Review of Creepshow (1982) by Jesse W — 12 Feb 2008

I LOVE Creepshow! Love it love it love it! It has everything I could want. For one I'm a big George A. Romero fan. His "Dead trilogy" (purposefully not including Land of the Dead and haven't seen Diary of the Dead) has had a big affect on my life. Stephen King also provides a sort of standard story telling standard and accessibility to the world of horror. Last nut not least, I've been a big fan of the 1950's EC horror comics line since I was in Kindergarten. I've been collecting reprints of Tales From The Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear for years. Those comics directly inspired this film. The Tv show TFTC was also huge for me, as well as other anthology horror like Tales from the Darkside, The Twilight Zone, Monsters.

My introduction to Creepshow was seeing a commercial for it when it was going to be on TV. Zombies coming out of the ground, Adrienne Barbeau screaming, Leslie Nielsen buried in the sand. It all freaked me out, even the VHS slipcase at the video store. That creepy skeletal Crypt Keeper inspired character selling tickets at the box office booth is one of my favorite covers ever. Then my dad bought my the graphic novel with artwork done by Bernie Wrightson! That was a sweet book, even more brutal than the film itself! It's just loads and loads of awesomeness!

The film itself stays entertaining straight through. I can see someone liking some stories more than others but they're all great to watch. The atmosphere is a mixture of scares, comic book aesthetics, camp and awesome music. AWESOME music. Eli Roth lifted some of it for his hilarious Thanksgiving trailer. Visually some shots are meant to look like you're reading a moving comic book page, panels and all. Some shots are simply framed with blood. Lighting is used in a similar way to Bava or Argento but has more movement. Lighting changes drastically within the same shot, sometimes with a different background appearing. And of course the favorite late 70's early 80's special effects artist Tom Savini shows off some excellent creatures. It's a real treat.

The acting is great as well, even when it's bad. The best performances are from Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen in the story Something to Tide You Over and Hal Holbrook and Fritz Weaver in The Crate. Stephen King gives an awesomely bad performance in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill. We even get a glimpse of Ed Harris (with hair) getting crushed by a headstone telekinetically moved by a zombie in Father's Day! To gross out your girlfriend have her watch the They're Creeping Up On You as cockroaches break their way through a business man's body!

As you can see, some people will not like this. There is a bit of cheese and it's not exactly scary. It's incredibly nostalgic for me and captures a lot of what I like in horror. The late 70s and early 80s had some great horror with actors that are stuck in my mind forever. George Romero and John Carpenter are some of the masters during this time period and actors like Tom Atkins did work in both (including the abusive father in Creepshow!).

This film is perfect entertainment for me and I can't tell you how many times I have watched it. It could be a top ten as it compiles a lot of my childhood interests.