Creepshow
Encyclopedia
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror
anthology film
directed by George A. Romero
and written by Stephen King
. The film's ensemble cast included Ted Danson
, Leslie Nielsen
, Hal Holbrook
, E.G. Marshall, Gaylen Ross
, Adrienne Barbeau
and Ed Harris
.
It was considered a sleeper hit
at the box office
when released in November 1982, earning $21,028,755 domestically, and remains a popular film to this day among horror genre fans. The film was shot on location in Pittsburgh and the suburb areas. It consists of five short stories referred to as "Jolting Tales of Horror": "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up on You!". Two of these stories, "The Crate" and "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" (originally titled "Weeds"), were adapted from previously published Stephen King's short horror tales.
The segments are tied together with brief animated sequences. The film is bookended by scenes, featuring a young boy named Billy (played by Stephen King
's own son, Joe King
), who is punished by his father for reading horror
comics. The film is an homage
to the E.C.
horror comic books of the 1950s such as Tales from the Crypt
, The Vault of Horror
and The Haunt of Fear
.
In later years, the international rights of the film would be acquired by Republic Pictures
, which today is a subsidiary of the Paramount Motion Pictures Group
, itself owned by Viacom
. The film's UK DVD rights are owned by Universal Studios
under license from Paramount/Republic.
) gets yelled at and slapped by his father, Stan (Tom Atkins
), for reading a horror comic titled Creepshow. His father tosses the comic in the garbage to teach Billy a lesson, but not before threatening to spank him should Billy ever get caught reading Creepshow comic books again. Later after he tosses the comic book away, Stan reminds his wife (Iva Jean Saraceni) that he had to be hard on Billy because he does not want their son to be reading such "crap" as he gives examples of what Billy should not be reading (which incidentally are the basic plotlines for some of the stories in the movie). He then closes out the discussion with the reason why God made fathers: to protect their children from harmful influences. As Billy sits upstairs cursing his father with hopes of him rotting in Hell, he hears a sound at the window, which turns out to be a ghostly apparition in the form of The Creep from the comic book, beckoning him to come closer; this segue
s into the opening titles.
Nathan Grantham (Jon Lormer
), the miserly old patriarch of a family whose fortune was made through bootlegging
and fraud
, is killed on Father's Day
by his long-suffering spinster
daughter Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors
). Bedelia was already unstable as the result of a lifetime spent putting up with her father's incessant demands and emotional abuse, which culminated in his orchestrating the murder of her sweetheart. When she could no longer endure Nathan's screams for her to bring him his Father's Day cake, Bedelia picked up a heavy marble ashtray, yelled "Happy Father's Day!" and smashed his skull with it. NOTE: This prop appears in every one of the five stories in different ways. (SEE STORIES FOR THE USE OF THIS PROP)
The sequence begins seven years later, when the remainder of Nathan's descendants—including Nathan's granddaughter Sylvia (Carrie Nye
), his great-grandchildren Richard (Warner Shook) and Cass (Elizabeth Regan), and Cass' husband Hank (Ed Harris
)—get together for their annual dinner on the third Sunday in June.
Bedelia, who typically arrives later than the others, stops in the cemetery
outside the family house to lay a flower at the grave
site and drunkenly reminisce about how she murdered her insufferable, overbearing father. When she accidentally spills her whiskey bottle in front of the headstone
, it seems to have a reanimating effect on the mortal remains interred below. All of the sudden, Nathan's putrefied, maggot
-infested corpse (John Amplas
) emerges from the burial plot in the form of a revenant
who has come back to claim the Father's Day cake he never got. Before obtaining his long-desired pastry, the revenant avenges himself on Bedelia and the rest of his idle, scheming, money-grubbing heirs—randomly killing them off one by one.
The final freeze-frame
shows the undead Nathan in the kitchen triumphantly carrying a platter that is crowned with Sylvia's freshly severed head and covered with cake frosting. The corpse gurgles hoarsely
at a terrified Richard and Cass, "It's Father's Day, and I got my cake! Happy Father's Day!"
written by King)
Jordy Verrill (Stephen King
), a dimwitted backwoods yokel, thinks that a newly discovered meteorite
will provide enough money from the local college to pay off his $200 bank loan. Instead, he finds himself being overcome by a rapidly spreading plant-like organism
that begins growing on his body after he touches a glowing green substance within the meteorite. Jordy is eventually cautioned by the ghost of his father (Bingo O'Malley) not to take a bath. But when the itching from the growth on his skin becomes unbearable, Jordy succumbs to temptation and collapses into the bathwater. By the next morning, Jordy and his farm have been completely covered with dense layers of the hideous alien
vegetation
. In despair, he reaches for a shotgun and literally blows the top of his head off. A radio weather forecast announces that heavy rains are predicted and the audience is left with the dire expectation that this will accelerate the spread of the extraterrestrial plant growth to surrounding areas.
NOTE: The green marble ashtray from "Father's Day" that Aunt Bedelia used to kill her father, is now a soapdish on the kitchen sink back-splash wall.
Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen
), a wealthy psychopath whose spry, devil-may-care jocularity belies his cold-blooded vindictiveness, stages a terrible fate for his unfaithful wife, Becky (Gaylen Ross
), and her lover, Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson
), by burying them up to their necks on the beach below the high tide line. He explains that they have a chance of survival - if they can hold their breath long enough for the sand to loosen once the seawater covers them they could break free and escape. He also sets up several closed-circuit TV cameras
so he can watch them die from the comfort of his well-appointed beach house. However, Richard is in for one hell of a surprise of his own when the two lovers he murdered return as a pair of waterlogged, seaweed-covered revenant
s intent on giving him a dose of his own deadly punishment. The final scene reveals that Richard has been buried in the beach at low tide, facing the approaching tide (and the sight of two sets of footprints disappearing in the surf). While the tide is rising, he laughs hysterically and screams "I can hold my breath for a long time!" The frame then freezes into animation and the pages start flipping again. They come to a stop on the title of the next story, which is one of the longer entries at nearly 30 minutes.
NOTE: In this story, the green marble ashtray is used as the jewelry dish on Richard Vickers' night stand.
A college custodian Mike (Don Keefer
) drops a quarter and finds a wooden storage crate, hidden under some basement stairs for over 100 years. He notifies a college professor, Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver
) of the find. The two decide to open the crate and it is found to contain an extremely lethal creature resembling a Yeti, or Abominable Snowman
, which despite its diminutive size promptly kills and entirely devours Mike, leaving behind only his boot. Escaping, Stanley runs into a graduate student, Charlie Gereson (Robert Harper
) who is skeptical and investigates. Gereson and Stanley find that the crate has been moved back under the stairs and Gereson is killed by the creature as he examines the crate. Stanley then flees and informs his friend and colleague at the university, the mild-mannered Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook
), of his recent experience.
Professor Stanley, now traumatized and hysterical, babbles to Northrup that the deadly monster must be disposed of somehow. Northrup sees the creature as a way to rid himself of his perpetually drunk, obnoxious, and emotionally abusive wife, Wilma (Adrienne Barbeau
), whom he often daydreams of killing. He contrives a scheme to lure her near the crate where the beast does indeed maul and eat her. Northrup later secures the beast back inside its crate, and drops it into a nearby lake, where it sinks to the bottom, and he returns to assure Professor Stanley that the creature is no more. However, it is subsequently right at the end revealed to the audience that the beast has escaped from its crate, and is in fact still alive and well. Also, watchful eyes will notice the staircase in Northrup's home is the same staircase from "Something To Tide You Over", the previous story, it even has some of the same camera angles.)
The little green marble prop that started out in "Father's Day" is now on the dresser in Harry Northrup's bedroom.
Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a cruel, ruthless businessman whose mysophobia
has him living in a hermetically sealed apartment controlled completely with electric locks and surveillance cameras. During a particularly severe lightning storm he finds himself looking out over the steel canyons of New York City as a rolling blackout travels his way. When it hits his apartment tower, the fun begins for the audience, and the terror begins for Mr. Pratt. The ruthless tycoon now finds himself helpless when his flat becomes overrun by countless hordes of aggressive multi-sized cockroaches—perhaps symbolizing the revenge of all the "little people" he has spent his entire life stepping on.
NOTE: In this final story, the green marble ashtray is again a soapdish. This time it is on the kitchen sink backsplash in Upson Pratt's kitchen.
and Marty Schiff) find the Creepshow comic book in the trash. They look at the ads in the book for X-ray specs
and a Charles Atlas
bodybuilding course. They also see an advertisement for a voodoo doll, but lament that the order form has already been redeemed (Attentive viewers can see the order form had been already cut out in the segues between "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something To Tide You Over", and "The Crate"). Inside the house, Stan complains of neck pain, which escalates and becomes deadly as Billy repeatedly and gleefully jabs the voodoo doll while his accursed father screams in agony.
Father's Day
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
Something to Tide You Over
The Crate
They're Creeping Up on You
In keeping with Romero's tradition of filming in and around the Pittsburgh area, most of the film was shot in an empty all-girls school located outside Greensburg, Pennsylvania
. The school was converted into a film studio, and the episodes "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", and "They're Creeping Up on You", as well as the prologue and epilogue, were filmed in their entirety at the former school. Filming took place at the Greensburg location throughout 1981.
Several additional locations were also used for filming:
. Romero was unable to obtain an export permit for them, so they were imported on a temporary permit. This meant that each one had to be counted before and after each shot, and accurate records kept of the number of dead specimens. The cockroaches were stored in Styrofoam egg cartons kept inside a large van that was filled with high levels of carbon dioxide to keep the cockroaches quiet. In the final scene of the segment, in which the room is almost filled with cockroaches, a lot of them were nuts and raisins, as specified by Tom Savini
.
