Fanedit Title: Creepshow 2 - The King Cut

Original Movie Title: Creepshow 2/Cat's Eye/ Tales From the Darkside: The Movie

Original Release Date:  May 1, 1987/April 12, 1985/May 4, 1990

Original Runtime: 4 hours, 36 minutes

Fanedit Release Date:  June 6, 2023

Fanedit Running Time:  2 hours, 36 minutes

Time Removed/Added:  2 hours 

Synopsis: This second horror anthology presents more eerie tales based on Stephen King stories, collected from several anthology films featuring the author's work.

Intention: 1987's Creepshow 2 simply does not hold a candle to the original film, and it occurred to me that there are two greater anthology films that incorporate Stephen King's work, along with frequent George Romero collaborators. I pulled segments from 1985's Cat's Eye and 1990's Tales from the Darkside, editing each section down to improve pacing and suspense, to create a cohesive version of Creepshow 2 that delivers a cohesive quality of terror. All killer, no filler!

I used the wraparound from Tales from the Darkside with Debbie Harry and Matthew Lawrence, but this was a bit difficult since this and the other two films all have 3 segments and my edit will include 5 total. 

Changelist:

The Raft - 

• Removed 2 minutes to keep the pacing breakneck

• Removed earlier moment that serves to salvage the main protagonist in a moment of carnal weakness, leaving him to look even more perverse and heightened his final demise.

• Runtime is 19 minutes.

Quitter's Inc. - 

• The anti-smoking company is now more vicious because the lead doctor seems so apologetic when describing their methods in the original release

• Removed the Drew Barrymore scene because her through-line character in Cat's Eye won't show up in my edit

• Removed moments  deemed too cartoonish (dancing cigarette packs, a coworker blowing smoke like a train, gregarious dancing, etc.)

• Those latter scenes are just too comical in comparison to the original Creepshow. Some campiness is fine, but I'd argue its valid only for the sake of masking gore from being too horrific.

• Runtime 24 minutes

The Ledge - 

• Trimmed about a minute out to reduce some clunky pacing and to de-emphasize the cat that serves as the through line for the original film.

• Runtime is 23 minutes.

The Cat from Hell - 

• De-saturation and increasing of  contrast on the purple-toned cat-vision scenes, just to lesson the aged/distracting visual effects.

• Removed the "cat insertion" sequence in order to heighten the scare of the "cat birth" only a few moments later.

• Runtime about 21 minutes.

The Hitchhiker - 

• Many scenes are eliminated to enhance pacing,  making the violence more brutal, the chase scenes more exhilarating, and the protagonist less sympathetic.

• Annie’s more resolute in her crime and in her decision to not turn herself into the authorities. She never suggests that she could do so tomorrow if she has a change of consciousness. Much like the company in Quitter’s Inc, a more diabolical character in this case makes Annie’s punishment more satisfying.

• Runtime is 19 minutes.

Additional Notes:

In my opinion, anthology films need a wraparound that ties all the stories together. The original Creepshow 2’s is animated awfully, Cat’s Eye’s is inherently tied to the conclusion of that film (which I didn’t include here), but Tales from the Darkside’s is incredibly endearing.

Debbie Harry is reminiscent of the Old Witch, host Haunt of Fear, one of the original counterparts to the Tales from the Crypt comics. In Tales, she holds Matthew Lawrence kidnapped and he reads a series of stories to distract her from cooking him.

Because there are only 3 segments in Tales, I had to get creative when splitting the wraparound, and unfortunately two of the films segments need to run into one another.

To better match the style of the original Creepshow, I added illustrated stills to lead into and out of each story, adding music ques from Tales on top of the introduction of each story.