Customer Reviews

Creepshow (Snap Case Packaging)

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Being a fan of both Stephen King and George Romero, "Creepshow" has always been among my favorite horror flicks. Campy at times perhaps, but that's the whole point - to bring a comic book feel to film. And it offers a perfect balance of silly comic horror and genuine horror, making for a very enjoyable viewing experience if one remembers not to take it too seriously.

What you get is 5 mini stories, some of them better than others but all offering plenty of shocks and chills. It opens with "Father's Day," where a deceased victim of murder rises from the grave for a nice little Father's Day surprise. One of the better ones. "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" follows, where Stephen King takes on the lead role as a hillbilly who finds a meteor with a nasty habit of making green hair grow on, well, everything. This one is more funny than scary but still good. King does a great job as the clumsy and unintelligent-but-likeable Jordy Verrill. Next up is "Something to Tide You Over," where a vengeful man (Leslie Nielsen) gets even on his cheating wife and her lover (Ted Danson) by burying them both in the sand and letting the tide take care of the rest. This is my second favorite of the bunch. It's cool to see Nielsen take on the role of the "bad guy" for a change. Goes to show his versatility as an actor. Ted Danson is great too. What follows is "The Crate," in my opinion the best one. It's also the longest one. Hal Holbrook plays a loser whose nasty wife gets what she deserves when he finds a mysterious blood-thirsty creature locked away in an old crate. This is the darkest and creepiest of the stories. Pure fun, with top-notch acting from everyone. The final story, "They're Creeping Up On You," is the only one I've never liked. An eccentric millionare with a roach phobia just can't seem to get rid of his little crawling friends no matter what he does. Anyone who doesn't like roaches is advised to skip this one. The final scene will take away your appetite for at least a few days.

Now that I've talked about the movie itself (easily 5 stars), I have to comment on this sorry excuse for a DVD (0 stars). This has to be THE worst transfer ever put on DVD. I used to think it couldn't get any worse than the first edition single-disc transfer of "Scarface," but I was wrong. "Creepshow" was put on DVD just for the sake of putting it on DVD. NO CARE whatsoever was put into presentation. As another reviewer has mentioned, the movie literally "jumps" throughout the entire time. Grain and those annoying "hairs" appear on the screen almost every second. The VHS offers better picture quality; that says a lot. The only bonus feature of this DVD is the trailer, which I suppose is cool, but let's get real. Another slap in the face is the scene selections. The inside of the DVD case advertises 41 scene selections in the "Scene Index" card, but that's misleading, as the movie only has 21 actual scene selections. So if you want to watch one specific scene, 9 times out of 10 you will need to select the *closest* scene to the one you want and end up scanning forwards or backwards to get to the one you really want. Yet another example of a poorly thought-out DVD.

Bottom line: "Creepshow" is a great cult flick that deserves a MUCH better DVD. If you have the VHS stick with that. Only get this DVD if you no longer own a VCR or absolutely must own all of your movies on the DVD format. "Creepshow 2" recently got a new DVD edition that does it justice, so maybe there's some hope that "Creepshow" will eventually get the same treatment someday. Until then, we must settle for this lackluster DVD.

How can i ever express my glee toward this 1982 film? From the first viewing i fell in love with the timeless horror classic. This particular entry into the genre is notable for its uncannyand faithful tribute to the 1950's horror comics (as distributed by EC Publishing), its comical charm, its fantastic effects, and its cult creators (Stephen King and George Romero, and effects by fan fave Tom Savini). Packed with five stories of the macabre this film is bound to please fans of horror as well as kids, adults, and most other moviegoers with its immortal style. The first tale provides us with a story regarding a cranky old man that was murdered by his daughter on Father's Day because she grew weary of his actions against her. Knowing that you are watching a Romero/King flick only can assure you of the fun to come from said situation. The second tale of terror stars none other than Stephen King in what is perhaps horror film's most enjoyable guest star role. King plays a simple hick who comes across a meteor which spreads its reign of terror around his home. King provides us with a truly memorable and quirky performance that is sure to remain in most people's minds. The third tale involves a cheating wife and the vengeance of her spiteful husband on both she and her "other" man...naturally taking up on the EC tradition we can only expect the worse lesson for the wrath-ridden husband via supernatural means. The fourth tale is about a strange crate that is discovered beneath the steps of a college stairwell. Within lie the mysterious contents of an Artic expedtion...that we all know will only wreak their havoc. The final creepout is slowly presented to us in the form of an evil tycoon with nothing on his mind but money...and getting rid of filthy cockaroaches (or vice versa?). Each story is fantastically told and to top it all off we are provided with a wraparound tale that introduces the whole chi-bang. This is what fun is all about. No need to take this serious just watch it for the enjoyability factor and you won't be disappointed. Fans will also find, much to their pleasure, a wide array of bedazzling special effects, oddball lighting, unique characters, and overall good direction and storytelling. A definite addition to any sane person's video library. The dvd version is creepshow at its best. Presented in the best color, picture, and sound ever, don't fret video buyers because the dvd sports nothing extra that you might be missing. Regardless of the lack of extra features this dvd is a no miss. Buy it

