Review of Creepshow (1982) by Jason H — 13 Jun 2011

A stunning, albeit literal re-creation of the much maligned EC Tales From The Crypt and Vault of Horror comics of the 1950's, that takes a brilliant cast of respected, seasoned thesps and soon-to-be Hollywood stars, and pits them against monsters in crates, celebratory cake obsessed zombies and thousands of flesh stripping cockroaches.

With George Romero(himself a huge fan of the EC comics) directing and Stephen King providing both a rye script and his acting "savvy" as the hilarious, doomed hick Jordy "Meteor shit!" Veryll, Creepshow mixes the shaggy dog gallows humour of the American comics with some startling gore effects by Tom Savini to create a wickedly funny and infinitely quotable horror compendium.

Split into five stories, Creepshow rarely contains a duff moment and the highlights are too many to mention here in any great detail, though seeing Leslie Neilson bury Ted Danson up to his neck in sand at gunpoint ranks as one of the greatest moments in horror cinema (though it is perhaps equalled by the sight of pre-stardom era Ed Harris' nodding head disco dancing in the Fathers Day episode).

You would have to be a totally joyless curmudgeon not to enjoy it!