The laughing and hissing ghosts over the Main and End title theme was also a nice touch. An interesting note: In the film, a ghost laughs after the last note plays in the End Titles. On the motion picture soundtrack, the ghost's last laugh is omitted from the score.
on November 12, 1982. It started strongly with an $8 million box-office gross for its first five days. In its opening weekend, Creepshow grossed $5,870,889, ranking #1 in the box office, capsizing First Blood
from the top spot. In total it grossed $21,028,755 domestically, making it the highest grossing horror film
for the Warner Bros. studio that year.
gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Romero and King have approached this movie with humor and affection, as well as with an appreciation of the macabre". In his review for the New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote, "The best things about Creepshow are its carefully simulated comic-book tackiness and the gusto with which some good actors assume silly positions. Horror film purists may object to the levity even though failed, as a lot of it is". Gary Arnold, in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "What one confronts in Creepshow is five consistently stale, derivative horror vignettes of various lengths and defects". In his review for the Globe and Mail, Jay Scott
wrote, "The Romero-King collaboration has softened both the horror and the cynicism, but not by enough to betray the sources - Creepshow is almost as funny and as horrible as the filmmakers would clearly love it to be". David Ansen
, in his review for Newsweek
, wrote, "For anyone over 12 there's not much pleasure to be had watching two masters of horror deliberately working beneath themselves. Creepshow is a faux naif horror film: too arch to be truly scary, too elemental to succeed as satire". In his review for Time
, Richard Corliss wrote, "But the treatment manages to be both perfunctory and languid; the jolts can be predicted by any ten-year-old with a stop watch. Only the story in which Evil Plutocrat E.G. Marshall is eaten alive by cockroaches mixes giggles and grue in the right measure".
The film has become a cult horror classic.
by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It was released 22 October 2007. The discs feature a brand new widescreen transfer of the film sourced from the original master, a making-of documentary running 90 minutes (titled Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow), behind-the-scenes footage, rare deleted scene
s, galleries, a commentary track with director George A. Romero
and make-up effects artist, Tom Savini
, and more. Owner of Red Shirt Pictures, Michael Felsher is responsible for the special edition, the documentary
and audio commentary
in particular.
In the United States
Warner Bros. sticks to its usual disappointing one-disc set with only the film's trailer. No other special features have ever been released with the Region 1 version. The Region 1 DVD was a 2-sided disc. One side was the 1:85 transfer (widescreen) version of the film, and the other side was the full screen version.
On the Blu-ray format, it was released by Warner Bros on 8 September 2009 in America in only a widescreen format. Again the only special feature is the film's trailer.
Come on WB and step up and make this classic worth screaming over by its fans. Put out a special 30th anniversary DVD Blu-ray version in 2012, with all the bells and whistles for true fans of this classic to learn more about this very important piece in horror history and how it was made. There has to be tons of production stills and footage from filming to get any fan's blood to curdle.
soon after the film's release, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson
, an artist fittingly influenced by the 1950s E.C. Comics.
A sequel, Creepshow 2
was released in 1987, and was once again based on Stephen King
short stories with a screenplay from Creepshow director George A. Romero
. The film contained only three tales of horror, as opposed to the original's five stories.
The general concept and plot of the film was adapted for the song "Everything Went Black" by The Black Dahlia Murder. However, the segments "They're Creeping Up on You," and "Father's Day" were omitted from the video.
On November 10, 2009, it was announced that Taurus Entertainment had a 3-D remake
planned.
, George A. Romero
, or anyone else involved in the production of the first two films, was released direct-to-video
in 2007 (though it was finished in 2006) to mostly negative reviews. This film, in a fashion similar to the original Creepshow, features five short darkly comedic horror
stories. The company behind the film was Taurus Entertainment, also responsible for the in-name-only Romero sequel, Day of the Dead 2: Contagium
, a follow-up to 1985's Day of the Dead.
Creepshow make-up artist and Creepshow 2
actor, Tom Savini
, has said that Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
(1990) is the real Creepshow 3.
, which lasted four years (1984–88).
The series spawned a film adaptation very similar to Creepshow, entitled Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
(1990), directed by Creepshow composer John Harrison
.
The TV series was followed by a virtually identical series named Monsters
, which lasted another three years (1988–91).
is one of the companies currently involved in developing a "revival" or remake of the film, to be titled Creepshow 4.
Taurus Entertainment (rights holders of the original Creepshow) have licensed the rights to Jace Hall
, of HDFILMS, a Burbank, California company, to produce Creepshow: RAW, a web series
based upon the original film.
The pilot episode for Creepshow: RAW wrapped on July 30, 2008. The pilot was directed by Wilmer Valderrama
and features Michael Madsen
.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
anthology film
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
directed by George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
and written by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
. The film's ensemble cast included Ted Danson
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
, Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
, Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
, E.G. Marshall, Gaylen Ross
Gaylen Ross
Gaylen Ross is an American actress, writer, producer and director.Ross starred in George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead and later in Creepshow – and in the 1982 horror film Madman under the pseudonym 'Alexis Dubin'...
, Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
and Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
.
It was considered a sleeper hit
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
when released in November 1982, earning $21,028,755 domestically, and remains a popular film to this day among horror genre fans. The film was shot on location in Pittsburgh and the suburb areas. It consists of five short stories referred to as "Jolting Tales of Horror": "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up on You!". Two of these stories, "The Crate" and "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" (originally titled "Weeds"), were adapted from previously published Stephen King's short horror tales.
