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[tab title="Movie Review"]
Meteor shit! Fuck-a-diddle! Loaded with highly quotable lines and scary-ass scenes full of corpses and maggots as fathers come back from the dead, the titanic team-up of writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero was no fluke. It still isn't. In fact, at the time of its release in 1982, this movie was a box office success; the first for Romero, who was definitely not used to the packed houses and the lines around the block.
The point is that Creepshow, featuring performances from Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Neilsen, Carrie Nye, Tom Atkins, E.G. Marshall, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, and the wicked make-up effects of Tom Savini, is horror entertainment that will outlast me. And now, without even one blemish, this dark comedy looks so much better than ever imagined.
With a great lighting design, the short stories in this film look like they just sprang out from the pages of EC comics. The movie moves and shakes with page-flipping purpose, seemingly carefree in its efforts to thrill us as Nielsen, in one short, turns in a performance as a psychopathic yuppie who punishes his wife and her lover for an affair by attempting to drown them at sea in a most bizarre fashion.
But the surprise is on him. In fact, taking a cue from the British in their anthology work, most of these tales have an unseen consequence for those callous enough to not be careful; the dead are never quiet for long in these six tales. {googleads}
Creepshow actually had its origins with The Stand. That’s what Romero wanted to direct after Salem’s Lot went to Tobe Hooper. Obviously, that wish never happened, but what horror fans got instead was a killer classic of rock ‘em schlock ‘em anthology theater.
Even Stephen King gets in on the fun, writing AND starring in a story about a meteorite touching down near his farm and, because he needs the $200 dollars, he doesn’t think twice about moving it and attempting to sell it to the local college. But there is a sad side effect to greed and it might have something to do with the sprouting weed-like substance that is growing on his body.
And now, thanks to the NEW 4K scan of the original camera negative and a TON of new supplemental materials featuring Tom Savini and costume designer Barbara Anderson, Creepshow gets the ultimate rescue from the trash bins of Warner Bros, who have neglected this CLASSIC for a ridiculously long time with a poor DVD release and then, with no effort at all, issuing the same disaster on blu-ray all those years ago.
And now, thank the maker, we have a cleaned-up image with which to appreciate the gnarly appetite of whatever strange creature it is that lives inside The Crate. Because it isn’t happy munching on the bones of the janitors that dare disturb him with their curiosity.
When the horror is this good, we really don’t have to accept that George A. Romero has already left us to rise among the walking dead. Creepshow lives on!
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[tab title="Details"]
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 120 mins
Director: George A. Romero
Writer: Stephen King
Cast: Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Jolting Tales of Horror!
Memorable Movie Quote: "I mean, some of these so-called academics make the shark in "Jaws" look like fuckin' Flipper!"
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros.
Official Site:
Release Date: November 14, 1982
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: October 23, 2018
Synopsis: Masters of the macabre – writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero – conjure up five shocking yarns, each a virtuoso exercise in the ghouls-and-gags style of classic '50s horror comics. A murdered man emerges from the grave for Father's Day cake. A meteor's ooze makes everything ... grow. A professor selects his wife as a snack for a crated creature. A scheming husband plants two lovers up to their necks in terror. A malevolent millionaire with an insect phobia becomes the prey of a cockroach army. Add the spirited performances of an excellent cast (Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, E.G. Marshall and King himself) and the ghoulish makeup wizardry of Tom Savini, and you have a non-stop, thrilling ride that "plays like an anthology of human phobias". {googleads}
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Collector's Edition
Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - October 23, 2018
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD master audio mono track
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc set
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A {googleads}
From Scream Factory, the new 4K scan of the original camera negative is damned impressive. Colors are bold, bright, and shadows are thick with lines and deep blacks. The hours of color corrections on display here have been supervised and approved by the film’s director of photography, Michael Gornick. This film has long deserved this DELUXE treatment here. Saturation levels are on point and so too is the restored audio, appearing here in a DTS-HD master audio mono track. Presented with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Creepshow has never looked as good as it does here.
Supplements:
Commentary:
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There are three commentaries: the original audio commentary with director George A. Romero and special make-up effects creator Tom Savini, a NEW commentary from the director of photography Michael Gornick, and a third with composer/first assistant director John Harrison and construction coordinator Ed Fountain.
Special Features:
They don’t call this release a Collector’s Edition for nothing. Housed in a hard case with the new cover art, this release features a 36-page booklet with an essay about the film and plenty of pictures. And that’s just the outside of the blu-ray. Once you get inside and hit play, look at the goodies being offered to you:
• NEW Terror And The Three Rivers – A Round Table Discussion On The Making Of Creepshow With John Amplas, Tom Atkins, Tom Savini, And Marty Schiff
• NEW The Comic Book Look – An Interview With Costume Designer Barbara Anderson
• NEW Ripped From The Pages – An Interview With Animator Rick Catizone
• NEW The Colors Of Creepshow – A Look At The Restoration of Creepshow With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick
• NEW Into The Mix – An Interview With Sound Re-recordist Chris Jenkins
• NEW Mondo Macabre – A Look At Mondo’s Various Creepshow Posters With Mondo Co-Founder Rob Jones And Mondo Gallery Events Planner Josh Curry
• NEW Collecting Creepshow – A Look At Some Of The Original Props And Collectibles From The Film With Collector Dave Burian
• Audio Interviews With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick, Actor John Amplas, Property Master Bruce Alan Miller, And Make-up Effects Assistant Darryl Ferrucci
• Tom Savini’s Behind-The-Scenes Footage
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – A Look At The Original Film Locations Hosted By Sean Clark
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailers
• TV Spot
• Radio Spots
• Still Galleries – Posters, Lobby Cards, And Movie Stills
• Still Galleries – Behind The Scenes Photos
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