The Most Fun You'll Ever Have Being Scared

Posted by E

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Greetings, kiddies. It's been quite awhile since Bonez last let me out of that locked basement to spread my filth across the multitudinous interwebs. I've had reasons for my disappearance and I hope to make it up to everybody in the near future, both here and on my personal blog. For those that are interested, I'm still alive. The primary cause for my absence was my battle with cigarettes. After @ 2 1/2 packs a day for 17 years, I've finally managed to kick the little buggers. Anybody who knows me personally can attest that E without his cigs is generally not a very nice or contented person. But, enough of this shameless self promotion...

Seeing as this is October and I am an enormous fan of horror films, I find it fitting that my triumphant return to Bonez should be heralded by the glorious trumpets of terror. In this particular missive, I would like to dedicate some time to the 1982 film, Creepshow. Creepshow was written by Stephen King and directed by George Romero. It is an homage to the EC comics of the 1950's, both in style and substance. It is also one of the formative bricks in my personality, being a movie that both repelled and attracted me as a child, to the point where I would watch daily and then be unable to sleep as a result.

Creepshow is presented, not as one continuous story, but as a series of five stories, analogous to The Haunt of Fear or The Vault of Horror. Between and around these stories is a short vignette that ties everything together, allowing the stories to exist both on their own and as part of a larger whole. Much like the source material it derives from, Creepshow is both terrifying and darkly humorous.

The writing across the board is excellent, with King spinning yarns about vengeful corpses, bloodthirsty creatures and alien infestations. Every story is unique, and with the possible exception of The Crate, very short and to the point.

In order to stay true to the feel of the comics, many scenes are framed and lit as if they were, in fact, panels from a book. This adds to the film with interesting results, helping to either repulse the audience or heighten a bit of humor.

FX master Tom Savini lends his talents to the film, bringing to life many creations, the most endearingly popular one being Fluffy from "The Crate". (Although I must profess a personal preference to the re-animated Nathan Grantham, as he scared the living tar out of me as a child.)

I'd love to write ad infinitum about the various segments and their inherent awesomeness, but part of the purpose of this post is to expose those who might not have seen the movie. As each story is so short, to merely discuss them would be to risk giving away too much.

In short, I see Creepshow as one of the last great horror films. It is accessible, fun and scary all at the same time and would make a great pre-Halloween warmup.