The segments are tied together with brief animated sequences. The film is bookended by scenes, featuring a young boy named Billy (played by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's own son, Joe King
Joe Hill (writer)
Joseph Hillstrom King , better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. He has published two novels—Heart Shaped Box and Horns—and a collection of short stories entitled 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the author of the graphic novel series Locke & Key...
), who is punished by his father for reading horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
comics. The film is an homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
to the E.C.
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
horror comic books of the 1950s such as Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (comic)
Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s...
, The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies...
and The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue...
.
In later years, the international rights of the film would be acquired by Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
, which today is a subsidiary of the Paramount Motion Pictures Group
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, itself owned by Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
. The film's UK DVD rights are owned by Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
under license from Paramount/Republic.
Prologue
A young boy named Billy (Joe KingJoe Hill (writer)
Joseph Hillstrom King , better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. He has published two novels—Heart Shaped Box and Horns—and a collection of short stories entitled 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the author of the graphic novel series Locke & Key...
) gets yelled at and slapped by his father, Stan (Tom Atkins
Tom Atkins (actor)
Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
), for reading a horror comic titled Creepshow. His father tosses the comic in the garbage to teach Billy a lesson, but not before threatening to spank him should Billy ever get caught reading Creepshow comic books again. Later after he tosses the comic book away, Stan reminds his wife (Iva Jean Saraceni) that he had to be hard on Billy because he does not want their son to be reading such "crap" as he gives examples of what Billy should not be reading (which incidentally are the basic plotlines for some of the stories in the movie). He then closes out the discussion with the reason why God made fathers: to protect their children from harmful influences. As Billy sits upstairs cursing his father with hopes of him rotting in Hell, he hears a sound at the window, which turns out to be a ghostly apparition in the form of The Creep from the comic book, beckoning him to come closer; this segue
Segue
A segue is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next.-In music:In music, segue is a direction to the performer. It means continue without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows". The term attacca is also used in classical music.For written music it implies a transition...
s into the opening titles.
"Father's Day"
(First story, written by King specifically for the film)Nathan Grantham (Jon Lormer
Jon Lormer
Jon Lormier was an American actor.Born as Jonathan Lormier, he appeared in three separate roles in Star Trek: The Original Series: as Dr...
), the miserly old patriarch of a family whose fortune was made through bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
and fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, is killed on Father's Day
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
by his long-suffering spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
daughter Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors
Viveca Lindfors
Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors , better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.-Life and career:...
). Bedelia was already unstable as the result of a lifetime spent putting up with her father's incessant demands and emotional abuse, which culminated in his orchestrating the murder of her sweetheart. When she could no longer endure Nathan's screams for her to bring him his Father's Day cake, Bedelia picked up a heavy marble ashtray, yelled "Happy Father's Day!" and smashed his skull with it. NOTE: This prop appears in every one of the five stories in different ways. (SEE STORIES FOR THE USE OF THIS PROP)
The sequence begins seven years later, when the remainder of Nathan's descendants—including Nathan's granddaughter Sylvia (Carrie Nye
Carrie Nye
-Early life:Nye was born Caroline Nye McGeoy in Greenwood, Mississippi; her father was a vice president of a local bank. She attended Stephens College and then went on to the Yale School of Drama.-Career:...
), his great-grandchildren Richard (Warner Shook) and Cass (Elizabeth Regan), and Cass' husband Hank (Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
)—get together for their annual dinner on the third Sunday in June.
Bedelia, who typically arrives later than the others, stops in the cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
outside the family house to lay a flower at the grave
Grave
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried.Grave may also refer to:*Grave accent, a diacritical mark*Grave , a term used to classify sounds*Grave , a term for "slow and solemn" music*Grave , an old name for the kilogram...
site and drunkenly reminisce about how she murdered her insufferable, overbearing father. When she accidentally spills her whiskey bottle in front of the headstone
Headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
, it seems to have a reanimating effect on the mortal remains interred below. All of the sudden, Nathan's putrefied, maggot
Maggot
In everyday speech the word maggot means the larva of a fly ; it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachyceran flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and Crane flies...
-infested corpse (John Amplas
John Amplas
John Amplas is an American actor known primarily for his work with director George A. Romero. His first work with Romero was the cult classic Martin , in which he played the title role...
) emerges from the burial plot in the form of a revenant
Revenant (fiction)
In fantasy fiction, the term revenant usually means a sentient creature whose desire to fulfill a special goal allows it to return from the grave as a creature vaguely resembling an intelligent zombie. Another possibility is that a powerful wizard returns a dead hero from the past to make him go on...
who has come back to claim the Father's Day cake he never got. Before obtaining his long-desired pastry, the revenant avenges himself on Bedelia and the rest of his idle, scheming, money-grubbing heirs—randomly killing them off one by one.
The final freeze-frame
Freeze frame shot
A freeze frame shot is used when one shot is printed in a single frame several times, in order to make an interesting illusion of a still photograph....
shows the undead Nathan in the kitchen triumphantly carrying a platter that is crowned with Sylvia's freshly severed head and covered with cake frosting. The corpse gurgles hoarsely
Death rattle
A death rattle is a medical term that describes the sound produced by someone who is near death when saliva accumulates in the throat. Those who are dying may lose their ability to swallow, resulting in such an accumulation...
at a terrified Richard and Cass, "It's Father's Day, and I got my cake! Happy Father's Day!"