I grew up watching this movie whenever and wherever. I like to think that the writers of Creepshow educated me in how to handle life's many problems and keep a smile on my face while doing so. I was amazed at how the remains of Nathan Grantham, the murdered patriarch of the Grantham family, exacted revenge on his ungrateful family, and he even managed to get his Father's Day cake in the end! And for all of you people on the old ball and chain, look at the way in which Henry dealt with his horrifying wife Wilma. This just goes to show us that sometimes, seeminlgy awful situations can work in our favor. Oh, and if you like cockroaches, then this movie is definately for you.

Creepshow is a well made horror/comedy from writer Stephen King and director George Romero. The movie is five tales about a man rising from dead wanting revenge,a dumb farmer(King) that had a meteorite landing on his farm and then turning him into a plant and his whole farmland turns the color green,a millionare buries a man on the beach and him and his dead girlfriend come back and take their revenge,a monster in a crate,and a professor and his loathe of cockroaches. Each tale is well made and well directed though the third one is the weakest the last one is the best. The movie is directed like a comic book with red and blue lighting in the scenes looking like a comic and there is cartoon segments. Anchor Bay needs to release a special edition just like they did with Creepshow 2(Decent sequel). The VHS version is the best way to watch while the DVD is bare-bones and fans complain the picture and transfer is terrible. The cast is good and includes E.G. Marshall,Adrienne Barbeau,Ted Danson,Leslie Nielsen,Hal Holbrook,Ed Harris,and Stephen King. Every horror/comedy fan should have Creepshow in their collection.

This is my top ten favorite horror movies along with carrie, the company of wolves, and the shining. i have seen this movie so many times and it never gets old.
A boy's father catches him reading a horror magazine and it gets thrown in the trash. from the magazine comes 5 stories Fathers day(my favorite) about a rich old man who died and is now coming form his grave to get his fathers day cake, and he wont take no for an answer. the second one is funny not scary in the lonesome death of jordy verrill. played by stephen king. a meteor explodes in his frontyard and before you can say meteor**** he i sa walking weed. the third is something to tide you over about a jealous husband who gets revenge on his wife and her lover. but they come back to get their revenge also. the fourth called the crate is about a man who hates his drunken wife(hilariously played by adrienne barbeau) adn when he finds a crate with a surprise inside what a surprise is in store for his wife. the last is they're creeeping up on you about a horrible selfish man who hates cockroaches. but in the end the cockroaches gets the last word. this movie is both scary and hilarious. one of my favorites. its twenty years old and it still holds up! the acting direction and the soundtrack is excellant!

What I love most about "Creepshow" is the homage it pays to the EC comics of the1950's, of which I have always been a fan. That, and the fact that I have enjoyed every single George Romero movie to date, when the ones fans and critics hated. Since the movie is told in a comic book style narrative, with 5 separate stories, I will review it as such:

1. Father's Day. Your classic EC story of revenge from the grave. Nathan, the patriarch of a wealthy family, was murdered by his daughter on father's day. When the family gathers for their annual celebration, he decides to seek his revenge from beyond the grave. Let's just say that he want's to have his cake, and eat it to. Standard horror comic formula has it's moments, one of which is a young Ed Harris, but is nothing special. ***

2. The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril. Stephen King himself flexes his comis muscle as a less-than-bright country bumpkin who discovers a meteor in his back yard one night, and upon touching it, starts to sprout green plants. His fate is sealed as he so aptly states "I'm growing". Is the funniest of the lot, with a bit of horror and a bit of absurdity. ***

3. The Crate. When a Janitor finds an empty crate under the stairs of a local university, one man must deal with the consequences of what he unleashes when he opens it. Apparently, it contains a prehistoric beast that can devour a human whole. What the man also contends with is his obnoxious, alcoholic wife (played very well by Adrienne Barbeau). How can he solve both problems? The is probably the best story in the whole movie, and by far the bloodiest. ****

4. Something To Tide you Over. Wentworth (Ted Danson) intends on marrying Rebecca (Romero regular Gaylen Ross). One problem is her current husband, Richard (Leslie Nielson), he is a little less than sane. When he kidnaps Rebecca, Wentworth must save her. But in order to do so, he must go through what she does. Richard lives on the ocean, in which the tide is an ominous sign of things to come. One of the most serious and terrifying stories in this movie. Good performances all around, but it is very similar to the first story. ***

