Creepshow (1982)
We transition from the world of television to the world of comics with Creepshow! Creepshow comes from the minds of two of horror’s quintessential voices: director George A. Romero and screenwriter Stephen King. The duo decided to adapt a series of tales based on the legendary E.C. horror comics of the 1950s which would later be the inspiration for the 1980s television series Tales From the Crypt.
The film goes for hokier scares than the likes of Tales From the Hood or Twilight Zone: The Movie, but its inspirations are solid. “The Crate” is a fantastic creature feature involving an annoying wife and a strange ape-like creature; “Something to Tide You Over” is the most heavily reminiscent of Tales From the Crypt, as it’s about a psychopathic husband who kills his wife and her love via high tide only to be visited by their waterlogged spirits. And “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” is pretty dumb, but it gives us Stephen King playing a small-town yokel who discovers a dangerous meteorite.
Creepshow isn’t nearly as haunting as other anthology films, but its source material makes it perfect for the format, probably why the film saw two additional sequels, spin-offs, and the aforementioned rise of the Tales From the Crypt television show.
Rent on Amazon, YouTube, and Google Play.