‘That’s Verrill luck. Always in. Always bad...’
A collaboration between the father of the modern zombie movie (George A. Romero) and the greatest horror writer of all time (Stephen King) was always bound to be successful and Creepshow was both a modest critical and commercial success upon release back in 1982. As with most anthologies, this one is uneven in terms of quality but when it’s good, it’s really good…
Taking in five stories all written by King, including a long-dead and much-hated patriarch rising from the dead, an alien invasion, a dark tale of vengeance, a terrifying monster, a nagging wife and an outbreak of cockroaches, Creepshow varies wildly in quality with middle segment Something to Tide You Over starring Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson being the obvious highlight and The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill starring King himself as the weakest section. Elsewhere, horror royalty Tom Atkins plays a cruel father in the framing device (which also stars King’s son Joe Hill as a vindictive child) and the rest of the cast includes such luminaries as Hal Halbrook, Adrienne Barbeau and Ed Harris. It’s a hell of a lot of talent for what is a pleasingly daft movie. King and Romero aimed to capture the tone of the EC comics of their childhood and they do a great job in bottling that manic energy here, assisted by some exquisite practical effects work from Tom Savini (who also has a brief cameo at the end).
Some people will be put off by the humourous tone of Creepshow but in its darker moments it is genuinely unsettling and as horror anthologies go, it’s definitely up there with Trick R Treat and the V/H/S movies as one of the best.