5. They're Creeping Up On You. Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall is a standout performance) is an obsessive-compulsive millionaire who lives in an incubated, germ-proof apartment. The only problem is that he is infested with cockroaches, lots of them. On the eve of a hostile takeover by his company, his cockroach problem intensifies. His evil ways are about to be punished at the hands of thousands of roaches. Definitely the most skin-crawling of all the stories, and my personal favorite. This one you have to see to believe. ****

The DVD package is what keeps this from being a 4 or 5 star review. It is barren of anything other than the movie and an attractive widescreen transfer. The only special feature is a theatrical trailer. Other than that, there is nothing. Worse yet, Warner (as is their habit) released this movie in a cheap "Snapper" case, which is cheap cardboard with a plastic frame. This always kills it for me. Other than that, the movie is fine, and still one of my favorite Halloween party movies. Filled with fine acting, writing, and imaginative directing by Romero, this movie is a winner.

The teaming of Stephen King and George Romero is a Horror classic! The stories alone aren't exactly scary, save for "The Crate" which is a stand alone scarefest. But nonetheless this video is an essential purchase for any Horror fan! Five stories, all written by Stephen King are contained within.

"Father's Day" is about a mean spirited old man who comes back from the grave to give his even meaner family their just desserts.

"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril" stars King himself as a lonely farmer who finds a meteor and its strange growing properties. King's performance is hilarious, as is his Chia Pet transformation.

"Something To Tide You Over" is a great story, starring Leslie Nielson and Ted Danson. About a slighted man's revenge toward his wife and her lover. And how the tide has a habit of bringing things back. Up until the end this is a highly original thriller, with a seriously twisted murder weapon. Entertaining, but not scary.

"The Crate" is the best of the bunch, a scary monster story. Hal Holbrook is a professor with a problem. His wife. When he's asked to help a colleague with something very old and dangerous that lives in a crate and likes to eat people, he thinks of the perfect meal for the creature. Graphic, violent, and strangely funny this is reason enough to purchase this movie.

"They're Creeping Up On You" is about a very powerful old man who likes to step on those who get in his way. But he has a deep fear of bugs. Probably the worst of the bunch, but worth watching for the end.

The comic book element throughout, and a very nasty ending brought to us by a disobedient child and a mail order voodoo doll. Creepshow is a must have for the Horror fan, especially if you ever read any of the old E.C. comics which can still be obtained through reprint editions at your local comic book store.

This is one of the most original horror films of all time. Taking inspiration from the EC comics of the 50's ("Tales From the Crypt", "Vault of Horror") Stephen King and George Romero present five gruesome, yet humorous tales slickly tied together by some animated segments.

There is some really awesome special effects by wizard Tom Savini and some surprising good actors show up-(Ted Danson, E.G. Marshall, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris.) The directing is clever, especially when Romero uses split screen techniques to simulate the look of a comic book.

The plots may seem shallow, but if your're a fan of those old horror comics you'll "get it." The worst thing you can say about it: Tom Atkins and Stephen King cheese it up for the worst acting awards.

Added plus: Michael Kamen's amazingly chilling score.

PLOT: A father (Tom Atkins) finds out that his son Billy (Joe King) has been reading a comic book entitled "Creepshow." The father becomes outraged, grounds his son, and throws the comic book in the garbage. Suddenly the Creep shows up to narrate the comic book's five jolting tales of horror.

Father's Day: Every father's day there is a family gathering at the Grantham mansion. This year is no exception. Hank Blaine (Ed Harris) has recently married into the family and he wonders why Aunt Bedelia Grantham (Viveca Lindfors) hasn't shown up yet. The rest of the family tell him the story about how Bedelia's father, Nathan Grantham, was such an evil and demanding man. He was so evil that he had Bedelia's fiancee secretly murdered and covered up so she could still take care of him. On one father's day, Nathan became so annoying in demanding his father's day cake that Bedelia murdered him by bashing him over the head with a marble ash tray. The murder was covered up. Every father's day since, Bedelia returns to the Grantham mansion and meditates at her father's grave site first before going into the house. But this year, Nathan is planning on coming back for his revenge... and his cake.

The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill: Jordy Verrill (Stephen King), a stereotypical redneck, discovers a meteorite which crash landed on his property. Jordy immediately thinks about selling it to a college so he can get rich. He pours cold water on it to cool it down but this causes it to crack in half. Jordy's dreams are smashed to bits, but then he thinks that he could perhaps glue it back together. He pours out the blue liquid from inside the meteorite and then he collects the two halves. He goes back into his house and then starts to realize that everything that got that blue liquid on it is slowly starting to grow vegetation, including himself. What can he do to stop the growth of these... weeds?

