Creepshow (1982)

My rating - 8.5/10

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A classic anthology film directed by the late great George Romero and written by Stephen King. We get five stories, 4 great and one just okay. It also has an amazing cast, lots of fun pratical effects and a great score.

Fathers Day revolves around a family gathering for dinner and while they wait for Aunt Bedelia the niece's new husband is told the story of how Bedelia murdered her husband in a fit of rage after years of emotional abuse. Bedelia arrives and goes to the cemetery where she sits at her late husbands grave and drinks. When it gets dark and she still hasn't arrived for dinner the search is on only for them to find something nasty is hunting for it's father's day cake. This is a fun opener and features lots of comic book style lighting and panels. The effects are great and it sets the tone for what to expect.

The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill is about a country bumpkin who finds a meteor in his back yard. After it breaks open spilling out a glowing blue fluid Jordy gets some on his fingers and soon everything he touches starts to sprout fast growing grass, including himself. This is my least favourite of the stories, and although I like the premise it's let down by the fact that Stephen King just isn't a very good actor. He's fine in a little cameo but not for an entire story like this. The effects are fine and it's not one I skip or anything, I just think it would have worked better with a good actor in the role.

Something To Tide You Over on the other hand is probably my favourite of the stories. Leslie Neilsen plays Richard who visits a man called Harry who's been having an affair with his wife. He takes him to the beach and forces him into a hole and buries him upto his neck in the sand, which he's also done to his cheating wife. Back home he takes great pleasure in watching them both drown as the tide comes in. The tide didn't take them away though and soon he's being hunted by two very wet, pissed off visitors. Leslie Neilsen is great in this, it's pretty interesting to see him play an evil, heartless character instead of his usual comedy roles. The effects are great and it has some good atmosphere and a couple of good scares. Definitely a fan of this one!.

The Crate is also another excellent story about a school caretaker who find a mysterious crate while cleaning. He calls one of the professors named Dexter to come and check it out and when they do they hear something inside it, and what it is, is very hungry!. We also get Hal Holbrook as another professor, Henry who has fantasies about killing his drunk, abusive wife who's played by the great Adrienne Barbeau, but once Dexter arrives at Henry's house a complete wreck and spouting stories of a strange creature Henry goes to check for himself and soon hatches a plan to turn his fantasy into reality. The effects work here by the awesome Tom Savini are excellent, especially on the large, toothy creature itself. I really do enjoy this one and it's one I'd recommend!.

The final story is They're Creeping Up On You!. It stars the wonderful E.G. Marshall as Upson Pratt, a ruthless business man who lives in a sterile apartment due to his phobia of germs and bugs. When he discovers a cockroach has somehow found it's way into the apartment he starts to panic, but it's not long before more and more start to enter. He locks himself into a small airtight chamber to get away from the invading mass of critters but his worst nightmare is about to come true. If you're not a fan of bugs then this one will seriously creep you out. Literally hundreds of real cockroaches were used for the filming of this story and it really does live upto it's title. Often cited as the best of the five stories by fans, I personally prefer Something To Tide You over but this is a close second for sure.

The wrap around story that appears at the start and end concerning a father taking away his kids horror comic and the kid getting revenge via a voodoo doll he ordered from it is fine and serves it's purpose. The kid was played by Stephen Kings son. Overall this is a classic for a reason and one I'd highly recommend to all.

SCREEN SHOTS

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