Creepshow wasn’t a great anthology horror movie but at least three out of the five stories were at least somewhat entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed “Something to Tide You Over” seeing Leslie Nielson and Ted Danson in dramatic roles.
Creepshow
(1982)
Genre(s): Horror
Shout Factory | R – 120 min. – $34.93 | October 23, 2018
Date Published: 10/26/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Shout Factory provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.25/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Creepshow is an anthology horror film following five stories: A murdered man emerges from the grave for Father’s Day cake; a meteor’s ooze makes everything grow, including the yokel (STEPHEN KING) who touches it; a professor (HAL HOLBROOK) selects his wife as a snack for a crated creature; a scheming husband (LESLIE NIELSON) plants two lovers up (TED DANSON, GAYLEN ROSS) to their necks in terror; a malevolent millionaire (E.G. MARSHALL) with an insect phobia becomes the prey of a cockroach army.
Quick Hit Review: As I wrote in my review for Trick ‘R Treat, anthology movies generally aren’t my cup of tea as the movies within them tend to be bad or at best average with only one or two being any good. Now, TRT was an exception as I enjoyed the hell out of the movie, and that might’ve spoiled me seeing Creepshow for the first time. Of the five stories, I probably truly enjoyed only one of them, “Something to Tide You Over,”mainly because I loved seeing Leslie Nielson and Ted Danson together, while others such as “Father’s Day” and “The Crate” being enjoyable yet forgettable, while “They’re Creeping Up on You” was alright but nothing special. And then there’s the painfully unfunny and un-scary “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” which starred Stephen King; I hated that mostly because King cannot act even when going over-the-top as a redneck, surely there were better options back in the late 70s/early 80s (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd or even Tom Atkins who, when asked which role he’d like, he chose that one.
The selling point, and probably why the movie has endured over the years, is that it was directed by horror icon George A. Romero and written by horror novelist maestro Stephen King. While only 3/5 I found at least passable, Creepshow is still one of the better anthologies out there, and certainly better than some of the more recent fare like The ABCs of Death (and its sequel). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 5.0/5 |
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This release comes with a sturdy outer cover and a booklet. The inner cover is reversible revealing the movie’s original poster artwork. Audio Commentaries:
Terror and the Three Rivers (30:10) – This roundtable discussion with John Amplas (Nathan’s Corpse), Tom Atkins (Stan, Billy’s Father), Tom Savini (Special Makeup Effects) and Marty Schiff and is hosted by Michael Felsher.(grip). The Comic Book Look (12:51) is an interview with costume designer Barbara Anderson discussing her career and inspirations for the style in Creepshow. Ripped from the Pages (15:37) – Rick Catizone is an animator who worked on the animated segments of the film. The Colors of Creepshow (10:10) – This is a very interesting featurette with director of photography Michael Gornick talking about the restoration work done on the movie. Into the Mix (13:05) examines the sound design on the film by sound re-recordist Chris Jenkins. Mondo Macabre (9:42) is an interview with the company co-founder Rob Jones and Mondo gallery and events manager Josh Curry discussing their fandom toward Creepshow and inspirations for some of their poster artwork. Collecting Creepshow (12:31) looks at a fan’s appreciation of the film including owning the crate as well as other items from other of Romero’s films. Tom Savini’s Behind the Scenes Footage (25:52) is quite cool to watch from something recorded 35+ years ago. Horror’s Hallowed Grounds (14:56) is easily, as I’ve mentioned countless times before, is my favorite “show” and glad to see another one for Creepshow. Now if only Shout Factory would collect all the ones they own and put on a collection release… Deleted Scenes (15:31) – There are scenes from each of the five stories with text before each providing context and trivia. Rounding things out are some Trailers (1:49), a TV Spot (0:28), Radio Spots (1:04) and Still Galleries for Posters and Lobby Cards, Movie Posters, Color Stills, Special FX Make-Up and Behind the Scenes. |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Creepshow arrives on Blu-ray receiving a new transfer culled from a 4K scan of the original camera negative which was supervised and approved by Director of Photography Michael Gornick and as he explained in a featurette, did some adjustments with the color timing. This was a rather impressive looking transfer, colors are vibrant and detail is sharp and nicely defined. There is some natural film grain giving it a more natural look. On the slightly negative side, and it is ever so slight, there are some minor dust marks that I did notice but hardly anything that would be distracting. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (and 2.0 as well; the back cover incorrectly says it has a Mono track). It’s a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack with good dialogue levels coming from the center channel with no obvious pops or hisses, even in quieter scenes. Although the entire 5.1 channels don’t get fully utilized, some depth is present for various scenes (like when Ted Danson comes back for revenge or the cockroaches invade E.G. Marshall’s sterile apartment. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Overall, Creepshow wasn’t a great anthology horror movie but at least three out of the five stories were at least somewhat entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed “Something to Tide You Over” seeing 80s comedy giants Leslie Nielson and Ted Danson in dramatic roles (yes, I know Nielson was known for drama before Airplane). This Blu-ray release from Shout Factory is rather amazing, reminding me of some of the stellar releases by Arrow Video. |