E.C. Comics Final Exam

CREEPSHOW (1982)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Creepshow" is vintage E.C. Comics horror, with the emphasis on comic-book. Sometimes there are those dutch angles with key lighting changes from one shot to the next, and sometimes the shot changes into various panels from a comic-book page. It is not a scary film but it is a devilishly funny film, one that is sure to remind many of the old horror anthologies from the 1970's, such as "Twice Told Tales" or "Tales From the Darkside."

The five horror tales involve aspects many of us can relate to. A crate holding a werewolf in a cobwebbed basement does two fundamental things - it establishes a setting that is normally unwise for anyone to peruse in, and it establishes that curiosity about a packed, sealed crate that can lead to trouble. Another rather offputting yet vivid tale deals with the lonely Jordy Verrill (Stephen King) who unwisely touches a piece of meteorite that slowly turns him into Plant Thing (the sound effects of unseen plant life growing will give a good fright, especially for those who live in a farm). Even better is the rich Wall Street germophobe (E.G. Marshall) who lives in a high-rise apartment and keeps finding cockroaches infesting his home.

Two tales fall a little flat though they are still somewhat memorable. One involves the wealthy Rich Vickers (Leslie Nielsen, proving he could play sociopathic men better than anyone) who discovers his wife is cheating on him with another guy (Ted Danson). Rich forces Danson's character to be buried in the beach up to his neck, forcing the tide to drown him (Rich's wife undergoes the same torture). Some of this episode is far meaner than I expected (the beach scenes are too overcast) but it does give you goosebumps despite its few lulls.

Lastly, "Father's Day" has Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) visiting her father's grave - she killed the stingy bastard with a marble ashtray. The reasons have to do with Bedelia falling in love with a man whom her father had killed. Mixed in this episode is some atrocious acting by Ed Harris (his dance routine proves white men can't dance) and some rich, whiny folks waiting for Bedelia to come home. Easily the worst of the bunch but four decent stories out of five isn't too bad.

There is an inexplicable prologue and epilogue with a devoted Creepshow comic-book fan who despises his overbearing father (Tom Atkins) so much that the kid mail-orders a voodoo doll. Something about those scenes falls somewhere between the comical and the macabre. "Creepshow" is often nasty fun but some of it, as strong and vivid as director George Romero makes it, can feel like needles penetrating your tongue. It is comic-book macabre but you might not respect yourself in the morning. On the other hand, that may be precisely the point.