"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill"
(Second story, originally titled "Weeds", adapted from a previously published short storyWeeds (short story)
"Weeds" is a short story by Stephen King. It was first published in Cavalier magazine in May 1976.-Plot summary:...
written by King)
Jordy Verrill (Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
), a dimwitted backwoods yokel, thinks that a newly discovered meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
will provide enough money from the local college to pay off his $200 bank loan. Instead, he finds himself being overcome by a rapidly spreading plant-like organism
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
that begins growing on his body after he touches a glowing green substance within the meteorite. Jordy is eventually cautioned by the ghost of his father (Bingo O'Malley) not to take a bath. But when the itching from the growth on his skin becomes unbearable, Jordy succumbs to temptation and collapses into the bathwater. By the next morning, Jordy and his farm have been completely covered with dense layers of the hideous alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
. In despair, he reaches for a shotgun and literally blows the top of his head off. A radio weather forecast announces that heavy rains are predicted and the audience is left with the dire expectation that this will accelerate the spread of the extraterrestrial plant growth to surrounding areas.
NOTE: The green marble ashtray from "Father's Day" that Aunt Bedelia used to kill her father, is now a soapdish on the kitchen sink back-splash wall.
"Something to Tide You Over"
(Third story, written by King expressly for the film)Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
), a wealthy psychopath whose spry, devil-may-care jocularity belies his cold-blooded vindictiveness, stages a terrible fate for his unfaithful wife, Becky (Gaylen Ross
Gaylen Ross
Gaylen Ross is an American actress, writer, producer and director.Ross starred in George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead and later in Creepshow – and in the 1982 horror film Madman under the pseudonym 'Alexis Dubin'...
), and her lover, Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
), by burying them up to their necks on the beach below the high tide line. He explains that they have a chance of survival - if they can hold their breath long enough for the sand to loosen once the seawater covers them they could break free and escape. He also sets up several closed-circuit TV cameras
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
so he can watch them die from the comfort of his well-appointed beach house. However, Richard is in for one hell of a surprise of his own when the two lovers he murdered return as a pair of waterlogged, seaweed-covered revenant
Revenant
The term Revenant may refer to:*Revenant , a creature brought back to life to fulfill a special goal*Revenant , a folkloric corpse that returns from the grave*The Revenant , a 2009 horror comedy...
s intent on giving him a dose of his own deadly punishment. The final scene reveals that Richard has been buried in the beach at low tide, facing the approaching tide (and the sight of two sets of footprints disappearing in the surf). While the tide is rising, he laughs hysterically and screams "I can hold my breath for a long time!" The frame then freezes into animation and the pages start flipping again. They come to a stop on the title of the next story, which is one of the longer entries at nearly 30 minutes.
NOTE: In this story, the green marble ashtray is used as the jewelry dish on Richard Vickers' night stand.
"The Crate"
(Fourth story, adapted from a previously published short story)A college custodian Mike (Don Keefer
Don Keefer
Donald "Don" H. Keefer is a retired American actor known for the versatility of his roles. He was born in Highspire in Dauphin County near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Keefer's first role was as Bernard in the 1951 film, Death of a Salesman, based on the Arthur Miller play...
) drops a quarter and finds a wooden storage crate, hidden under some basement stairs for over 100 years. He notifies a college professor, Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver
Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...
) of the find. The two decide to open the crate and it is found to contain an extremely lethal creature resembling a Yeti, or Abominable Snowman
Yeti
The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
, which despite its diminutive size promptly kills and entirely devours Mike, leaving behind only his boot. Escaping, Stanley runs into a graduate student, Charlie Gereson (Robert Harper
Robert Harper
Robert Harper may refer to:* Robert Goodloe Harper , US senator from Maryland* Robert Harper * Robert Harper...
) who is skeptical and investigates. Gereson and Stanley find that the crate has been moved back under the stairs and Gereson is killed by the creature as he examines the crate. Stanley then flees and informs his friend and colleague at the university, the mild-mannered Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
), of his recent experience.
Professor Stanley, now traumatized and hysterical, babbles to Northrup that the deadly monster must be disposed of somehow. Northrup sees the creature as a way to rid himself of his perpetually drunk, obnoxious, and emotionally abusive wife, Wilma (Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
), whom he often daydreams of killing. He contrives a scheme to lure her near the crate where the beast does indeed maul and eat her. Northrup later secures the beast back inside its crate, and drops it into a nearby lake, where it sinks to the bottom, and he returns to assure Professor Stanley that the creature is no more. However, it is subsequently right at the end revealed to the audience that the beast has escaped from its crate, and is in fact still alive and well. Also, watchful eyes will notice the staircase in Northrup's home is the same staircase from "Something To Tide You Over", the previous story, it even has some of the same camera angles.)
The little green marble prop that started out in "Father's Day" is now on the dresser in Harry Northrup's bedroom.
"They're Creeping Up on You!"
