The best in horror anthology?
We all know and love the film 'Creepshow'.
If you don't like it, you're in a very strange minority and if you don't know what it is, you must have been living under a rock.
'Creepshow' is probably the best Comedy Horror Anthology to exist. I say Comedy Horror, as will a lot of people, but to be perfectly honest there isn't really any comedy in the film. Not until the ''dream'' sequence of someone shooting his wife and everybody laughing in the short ''The Crate''.
So let's just call it a Horror anthology.
Written by Stephen King, and Directed by George A. Romero, two of horrors greats.
Let me take you now on a journey....
We start with the first part of the wraparound story, the prelude and acting force to bring us into the main film and its stories.
A father isn't too happy about his son (played by Stephen King's son Joe King, a.k.a the author Joe Hill) reading horror comics, so throws out 'Creepshow' in the trash.
When the son goes to bed, he is met with a gruesome character outside his window, The Creep.
The Creep beckons the child closer, to listen to his tales, the tales from the thrown out comic.
I won't really spoil any of the stories, in case you haven't seen the film, but I shall do a quick write up of each story.
- Our first story is 'Father's Day', written specifically for the film by King.
First off I have to say, the Blu-Ray is worth buying alone for how stunningly beautiful this story looks from its restoration.
Also just to see Ed Harris doing his goofy dance in HD.
The story is all about a greedy old man who is killed by his daughter Bedelia, but he comes back from the dead. And he wants his Father's day cake.
- Second, we have 'The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill' which was originally known as 'Weeds' adapted from an existing short by King.
This one is the most boring in my eyes. It doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of the stories, and isn't half as entertaining as them. It is quite funny watching Stephen King trying to act however.
The story shows a lonely man finding a meteorite that has crashed to earth, dreaming of making money, but something happens that wasn't exactly planned.
- Our third story, 'Something to Tide You Over'. Another story written specifically for the film.
This one is one of my favourites, to see Leslie Nielson as a crazy psycho is something amazing as he plays the character so well.
A Husband knows his wife is cheating on him, so he kidnaps them both and buries them with only their heads sticking out the sand.
- Fourth is 'The Crate'. Adapted from a previous story.
Definitely a fun one, and Fluffy is just adorable.
A crate is found that holds a creature within.
A man isn't happy with his wife anymore. Is this the way out of his horrid marriage?
- And last but not least, 'They're Creeping Up On You!'. The final story was written specifically for the film.
To me, another boring one, not for the squeamish though, co*ckroaches ahoy!
A ruthless tycoon finds himself helpless when he ends up locked in his own apartment during a blackout.
He's stamped on little people before, but now the co*ckroaches will stamp on him!
We then finish the film with the epilogue, the second part of the wraparound story.
The kid whose comic book was thrown out?
Well, lets just say he gets his revenge...
For the film itself, I would give it a high 8/10.
The only things about the film I would change are the two of the stories that don't really interest me.
I'd happily replace them with 'Creepshow 2's two segments 'The Raft' and 'The Hitch-hiker'.
It would then be a perfect, and extremely creepy horror anthology.
But we aren't here to only talk of the film, we're here to talk of the Blu-Ray release.
It of course looks and sounds more beautiful than ever, especially with its old 50's style comic look.
The Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director George A. Romero and Special Effects Creator Tom Savini, and Director of Photography Michael Gornick. - A straight forward commentary with George and Tom, I believe it's the same one as on the 2007 2 disc DVD release of the film.
- Audio Commentary with Director of Photography Michael Gornick, Actor John Amplas, Property Master Bruce Alan Green, and Make-Up effects assistant Darryl Ferruci. - This isn't really an audio commentary as explained at the beginning by Michael. It's actually a set of interviews with some people he couldn't get on the making of documentary a few years prior. This is also the only new special feature on the Blu-Ray, and they speak about camera angles, sets, creatures, and a lot about them damn co*ckroaches.
- Just Desserts: The Making Of Creepshow: A Feature Length Documentary with Cast and Crew. (1 hour 29mins) - An extremely interesting documentary on the 'Creepshow' film, it tells a lot about horror in general and how EC comics inspired the film and more, even little personal tidbits of lives of the cast and crew.
- Tom Savini's Behind The Screams (26 mins) - A very old look at mainly the special effects behind the scenes of the flick, which starts off showing the movement of The Creep character. What I liked most was the birth of Fluffy, used in 'The Crate', what we have to remember here is that this was before all the animatronics and CGI they used and use nowadays, and they did extremely well with what they had.
- Deleted Scenes (15 mins) - It first tells us about the deleted scenes and which segments they are from. It's from these the most where we can see just how the quality has changed from the old theatrical release to the new Blu-Ray release.
Some of the deleted scenes are worth watching as they let you know a good bit more of the stories, but some are just the usual old cutting room floor rubbish. - We then have the Theatrical Trailer, TV Spot, and Stills Gallery.
So in all, as I've mentioned, the only new special feature is the second audio commentary.
And with it only being interviews, it's definitely interesting but I think it would have fit better if they were classed as interviews, not commentary. At least Michael actually tells us where the Ashtray used in 'Fathers Day' pops up again in each segment. (He only tells us this at the end of the film when he finally remembers though haha).
Again, for some reason no subtitles.
I don't know why Second Sight keep releasing films with no subtitles, hopefully they will start doing, as for some reason I always prefer to have them on, and if you're slightly deaf or dead, you just might need them on.
Still in all, even though with mostly the old special features we had on the 2 disc DVD edition, I still have to give this Blu-Ray release a 9.5/10.
It's a wonderful film, with a wonderful restoration and wonderful special features.
It's just a shame it didn't really have anything new.
You can pre-order the new Blu-Ray just in time for Halloween here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creepshow-Blu-ray-Hal-Holbrook/dp/B00E8CZBMI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378936012&sr=8-1&keywords=creepshow+blu+ray
And for that price, I wouldn't complain.
