Double Feature W/ Scott Schirmer #2
CREEPSHOW (1982)
George Romero directs an anthology from Stephen King in this homage to colorful horror comics of the 1950s. All five tales are pretty good. In Father’s Day, a deceased patriarch comes back to life to torment his heirs. Then Stephen King steps in front of the camera, playing a goofy hillbilly who discovers a deadly meteor in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill. Leslie Nielsen takes vengeance on Ted Danson in Something to Tide You Over, while beleaguered Hal Holbrook offers his nagging wife (Adrienne Barbeau) to the creature in The Crate. Finally, E.G. Marshall stars as an insect-phobe tormented by cockroaches in They’re Creeping Up On You! The last two tales are my favorites, thanks largely to the performances of Barbeau and Marshall. Everything is tied together with a bookend story about a young boy who gets even with dear old dad for throwing his comic book away. Romero washes the film in stark, colored lighting and incorporates comic book frames and word bubbles to make it feel like a graphic novel come to life. Creepshow is probably the best horror anthology film ever made — the perfect movie come Halloween time.
CREEPSHOW 2 (1987)
It’s not quite as good as its predecessor, but Creepshow 2 is still a fun horror sequel. George Romero (Dawn of the Dead) returns as the screenwriter, adapting story ideas by Stephen King, but he turns the directing duties over to Michael Gornick (cinematographer on the first Creepshow and Day of the Dead). The first of the three tales in this anthology is Old Chief Wood’nhead, about a wooden statue that comes alive to avenge the murder of a kindly old couple played by George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour. Kennedy and Lamour are sweet, but the episode is probably the weakest of the three — more predictable in its plotting and arguably the least visceral entry. In The Raft, four teenagers end up trapped in the middle of a lake by a mysterious, man-eating oil slick. The episode mixes sex and horror in the classic tradition and has a nice payoff. It’s a simple and inspired segment, widely considered the best. The last episode is The Hitchhiker, about a nervous adulterer (Lois Chiles) who accidentally runs over a hitchhiker (Tom Wright)… again and again and again. It’s the most darkly comedic tale in this anthology, escalating nicely and featuring perhaps the film’s strongest performance in Chiles. The wraparound story involving a boy and some school bullies features a lot of animation and “The Creep” character played by makeup guru Tom Savini.
Marshmallow - An Interview w/ Daniel DelPurgatorio