(Fifth and final story, written by King expressly for the film)Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a cruel, ruthless businessman whose mysophobia
Mysophobia
Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contamination and germs. Someone who has such a fear is referred to as a mysophobe. The term was introduced by Dr. William Alexander Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder exhibited in repeatedly washing...
has him living in a hermetically sealed apartment controlled completely with electric locks and surveillance cameras. During a particularly severe lightning storm he finds himself looking out over the steel canyons of New York City as a rolling blackout travels his way. When it hits his apartment tower, the fun begins for the audience, and the terror begins for Mr. Pratt. The ruthless tycoon now finds himself helpless when his flat becomes overrun by countless hordes of aggressive multi-sized cockroaches—perhaps symbolizing the revenge of all the "little people" he has spent his entire life stepping on.
NOTE: In this final story, the green marble ashtray is again a soapdish. This time it is on the kitchen sink backsplash in Upson Pratt's kitchen.
Epilogue
The following morning, two garbage collectors (Tom SaviniTom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
and Marty Schiff) find the Creepshow comic book in the trash. They look at the ads in the book for X-ray specs
X-Ray Specs (novelty)
X-Ray Specs are an American novelty item, purported to allow the user to see through or into solid objects. In reality the glasses merely create an optical illusion; no X-rays are involved...
and a Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas, born Angelo Siciliano , was the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program that was best known for a landmark advertising campaign featuring Atlas's name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all...
bodybuilding course. They also see an advertisement for a voodoo doll, but lament that the order form has already been redeemed (Attentive viewers can see the order form had been already cut out in the segues between "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something To Tide You Over", and "The Crate"). Inside the house, Stan complains of neck pain, which escalates and becomes deadly as Billy repeatedly and gleefully jabs the voodoo doll while his accursed father screams in agony.
Cast
Prologue and Epilogue- Joe KingJoe Hill (writer)Joseph Hillstrom King , better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. He has published two novels—Heart Shaped Box and Horns—and a collection of short stories entitled 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the author of the graphic novel series Locke & Key...
as Billy - Iva Jean Saraceni as Billy's Mother
- Tom AtkinsTom Atkins (actor)Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
as Stan (uncredited) - Marty Schiff as Garbageman #1
- Tom SaviniTom SaviniThomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
as Garbageman #2
Father's Day
- Jon LormerJon LormerJon Lormier was an American actor.Born as Jonathan Lormier, he appeared in three separate roles in Star Trek: The Original Series: as Dr...
as Nathan Grantham - Viveca LindforsViveca LindforsElsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors , better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.-Life and career:...
as Bedelia - Elizabeth Regan as Cass Blaine
- Warner Shook as Richard Grantham
- Ed HarrisEd HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
as Hank Blaine - Carrie NyeCarrie Nye-Early life:Nye was born Caroline Nye McGeoy in Greenwood, Mississippi; her father was a vice president of a local bank. She attended Stephens College and then went on to the Yale School of Drama.-Career:...
as Sylvia Grantham - Peter Messer as Yarbro
- John AmplasJohn AmplasJohn Amplas is an American actor known primarily for his work with director George A. Romero. His first work with Romero was the cult classic Martin , in which he played the title role...
as Undead Nathan - Nann Mogg as Mrs. Danvers
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
- Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
as Jordy Verrill - Bingo O'Malley as Jordy's Dad
- John ColicosJohn ColicosJohn Colicos was a Greek-Canadian actor. He was a distinguished stage actor in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.-Career:...
as Doctor (uncredited)
Something to Tide You Over
- Leslie NielsenLeslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as Richard Vickers - Gaylen RossGaylen RossGaylen Ross is an American actress, writer, producer and director.Ross starred in George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead and later in Creepshow – and in the 1982 horror film Madman under the pseudonym 'Alexis Dubin'...
as Becky Vickers - Ted DansonTed DansonEdward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
as Henry Wentworth
The Crate
- Hal HolbrookHal HolbrookHarold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
as Henry Northup - Adrienne BarbeauAdrienne BarbeauAdrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
as Wilma Northup - Fritz WeaverFritz WeaverFritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...
as Dexter Stanley - Don KeeferDon KeeferDonald "Don" H. Keefer is a retired American actor known for the versatility of his roles. He was born in Highspire in Dauphin County near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Keefer's first role was as Bernard in the 1951 film, Death of a Salesman, based on the Arthur Miller play...
as Mike the Janitor - Robert HarperRobert Harper (actor)Robert Harper is an American actor. He is perhaps most well known for his role as Sharkey in Once Upon a Time in America. He has also portrayed Charlie Gereson in Creepshow and Bubba 'Si' Weisberger in the CBS sitcom Frank's Place...
as Charlie Gereson - Chuck AberChuck AberChuck Aber is an American actor.A graduate of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Aber appeared in the films Creepshow and The Silence of the Lambs , He has appeared in commercials and in the children's television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood...
as Richard Raymond - Christine Forrest as Tabitha Raymond
- Cletus Anderson as Host
- Katie Karlovitz as Maid
- Charles Van Eman as Bartender
- David GarrisonDavid GarrisonDavid Gene Garrison is an American actor. His primary venue is live theatre, but he may be more widely known for his numerous television roles, particularly that of Steve Rhoades on Married... with Children...
as College Party Host (uncredited) - Daryl Ferrucci as Fluffy (uncredited)
They're Creeping Up on You
- E. G. MarshallE. G. MarshallE. G. Marshall was an American actor, best known for his television roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s...
as Upson Pratt - David Early as White
- Ann Muffly as Voice of Lenora Castonmeyer (uncredited)
Production
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War...
