Thursday, February 19, 2009

Creepshow(1982)


Creepshow(1982) is a mix of comedy and horror and is written by Stephen King and directed by George A.Romero. It consists of five short stories and is similar to shows such as Tales from the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. There is going to be some sort of remake but I don't really think that you can beat the original.

There is a prologue at the beginning with a little boy,Billy who is in trouble with his dad for reading a comic called 'Creepshow' instead of doing his chores. He tosses the comic in the bin and he sends Billy to his room. Billy is sulking in his room when a ghostly figure taps at his window and calls him to come closer. This begins the first story called 'Father's Day'. A few years ago an old man called Nathan Grantham(Jon Lormer) is celebrating his birthday with his family and he calls for his cake when his daughter Bedelia(Viveca Lindfors) hits him over the head with an ashtray and kills him. Seven years later, the family gather together for a dinner of Father's Day when daddy dearest comes back from the dead for the cake that he didn't get and he dispatches his killer relatives one by one.

The next tale of terror is called 'The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill' in which Stephen King plays Jordy. He plays a backwards hick living on his own when he finds a meteorite. He thinks that he can make money from it but instead, plants start to grow from it and he begins to be covered in them no matter what he tries to do. He is eventually killed by it. The third tale of woe is titled 'Something To Tide You Over' and it stars Leslie Nielsen as a rich man who finds out his wife is cheating on him with some guy played by Ted Danson. He buries them in the sand up to their necks and he lets them drown when the tide comes in, but he is the one in for a shock when they return from the dead to get their revenge...... 'The Crate' is the fourth tale of terror and it is about a mysterious creature which has been locked in a crate as it is a killer. It is discovered by a professor, played by Hal Holbrook who sets it on his domineering wife played by Adrienne Barbeau.



















The final story is called 'They're Creeping Up On You', which is about a man who is a germaphobe living in a sealed apartment. He is afraid of anything contaminating. He has an assistant called Mr. White who he treats badly.
Finally, Mr. White has enough of his mean boss and he allows his apartment to be overrun by cockroaches which horrifies his employer. This leads us to the epilogue which brings us back to Billy. The guys who collect the garbage discover the 'Creepshow' comic and they are flicking through it when they see the ads for X- Ray Specs, a bodybuilding course and a coupon for a voodoo doll. That coupon is missing. Back in Billy's house, his dad is moaning that his neck is killing him and we see Billy upstairs with a voodoo doll sticking pins in it over and over.....

This is a great movie and there are some great stories. I think that this is a cult classic. There is a sequel which was made in 1987 which I will review in a future post. I will give this one a 7/10.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember this movie. Those roaches freak me out to this day.

Frye said...

I definitely dig this movie too. I've been a huge SK fan being from Maine and I actually have the comic book that goes along with the movie.

Don't think I ever caught the sequel. Interested to see what you think. Take it easy.

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