are better than others, with the first one being below average and culminating in a rather grotesque one. The weakest, by far, of the stories is the one featuring King himself as a hillbilly who discovers an asteroid in his back yard, but the three segments which follow make the entire anthology worth a watch.

Not an easy film to review as a whole, since the sums of all its parts are so inconsistent.

5/10

When the curtain goes up, the terror begins

CREEPSHOW 2 (18)

D: Michael Gornick

New World/Laurel (David Ball)

US 🇺🇸 1987

92 mins

Horror

W: George A. Romero [based on stories by Stephen King]

DP: Richard Hart & Tom Hurwitz

Ed: Peter Weatherley

Mus: Les Reed & Rick Wakeman

Tom Savini (The Creep), George Kennedy (Ray Spruce), Dorothy Lamour (Martha Spruce), Holt McCallany (Sam Whitemoon), Paul Satterfield (Deke), Jeremy Green (Laverne), Page Hannah (Rachel), Lois Chiles (Anne Lansing), Tom Wright (The Hitchhiker)

The same format as 1982's Creepshow is used, except there are only three chilling stories of horror, as opposed to five in the first anthology.

The stories are of varying quality when it comes to the chill factor, but the special effects and makeup for each segment are fine considering the modest budget of the production, and it's only the animated segments that look particularly dated.

I would say that the classification board did the film a disservice by rating the movie as an 18 certificate, since it's a little too silly for adults, but would be a fine horror movie for older teenagers. Cool poster though.

5/10