. The school was converted into a film studio, and the episodes "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", and "They're Creeping Up on You", as well as the prologue and epilogue, were filmed in their entirety at the former school. Filming took place at the Greensburg location throughout 1981.
Several additional locations were also used for filming:
- "The Crate" - Most of the interior and exterior shots for the university sequences were filmed at Carnegie-Mellon University (Romero is a Carnegie-Mellon University alumni), with Margaret Morrison Hall serving as Amberson Hall. The backyard party was filmed in Romero's own backyard at his former residence on Amberson Dr. in Shadyside, PennsylvaniaShadyside (Pittsburgh)Shadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
. - "Father's Day" - Was filmed on location at a mansion in the Pittsburgh suburb of Fox Chapel, PennsylvaniaFox Chapel, PennsylvaniaFox Chapel is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, and is a suburb of Pittsburgh located northeast of downtown.The population was 5,388 as of the 2010 census.-History:...
. - "Something to Tide You Over" - Was filmed on location at a beach-front residence in New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Cockroaches
The large cockroaches featured in the episode "They're Creeping Up on You" were "Hissing Cockroaches" imported from GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. Romero was unable to obtain an export permit for them, so they were imported on a temporary permit. This meant that each one had to be counted before and after each shot, and accurate records kept of the number of dead specimens. The cockroaches were stored in Styrofoam egg cartons kept inside a large van that was filled with high levels of carbon dioxide to keep the cockroaches quiet. In the final scene of the segment, in which the room is almost filled with cockroaches, a lot of them were nuts and raisins, as specified by Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
.
Prop appearance
Attentive viewers can see that the ashtray which Bedelia used to murder Nathan Grantham in "Father's Day" makes an appearance in each of the four subsequent segments.Score
John Harrison provides the impressive and creepy score for the movie using a synthesizer and a Weber and a Steinway grand piano. The classical music score for "The Crate" is in a way very stylish and yet creepy. A very fun piece; especially in the movement where Harry's note is luring Wilma to her death at Amberson Hall.The laughing and hissing ghosts over the Main and End title theme was also a nice touch. An interesting note: In the film, a ghost laughs after the last note plays in the End Titles. On the motion picture soundtrack, the ghost's last laugh is omitted from the score.
Reaction
Creepshow was given a wide release by Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
on November 12, 1982. It started strongly with an $8 million box-office gross for its first five days. In its opening weekend, Creepshow grossed $5,870,889, ranking #1 in the box office, capsizing First Blood
First Blood
First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...
from the top spot. In total it grossed $21,028,755 domestically, making it the highest grossing horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
for the Warner Bros. studio that year.
Reviews
Creepshow received mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Romero and King have approached this movie with humor and affection, as well as with an appreciation of the macabre". In his review for the New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote, "The best things about Creepshow are its carefully simulated comic-book tackiness and the gusto with which some good actors assume silly positions. Horror film purists may object to the levity even though failed, as a lot of it is". Gary Arnold, in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "What one confronts in Creepshow is five consistently stale, derivative horror vignettes of various lengths and defects". In his review for the Globe and Mail, Jay Scott
Jay Scott
Jay Scott was the pen name of Jeffrey Scott Beaven , a Canadian film critic.Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Scott fled to Canada in 1969 as a draft dodger. He settled in Calgary, and began writing film reviews for the Calgary Albertan a few years later...
wrote, "The Romero-King collaboration has softened both the horror and the cynicism, but not by enough to betray the sources - Creepshow is almost as funny and as horrible as the filmmakers would clearly love it to be". David Ansen
David Ansen
David Ansen is a reviewer and senior editor for Newsweek, where he has been reviewing movies since 1977. He came to Newsweek after several years as the chief film critic at Boston's The Real Paper...
, in his review for Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, wrote, "For anyone over 12 there's not much pleasure to be had watching two masters of horror deliberately working beneath themselves. Creepshow is a faux naif horror film: too arch to be truly scary, too elemental to succeed as satire". In his review for Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Richard Corliss wrote, "But the treatment manages to be both perfunctory and languid; the jolts can be predicted by any ten-year-old with a stop watch. Only the story in which Evil Plutocrat E.G. Marshall is eaten alive by cockroaches mixes giggles and grue in the right measure".
The film has become a cult horror classic.
Home video releases
A 2 disc Special Edition DVD of Creepshow was announced in early March 2007 exclusively for the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It was released 22 October 2007. The discs feature a brand new widescreen transfer of the film sourced from the original master, a making-of documentary running 90 minutes (titled Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow), behind-the-scenes footage, rare deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s, galleries, a commentary track with director George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
and make-up effects artist, Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
, and more. Owner of Red Shirt Pictures, Michael Felsher is responsible for the special edition, the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
in particular.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Warner Bros. sticks to its usual disappointing one-disc set with only the film's trailer. No other special features have ever been released with the Region 1 version. The Region 1 DVD was a 2-sided disc. One side was the 1:85 transfer (widescreen) version of the film, and the other side was the full screen version.
