Movie Review: 'Creepshow'

Creepshow (1982)

Written by: Stephen King

Directed by: George A. Romero

Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Carrie Nye, E.G. Marshall, Ted Danson, Hal Holbrook, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Stephen King, Viveca Lindfors

On November 12, 1982, nearly six months after its world premiere, Warner Bros. released Creepshow, a horror anthology film featuring five vignettes written by Stephen King and directed by the late George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead). Intended as an homage to the horror-themed comics published by William Gaines' EC Comics - especially Tales from the Crypt - in the 1950s, Creepshow was the first collaboration between the two Masters of Horror and spun off two sequels as well as a comic book scripted by King and illustrated by Berni Wrightson.

Though it was produced in the early 1980s, Creepshow deliberately channels the look and storytelling tone of the Eisenhower-era comics that were largely responsible for the creation of the Comics Code Authority and its "seal of approval" in 1954. Each of the five stories, two of which King adapted from pre-existing short stories, reflect Bill Gaines' penchant for telling stories with gruesome and often ironic twists that often feature poetic justice and universal fears that most of us have.

The five stories in Creepshow are:

• "Father's Day," in which a wealthy but miserly and domineering man, Nathan Grantham (Jon Lorner) is unwittingly brought back from the dead by his alcoholic spinster of a daughter (Viveca Lindfors) and wreaks his revenge on his equally obnoxious relatives
• "The Lonesome Death of Jody Verrill," an adaptation of King's short story "Weeds," in which the titular character (King in his first onscreen acting role) plays a good-natured but dim-witted backwoodsman who has a close encounter of the worst kind with a meteor and its contents
• "Something to Tide You Over," in which Leslie Nielsen plays an outwardly cheerful psychopath who plans deadly seaside revenge on his adulterous wife (Gaylen Ross) and her lover (Ted Danson)
• "The Crate," another adapted short story, in which two college professors (Hal Holbrook and Fritz Weaver) have to deal with an old crate and its deadly contents, not to mention one of the prof's boozing, abusive, and possibly even unfaithful wife (Adrienne Barbeau)
• "They're Creeping Up On You," a story that gives me the creeps! Imagine an uber-wealthy mix of Howard Hughes and David Duke, name him Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall), and give him a serious case of mysophobia, an immaculate apartment, and a reputation for meanness, add some roaches and watch the results

In addition, Stephen King's son Joe (who, like his dad, writes scary novels as a grownup) appears in a framing prologue and epilogue that sets the tone for the five vignettes.

 Creepshow is a cleverly-written tribute to those controversial but sometimes prescient EC Comics of an earlier era that is sometimes mistakenly remembered as either bland or "when America was great." Unlike Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (an adaptation that King has publicly criticized as not reflecting the themes and characterizations of his novel), Creepshow doesn't take itself seriously.

As the late Roger Ebert wrote in his contemporary review, "Romero and King have approached this movie with humor and affection, as well as with an appreciation of the macabre. They create visual links to comic books by beginning each segment with several panels of a comic artist's version of the story, and then dissolving from the final drawn panel to a reality that exactly mirrors it. The acting also finds the right note. Such veterans of horror as Hal Holbrook, E. G. Marshall, and Adrienne Barbeau know how to paint their personalities broadly, edging up to caricature. Nobody in this movie is a three-dimensional person, or is meant to be. They are all types. And their lives are all object lessons."

If you're a fan of either King or Romero, Creepshow is a fun-if-creepy movie that has a lot of talent behind and in front of the camera. The cast is a mix of Hollywood veterans, horror film staples, and (then) up-and-coming stars, including Ted Danson and Ed Harris. There is even an uncredited performance by An Officer and a Gentleman's Richard Gere in the mix. Watch Creepshow, but not alone...and not without a can of Raid at your side...just in case.

Source: Roger Ebert's review of 'Creepshow' (1982)