Creepshow: The Creep Comes To TV In New Series

It’s hard to beat the original Creepshow franchise. After all, Creepshow and Creepshow 2 are cult horror classics. I personally love both movies, with the horror elements mixed with humour and fun. The movies used camp exquisitely, and are the best films I’ve ever seen that look like they were made with fifteen dollars. And, they were both based off of Steven King stories, King himself writing the script for the first movie. They’re the perfect Halloween combo.

Something that helps the television adaptation is that both stories are directed by people who’ve worked on the original Creepshow franchise. In fact, Greg Nicotero, the director of the first vignette, and John Harrison, director of the second vignette, were both Assistant Directors of the original film.

Because of this, there’s a similarity between the first two movies and the series. I wouldn’t argue it’s entirely so, however, and there are plenty of things I’d have wanted to see from the original, but didn’t. For example, both films started off with The Creep, a grotesque zombie-like monster. In the movies he comes in a full prologue segment as one of the characters. Here, he’s in it for a few seconds in the interlude and at the end, laughing while doing something relating to the section beforehand, and nothing more. Both movies start off and end with a character named Billy, both big fans of the comic who represent nerdy, wimpy types. Both Billys always end up having to face some sort of aggressor, the father in the first film and bullies in the second. They are both basic protagonists, but they’re fun additions to the films that I always ended up enjoying. They’re the underdogs that always come up on top. Unfortunately, there is no “Billy” in this series.

The opening segment for the 2019 Creepshow is someone, presumably The Creep, opening a box nailed shut in a dusty room, revealing the box is filled with a bunch of Creepshow comics. The cover of one of them opens and the camera pans from panel to panel, eventually landing on one of them. It then proceeds to transition into the vignette by the panel fading into a real-life image, just like in the movies. While I did like the homage with the box to the box from the segment of the original Creepshow “The Crate” and the transition into the vignette, the rest feels lackluster.

The first segment, “Gray Matter”, is very entertaining and captures the heart of the original movies. It’s set in an old town, the dialogue is really campy, and there’s plenty of blood and gore to be found. The one thing I found most intriguing in this piece were the lighting and special effects. The former creates a dark, dismal atmosphere that feels perfect given the horror that ensues. But, there is an element of camp to all of it, particularly in details like the sounds of thunder. The latter was particularly important when it came to the final monster. I’m not going to fully reveal what it looked like, but let’s just say there was plenty of goo. Upon my first viewing, it caused me to back away from my laptop.

There is a spoiler in this section, so if you don’t want spoilers, skip to the next paragraph. One thing I will say of this section is that some of the more likable characters end up dying. In the movie, the writers intended for only the dislikable characters to die. If a likable character or a not unlikable character died it was usually due to the fact that the movies were made in the 1980s where women were shunned for being confrontational or sexual, and teenagers were more heavily despised if they didn’t abide by the law. This was meant to keep the tone lighthearted. Not that the quality of this section dampened as a result, but it is a deterrent for some that preferred likable characters to never die

It’s worth mentioning that Adrienne Barbeau, who plays Billie in the section of the original Creepshow segment, “The Crate” appears in this section playing Mrs. Parmalee, who runs the town’s convenience store. Also, for fans of Breaking Bad, Giancarlo Esposito, AKA Gus Fring, also appears, playing a doctor. Unfortunately for fans of the series, his talent is underutilized and he only plays a small part. So if you were planning on watching Creepshow to see him, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

The next vignette, titled “The House of the Head”, directed by John Harrison, is a stark contrast to the original franchise. This isn’t to say it’s bad, but for a show that seems to be so heavily influenced by the source material, this is very much not. There is very little blood and gore in the entire section, which, while it doesn’t detract from the quality of the vignette, it is a contrast to the original franchise. Creepshow is defined partially by the excessive blood and gore. This isn’t to say there’s no gore, but the amount is comparable to Jordan Peele’s Get Out. It’s there, but only for a few seconds.

This next part is a spoiler, so if you don’t want any spoilers, please skip to the next paragraph. In “The House of the Head”, no one dies. While some of the dolls featured do die, none of the actual people die, which, like the gore in the series, without it, separates the series from the source material.

That all being said, “The House of the Head” is truly scary. I felt a pit in my stomach after watching it. Arguably, it’s a little scarier than the first section, while still containing an element of fun and campiness. Additionally, it offers a lot of dark humor the first section does not offer without detracting from the horror aspects of it.

That all being said, “The House of the Head” is truly scary. I felt a pit in my stomach after watching it. Arguably, it’s a little scarier than the first section, while still containing an element of fun and campiness. Additionally, it offers a lot of dark humor the first section does not offer without detracting from the horror aspects of it.