Rating:
15
BD Release Date:
28th October 2013 (U)
Distributor:
Second Sight
Director:
George A Romero
Cast:
Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver
Buy: Creepshow on Blu-ray [Amazon Link]
Creepshow is one of Romero’s few “studio” films because he mostly works with independent financers. It came out after Knightriders which one of the strangest films Romero has ever done, it’s about a travelling group of knights in modern times. Romero was slated to direct Salem’s Lot but eventually it became a TV movie but he was friend and fan of Stephen King (he was a admirer of Romero’s films as well) so they decided to collaborate on something together. King in 1982 was probably the hottest writer in America after books such as Carrie, The Shining, and The Dead Zone etc. (all made into great films as well) so he had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. They decided to collaborate on a film inspired by the horror comic books of the 50s and 60s that they both grew up on.
They are all short horror stories all about 20 minutes in length. The shorts are all pretty fun comic book inspired horror stories and a bit of the The Twilight Zone thrown in. It’s neither Romero nor King’s finest work but it’s a lot of fun, it’s goofy, weird even though it’s never really scary. The Crate is probably the best story of the film.
The different stories include performances from everyone from Hal Holbrook, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Leslie Nielsen and even King himself is a deliciously over the top performance as the title character in “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill”. The film has great practical special effects but that is expected with Romero. It uses extensive use of comic book inspired special effects, which can get a bit tiresome but it’s amusing even though that effect works much better in Hausu.
Overall it’s a fun romp though the minds Romero and King. It’s not Dawn of the Dead but you could send a much worst 2 hours of your time. Characteristic of Second Sight the blu-ray includes a great transfer, a feature doc, commentaries, doc with special effect maestro Tom Savini and more.