Creepshow [Blu-ray]

Director: George A. Romero George A. Romero

Overview

Two of the most venerable names in the horror field, author Stephen King and director George A. Romero, present this anthology of original twisted tales inspired by the E.C. horror comics of the 50's and 60's (themselves a more direct basis for the popular Tales from the Crypt TV series). The five stories are framed within the pages of a comic book which a boy's insensitive father has thrown in the garbage. The first tale, "Father's Day," features a zombie patriarch returning to claim his Father's Day cake; "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" stars King himself as a slack-jawed yokel whose discovery of a radioactive meteorite turns him into a walking weed; "Something to Tide You Over" presents a deadly-serious Leslie Nielsen as a cuckolded husband who plans an elaborate seaside revenge; "The Crate" unleashes its ferocious man-eating contents on the enemies of a meek college professor; and "They're Creeping Up On You" pits obsessively-clean billionaire E.G. Marshall against a swarm of cockroaches in his sterile penthouse. The chapters are uniformly creative, filmed in garish comic-book colors, and Tom Savini's makeup effects are quite memorable (particularly the monster from "The Crate"), though the campy treatment does become exhausting after two hours' runtime. The final segment is the most impressive, thanks to Marshall's over-the-top performance, though the planned scope of the cockroach invasion was drastically reduced (no doubt due to budget constraints).

Product Details

Release Date:	09/08/2009
UPC:	0883929064410
Original Release:	1982
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	4,909

Special Features

Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Hal Holbrook	Henry Northrup
Adrienne Barbeau	Wilma Northrup
Fritz Weaver	Dexter Stanley
Stephen King	Jordy Verrill,Billy
Leslie Nielsen	Richard Vickers
Ted Danson	Harry Wentworth
Carrie Nye	Sylvia Grantham
E.G. Marshall	Upson Pratt
Viveca Lindfors	Aunt Bedelia
Ed Harris	Hank
Warner Shook	Richard
Robert Harper	Charlie
Elizabeth Regan	Cass
Gaylen Ross	Becky
Jon Lormer	Nathan Grantham
Don Keefer	Janitor
Bingo O'Malley	Jordy's Dad
John Amplas	Corpse
David Early	White
Nann Mogg	Mrs. Danvers
Iva Jean Saraceni	Billy's Mother
Christine Forrest	Tabitha
Cletus Anderson	Host
Katie Karlovitz	Maid
Peter Messer	Yorbro
Marty Schiff	Garbage Man
Tom Savini	Garbage Man
Tom Atkins	Billy's Father (uncredited)
Chuck Aber	Richard Raymond
John Harrison	Composer

Technical Credits

Stephen King

George A. Romero	Director
Stephen King	Screenwriter
Salah M. Hassanein	Executive Producer
Richard P. Rubinstein	Producer
Tom Savini	Special Effects
David M. Garber	Special Effects
Pam DeMetruis-Thomas	Sound Effects
Tom Dubensky	Sound Effects
Petur Hliddal	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

This is a very entertaining tribute to the EC horror comics of the 1950s from the director of Night of the Living Dead. The five stories, written by Stephen King, are bookended with some nice comic-book art by Bernie Wrightson and a cute framing story involving a boy whose father objects to his "Creepshow" magazines. The stories themselves feature an all-star cast and great special effects by makeup wizard Tom Savini. "Father's Day" and "Something to Tide You Over" deal with vengeful zombies, "The Lonely Death of Jordy Verrill" is a Blob-derived tale with King taken over by an alien plant; "The Crate" has a henpecked professor feeding his shrewish wife to a toothsome monster; and "They're Creeping Up on You" features a finicky landlord plagued by cockroaches. "The Crate" is probably the best of the lot, but the last story is the most memorable. There's nothing more disgusting than thousands of squirming cockroaches, and the final shot is one of the horror cinema's classic gross-outs. Witty, grotesque, and visually engaging, Creepshow is a treat.

All Movie Guide - Robert Firsching