Creepshow (1982) Review

"I want my cake!"
-Nathan Grantham



Billy (Joe King) is a fan of Creepshow comics, which his Dad (Tom Atkins) despises.  As Billy plots his revenge on his father after throwing out his comic, we're treated to five spooky short stories from the Creepshow.


What Works:

I really only enjoyed two of the five shorts, but those two were both really great.  My favorite is the 3rd short, "Something to Tide You Over," which features Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen.  I'm so used to Nielsen's comedic performances, but he's fantastic as a murderous psychopath.  It's a legitimately scary short with an excellent premise and great performances.

The other short I really liked is the 4th one, "The Crate."  This one felt the most like a real movie, which makes sense as it's the longest one.  It has two different stories, one featuring a monster under the stairs and another involving a man who fantasizes about murdering his wife.  It takes a while for these two stories to come together, but both are equally intriguing and give us an excellent conclusion.  Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, and Fritz Weaver all do a great job.  This is one that I think could have been stretched to feature-length.

The other part of these shorts that I really liked is the practical effects.  Even the shorts I wasn't a fan of looked amazing.  Nathan's corpse (John Amplas) looks great, the gore for Charlie's (Robert Harper) death is gnarly, and the waterlogged undead in "Something to The You Over" is very unique.

Finally, I hate cockroaches, so the final short, "They're Creeping Up on You," got under my skin.  As the cockroaches multiply, I became more and more uncomfortable and the finale was very effective in grossing me out.


What Sucks:

The first short, "Father's Day", I found mostly uninteresting.  It was just a boring story.  Apart from the effects for Nathan's corpse, there really isn't anything of note and Ed Harris' character was frustratingly slow and stupid.

The second short, "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" highlights why Stephen King shouldn't be an actor.  He's the lead in this short and it's not great.  His character is pretty insufferable and ultimately it's another dull story.

Finally, "They're Creeping Up on You" had a solid ending, but I didn't find the majority of the short very interesting.  


Verdict:

Creepshow has two excellent shorts, while the other three are pretty mediocre.  Leslie Nielsen gives an awesome performance and the effects are great.  Ultimately, the movie is okay, but nothing special.

 6/10: Okay 


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