On the Blu-ray format, it was released by Warner Bros on 8 September 2009 in America in only a widescreen format. Again the only special feature is the film's trailer.
Come on WB and step up and make this classic worth screaming over by its fans. Put out a special 30th anniversary DVD Blu-ray version in 2012, with all the bells and whistles for true fans of this classic to learn more about this very important piece in horror history and how it was made. There has to be tons of production stills and footage from filming to get any fan's blood to curdle.
Sequels and adaptations
The film was adapted into an actual comic book of the same nameCreepshow (comics)
Creepshow is a graphic novella published by Penguin imprint Plume in July 1982, based on the movie Creepshow . The movie was directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King...
soon after the film's release, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson
Bernie Wrightson
Bernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...
, an artist fittingly influenced by the 1950s E.C. Comics.
A sequel, Creepshow 2
Creepshow 2
Creepshow 2 is an American horror comedy anthology film directed by Michael Gornick, who was George A. Romero's cinematographer on the original Creepshow. Released in 1987, the screenplay for Creepshow 2 was penned by Romero , and once again based upon stories by Stephen King...
was released in 1987, and was once again based on Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
short stories with a screenplay from Creepshow director George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
. The film contained only three tales of horror, as opposed to the original's five stories.
The general concept and plot of the film was adapted for the song "Everything Went Black" by The Black Dahlia Murder. However, the segments "They're Creeping Up on You," and "Father's Day" were omitted from the video.
On November 10, 2009, it was announced that Taurus Entertainment had a 3-D remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
planned.
Unofficial sequels
A further unofficial sequel, Creepshow III, featuring no involvement from Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
, or anyone else involved in the production of the first two films, was released direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
in 2007 (though it was finished in 2006) to mostly negative reviews. This film, in a fashion similar to the original Creepshow, features five short darkly comedic horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
stories. The company behind the film was Taurus Entertainment, also responsible for the in-name-only Romero sequel, Day of the Dead 2: Contagium
Day of the Dead 2: Contagium
Day of the Dead 2: Contagium is a 2005 horror film written by Ana Clavell and directed by Clavell and James Dudelson, starring Justin Ipock, Laurie Maria Baranyay and John F. Henry III. It is half a sequel and half prequel to Day of the Dead...
, a follow-up to 1985's Day of the Dead.
Creepshow make-up artist and Creepshow 2
Creepshow 2
Creepshow 2 is an American horror comedy anthology film directed by Michael Gornick, who was George A. Romero's cinematographer on the original Creepshow. Released in 1987, the screenplay for Creepshow 2 was penned by Romero , and once again based upon stories by Stephen King...
actor, Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
, has said that Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a 1990 movie directed by John Harrison based on the anthology television series Tales from the Darkside...
(1990) is the real Creepshow 3.
Television series
The moderate success of Creepshow sparked interest in a television series in the same mold. After a few changes, Laurel Productions renamed the television version Tales from the DarksideTales from the Darkside
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series produced by George A. Romero; it originally aired from 1983 to 1988. Similar to Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, The Outer Limits, and Tales From The Crypt, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot...
, which lasted four years (1984–88).
The series spawned a film adaptation very similar to Creepshow, entitled Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a 1990 movie directed by John Harrison based on the anthology television series Tales from the Darkside...
(1990), directed by Creepshow composer John Harrison
John Harrison (filmmaker)
John Harrison is a writer, director, producer and composer.Harrison was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS in Theater Arts. For several years after that, he performed on the road with his band Homebrew before moving back to Pittsburgh to take a...
.
The TV series was followed by a virtually identical series named Monsters
Monsters (TV series)
Monsters is a syndicated horror anthology series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. As of 2011, Monsters airs on NBC Universal's horror/suspense-themed cable channel Chiller in sporadic weekday marathons.In a similar vein to Tales from the...
, which lasted another three years (1988–91).
Creepshow 4 & Creepshow: RAW
Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
is one of the companies currently involved in developing a "revival" or remake of the film, to be titled Creepshow 4.
Taurus Entertainment (rights holders of the original Creepshow) have licensed the rights to Jace Hall
Jace Hall
Jason "Jace" Hall is an American film, television and video game producer, best known for being founder and Chief Executive Officer of Monolith Productions Inc and President of...
, of HDFILMS, a Burbank, California company, to produce Creepshow: RAW, a web series
Web series
A web series is a series of episodes released on the Internet or also by mobile or cellular phone, and part of the newly emerging medium called web television. A single instance of a web series program is called an episode .While the popularity of web series is continuing to rise, the concept...
based upon the original film.
The pilot episode for Creepshow: RAW wrapped on July 30, 2008. The pilot was directed by Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Valderrama
Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama is an American actor and television personality, known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show, hosting the MTV series Yo Momma, and voicing the character of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny.-Early life:Valderrama was born in Miami, Florida the son of...
and features Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
.