Creepshow

“Creepshow” is what many would consider the ultimate anthology: stories written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero. Of course, if you consider King and Romero to be hacks, this may scare the dickens out of you. I rest somewhere in the middle: some King is good (“The Shining”) and some Romero is good (“Dawn of the Dead”) … and that really sums up this picture — some of it is quite good. The rest, though, I could take or leave.

There are five stories presented here. Three would have sufficed, but we got more. There’s a downright silly story about a birthday cake. I mean, I guess if I was drunk, I’d like it, but I wasn’t. There’s a story about a crate containing a mysterious beast. That would be awesome if the beast wasn’t made so goofy by the effects crew… why does it have to be so childish if the raft scene in “Creepshow 2” is considered so darn scary by many?

The segment that stands out for me and is easily the most memorable is the beach scene with Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson. The exact plot is a little mysterious, which adds to the suspense. Why is Nielsen so evil? Why has he kidnapped the woman? Is he a powerful mob boss? Some of this is revealed, some not so much. The whole idea behind this is great… the only problem comes in the twist, where things go from macabre to comical. Romero and King have it in them to make a truly scary film and they squander it.

The short segment with King as the buffoon? Just dumb, dumb, dumb… that’s all I can say. Now, if you’re looking for something silly, this may do the trick for you. But it’s not one of the better stories of the film — a clear hillbilly version of “The Blob”, with King not doing as well here as in “Creepshow 2”.

The final segment, with the germophobe who is infested with roaches… fantastic. His white, spotless cleanliness contrasted with his purely dark and evil soul is a nice touch, and for anyone who has a fear of bugs, this is going to creep you out and have the film live up to its name. This also happens to be the one segment that is not really silly in any way, which is what I wish we had gotten more from in this film, even if it was based on a comic book.

I recently (August 2010) had the pleasure of screening this film at the Portage Theater in Chicago. This changed my outlook on the film quite a bit from “below average” to “more than above average”. Some scenes, particularly the bug scene, work better on a big screen or with an audience that reacts. And to be fair, the film was meant to be corny and silly, so I should not fault it for presenting its intentions. Maybe not what I would prefer (I’d suggest “Tales from the Darkside”), but they delivered what they promised.

What would really make a strong film is if “Creepshow” and “Creepshow 2” were combined to make a best of compilation… ignoring “Creepshow 3”. In my opinion, the second is better than the first in many ways, so adding the two better segments (“Raft” and “Hitchhiker”) to the first while taking out two of those segments, you would have a really impressive horror anthology. As they’re not really connected, there’s no reason to watch them in order or piece them together in any real way. If you liked 2, come back for 1… or mix and match.