‘Creepshow’ Blu-ray Review
Stars: Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E.G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Ed Harris, Ed Harris | Written by Stephen King | Directed by George A. Romero
Creepshow is an anthology of five stories, some written specifically for the film by Stephen King and others adapted from his own short stories. With tales that include a dead father rising on father’s day for a family reunion, macabre drownings, monsters in crates, a strange “green” infection you’ll never forget and cockroaches revenge every story has a suitably creepy and memorable end.
I could take a look at each story in the anthology but I’m sure that people who are reading this review will no doubt have already seen the film before, if not then you are in for a treat – this is a movie directed by George A. Romero, based on the writing of Stephen King, with the work of special FX maestro Tom Savini, so Creepshow rarely disappoints. Though I do feel that with five stories the last one does seem to drag on just a little, but I’d hate to not have it included. Some people would also point out jokingly that King’s acting performance as Jordy in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill is a disappointingly bad but if you listen to what Romero has to say about it you realise why, especially when King was talk to act it out as if he was Wile E. Coyote.
Along with the film itself there are two commentary tracks, the best being with director Romero, Savini and Michael Gornick, listening to them talk about their memories of the movie makes watching the movie fun, especially when they play spot the marble ashtray. You find that you spot the ashtray even before they do. When you’ve finished with the movie itself you can then move to Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow. This is a feature length documentary about the making of the movie looking at each segment in turn. With additional deleted scenes and footage of Tom Savini’s preparation for the movie there is plenty to learn about the film and more importantly enjoy.
When looking at the actors in the movie (apart from Stephen King of course) you again see the classic nature of Creepshow. With the likes of Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen, Ed Harris and Tom Atkins there are plenty of stars with the horror and fantasy credentials there are enough known faces to keep the fans happy. Add to this notable actors such as Ted Danson, Hal Holbrook, E.G. Marshall and Fritz Weaver then you see the quality of acting on show. Danson for example, is one that you don’t normally picture in a horror movie but he does a notably good job acting against Leslie Nielsen who is in his element playing a total asshole.
We know that Creepshow is a classic and Second Sight has shown the release the respect it deserves. You’ll learn new things about the film and notice things you never noticed before, and this is the point in releasing these old movies on Blu-ray. Classics like this need to be revisited and remembered for what they were, and more importantly enjoyed.
