Creepshow (1982)

Director: George A. Romero

Writer: Stephen King

Cast: Viveca Lindfords, Jon Lormer, Ed Harris, Stephen King, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Gaylen Ross, Fritz Weaver, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, E.G. Marshall, and tons more

If you’ve been keeping up with these reviews, you’ll notice that I have a thing for anthology flicks. As a kid, I loved Friday nights when I can watch Are You Afraid of the Dark and at times sneak my way into watching an episode of Tales from the Crypt or Monsters (remember that one???). On my way to adulthood I became enthralled with The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. The format of getting a brand new story every week was a favorite of mine and influenced me as a fiction writer, as I mostly write short stories. The showcase of talent and diversity is what I love most about anthologies, whether it be by multiple artists or just one. Each show and movie have a common theme between them that really gives them the feeling of being a true subgenre: The stories tend to have a consistent theme or character tying them all together. We see that in examples such as the Cryptkeeper, Rod Serling, and even in more modern anthologies like Montgomery Dark in The Mortuary Collection. This subgenre has come a long way, but many of these movies and shows have one movie from 1982 to thank for solidifying it, and that’s the classic Creepshow.

Join the Creep in the presentation of five scary stories, each more outlandish than the last, that pay homage to the EC comics of the 1940s and 1950s. In Father’s Day, a patriarch murdered by his own daughter comes back from the dead to claim the Father’s Day cake he never got. In The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril, the titular character finds a meteor that makes the last days of his life a botanical hell. In Something to Tide You Over, a murderous husband punishes his wife and her lover for their affair, only to pay for the murder himself in a way he never expects. The Crate is a tale of a janitor and professor who find a mysterious crate and find that what’s inside makes them regret ever opening it. Finally, in They’re Creeping Up on You, a cruel businessman with mysophobia experiences his worst nightmare when his germ-free apartment is overrun by a swarm of cockroaches.

Those brief synopses of these segments sound a bit out there, but that’s the beauty of this movie. The B-movie atmosphere that blankets the smart writing of Stephen King sends the kind poignancy wrapped in a ridiculous package that makes this movie such a damn fun watch. The decisions made to cast actors such as Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen in Something to Tide You Over for example, places what came to be known as comedic actors into the horror genre to play mostly serious roles, a callback to roles of their early careers. The result is a riveting display of range that most of us have forgotten about and what some of us thought we’d never see again. Then we get to see segments like Father’s Day and The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril in which the camp is turned up to 11 and the acting of Stephen King in the latter and pretty much everyone in the former is thrown way over the top in some of most satisfyingly absurd horror you’ll ever watch. To this day, I still say “meteor shit” whenever it’s the least bit appropriate.

The skill involved in Creepshow is nothing short of iconic. The cast is indeed incredible, but it’s the horror heavyweights behind the camera that really make this the powerhouse classic that it is. Each story was written by none other than Stephen King—mostly original pieces but some were based on a couple of his own short stories—and directed by the great George A. Romero. I don’t need to express what an incredible team that is. Romero’s eye captures King’s stories in the comic strip fashion to which the movies are paying tribute. It’s like you’re reading one of King’s short story collections in comic form. And of course, there’s the legendary Tom Savini, who gave us the special makeup effects that really brought the characters to life to invade our nightmares.

With the exemplary talent driving it, it’s no wonder that Creepshow came to be the classic that many anthologies clearly strive to be, and that there’s not only sequels, but a series that it has spawned throughout the years—the latter is currently streaming on Shudder and is just as fantastic as the movie itself. This is one of those movies that, if you tell me you’ve never seen it, I will find the earliest opportunity to sit you down myself and get you acquainted with The Creep and his stories.

Creepshow is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and many more services.