Something To Tide You Over: Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is suddenly woken up one morning by someone knocking at his door. He discovers that it is Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen). Richard has recently discovered that Harry was having an affair with his wife, Becky (Gaylen Ross). Harry says that Becky just wants out of the marriage and that she doesn't even want alimony or any other divorce benefits. Richard admits that he didn't even love Becky, but he is intent on keeping what is rightfully his. He then lets on that Becky may be in danger in a hidden spot on the beach. Richard tricks Harry and burries him up to his head in sand. He shows him a TV monitor of Becky (also burried up to her head in sand) further down the beach and drowning from the incoming tide. Harry knows that the tide will soon come in and drown him too. Richard drives away laughing, but what he doesn't know is that he is the one who is in real danger.

The Crate: A janitor at a university discovers a 130 year old crate inside a crawl space underneath some stairs. He calls Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver) who immediately drives over to the university to investigate it. Stenciled on the crate is some information about an arctic expedition. The two open up the crate and are horrified to find a living monster inside, which quickly grabs the janitor and pulls him inside. In terror, Stanley finds a grad student upstairs and tells him what happened. The two go downstairs and find the crate right back in the crawl space, as if someone or something had moved it back. The grad student goes to get a close look but the monster gets him too. Stanley goes to the home of his friend Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook). He tells him the story about the monster in the crate. Henry is very intrigued and thinks that he may have finally found a way to get rid of his alcoholic, emotionally abusive wife, Billy (Adrienne Barbeau).

They're Creeping Up On You: A cruel, rich businessman named Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is killing cockroaches in his germ-free apartment. Pratt may be evil, but he has one weakness: bugs!!! Every now and then he notices another cockroach in his apartment, and they seem to be bigger every time. Are the roaches slowly taking over his apartment? Is this some kind of punishment for his evil ways?

COMMENTS: This is an awesome film that was created due to a collaboration between two masters of horror: director George A. Romero (Night Of The Living Dead (1968), Dawn Of The Dead (1978), Day Of The Dead (1985)) and author Stephen King (Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining). This is their homage to the original E.C. comics of the 1950s (Tales From The Crypt, The Vault Of Horror, The Haunt Of Fear.) Instead of the narrator being the Cryptkeeper, it's the Creep. Romero uses several weird angles and exaggerrated lighting in the film so the audience feels like they are actually looking at the pages of a comic book. The stories are great and two of them were actually published as short stories. There is even a comic book adaptation of the film. The comic book used in the film was actually drawn and inked by some of the original E.C. artists. When King saw the cover of the comic book, he thought the boy looked like his son Joe (who was cast as Billy in the wrap-around story.) King himself even plays the part of Jordy Verrill and does a very convincing acting job. The film itself features an all-star ensemble cast. For a little piece of trivia, the marble ash tray showcased in "Father's Day" is actually shown in every single story. If you watch it, see if you can find it in each story; it's kind of like "Where's Waldo." The roaches that were used in "They're Creeping In Up On You" were specially imported from Brazil. The crew were so freaked out by them that no one wanted to handle them, not even George A. Romero. The story was filmed at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. Many of the roaches escaped the set and settled in steam vents all over the campus. Nests were found all over the campus for over ten years afterward. The film was so successful that a sequel was made in 1987. Romero didn't direct it, but he did write the screenplay which was based on some new stories by Stephen King. A second sequel is in the works and scheduled for a 2007 release, although neither Romero nor King will have anything to do with it. A remake is also in the works. This DVD features the film in both full screen and widescreen format [note: the widescreen version is just the full screen version with black bars added at the top and bottom.] The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer, but that's it for extras. I would recommend this film to any horror fan, and if you love Tales From The Crypt then you'll really love this.

That hand popping out of the grave still scares the crap out of me, and I've seen this movie three times! That's the joy of CREEPSHOW. Crafted by the inimitable Stephen King and the imaginative direction of George Romero, CREEPSHOW is a delightfully campy tribute to those great horror comics of the sixties and fifties. Utilizing bizarre and exaggerated lighting and camera angles, effectively moody music and hammy but good performances from a wide cache of actors, CREEPSHOW still manages to entertain, make us smile and even jump every once in a while. The best of the stories is THE CRATE, a tense and spooky tale of a creepy monster and a cuckolded husband's revenge. Brilliantly performed by Hal Holbrook, Fritz Weaver and the bombastic Adrienne Barbeau, this is a tight piece of film-making. The least effective is the Jordy Verill story, not just because Stephen King overdoes it, but it's just not that compelling a story. The other stories all have things going for them: E.G. Marshall in a Scroogelike performance as an evil man who gets bugged by some really ugly cockroaches; Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson in a cruel game of revenge that backfires; and of course the wonderfully satirical Father's Day where daddy wants his cake. We get Viveca Lindfors, Ed Harris and Carrie Nye in this one!
CREEPSHOW is inspired, and lovingly crafted to please audiences of both horror and comedy.