Review:
This review is part of writhaus’ coverage of the 1982 Film Fest at the Areo Theater in Santa Monica, Calif.
Stephen King and George Romero sat on King’s porch in Maine. They talked of their love of old EC Comics and decided to make an homage they would call Creepshow.
Romero’s anthology features full-on scares and more tongue-in-cheek horror as it follows the exploits of a college professor (Hal Holbrook) with an overbearing wife (Adrienne Barbeau), a husband (Leslie Nielsen) with murder on the brain for his wife and her lover (Ted Danson), a businessman (E.G. Marshall) with a fear of germs, a country farmboy (Stephen King) with a complete lack of luck, and a Father’s Day family gathering gone awry when a dearly departed family member shows up looking for his cake.
The acting is solid and suiting to the sometimes over-the-top nature of the stories being told. When King exclaims, “Meteor shit!” we know immediately the kind of character he is playing. Barbeau is nails-on-a-blackboard perfect as Holbrook’s terror of a wife. The editing is well-done with a nod to the film’s comic book inspiration. It’s apparent on screen that Romero had a lot of fun, and that sense of fun passes through to the audience as they watch. The effects are done by longtime Romero collaborator Tom Savini and are up to his usual gruesome standards.
The print exhibited by American Cinemateque as part of their 1982 Film Fest was in good shape, although it did bear the marks of time with some dust apparent and the occasional green scratch, but as less of a crown jewel for Warner Brothers, it still looked quite good for its age.