Dir. George A. Romero (1982)
A series of tales from a comic book highlight this iconic anthology from two horror masters.
When you mention horror to anyone who's not familiar with the genre, you're likely to find two names come up in conversation: Stephen King and, to a lesser extent, George Romero. Both the author and the filmmaker have become legends in the genre, with a long history of producing some of the most well-known pieces of art in the history of horror. When they came together to produce 1982's Creepshow, they leaned heavily into the history of horror in the comic book medium, making a film that carried with it both the aesthetics and the moral preachiness of the books that so many of the earlier horror creators grew up reading. Even today, 42 years after it was released, it's still a wonderful blast from the past that delivers literally everything that horror fans know and love about the genre most dear to their hearts.
The film opens with a young boy (Joe Hill) being taken to task by his abusive father (Tom Atkins) for reading horror comics, something that I think a lot of horror fans have experienced in their lives. After his dad throws the comic in the trash, the audience is treated to a series of stories about everything from the living dead to voodoo dolls, with some stellar effects from another legendary figure, Tom Savini. With tales of revenge and comeuppance, Creepshow delivers the same type of morality tales made famous by the old EC Comics with books like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror.
That is, ultimately, why Creepshow works so well even today. A lot of horror is focused on people getting what they deserve, where even those who audiences would normally pity meeting their ends because of terrible decision-making and general hubris. It's easy to root for the monsters when their victims are terrible people, and Creepshow delivers these morally-failing characters in abundance. We've got business titans who make money with no regard to the people that it hurts, vindictive lovers who sadistically toy with those they believed have scorned them, and more, lots of evil folks getting exactly what they deserve. It's a staple of the genre, and it's something that you can tell Romero and King relished putting their own spin on in this film.
Everything about Creepshow feels like it was made for those kids who loved the books, though it's a hell of a lot more brutal than films like this would usually be. Savini puts out some excellent effects in the film, with lots of blood and some great practical effects delivering death and dismemberment in bright-red vignettes of terror. There are some gnarly death scenes in the film, and while most of the comics on which the movie was based tend to leave these things dimly lit or off-screen altogether, we get to see some stellar kills, as cheesy as they often are, in gory detail.
Creepshow may well be the best anthology film ever made just because of how horror it is. There are a ton of recognizable faces, with hammy roles for Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Harris, Ted Danson, Atkins, Savini, and even King himself (in arguably the worst short in the film, though even his tale was pretty entertaining with his terrible performance fully on display). Each of the stories is entertaining, though The Crate probably stands out as one of the more memorable segments in any anthology film. If you're a fan of Tales from the Crypt or any of the old weekly horror television shows, you're likely to really enjoy this one. If you haven't seen it already, you definitely need to do so, and if you have, it's certainly time for a revisit.
Who this movie is for: Anthology film fans, Short horror lovers, Bad fathers
Bottom line: Creepshow is one of the best anthology films ever made, and it's full of horror legends both above and below the line. There's some fantastic gore, some excellent morally-based horror, and some fantastic actors hamming it up for the cameras in a film that must've been just as fun to make as it is to watch. If you've somehow avoided this one up to now, fix that immediately. It's a damn fun film, especially for this time of year.