Creepshow

Plot synopsis:
A stern and tyrannical father named Stan (Tom Atkins) gets angry when he finds his young son Billy (Joe King) reading a grisly horror comic book entitled "Creepshow". After arguing with his wife and slapping Billy, Stan throws the comic in the garbage. A skeletal figure appears outside Billy's window, the Creep, who hosts the stories in the comic book. A wind draws the comic out of the garbage can, and the five stories within come to life, dissolving from illustrated comic frames to live-action frames at the beginning of each story, and vice-versa at the end of each story (each story is linked by short, animated interludes).1st story: "Father's Day" -- The Granthams are a wealthy family with a macabre annual celebration. Sylvia Grantham (Carrie Nye) gathers with her family members Richard (Warner Shook) and Cass (Elizabeth Regan), and the eccentric Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) on Father's Day. While they are waiting for Bedelia to arrive, the family members explain Bedelia's back story to Cass's new husband, Hank (Ed Harris).It seems that Bedelia's father, the now-deceased family patriarch Nathan, was pathologically jealous of Bedelia. After Nathan had her lover murdered in what was written off as a "hunting accident", Bedelia went over the edge. While caring for the elderly Nathan, Bedelia snapped and bashed Nathan's head in with a marble ashtray. The family conspired to make it look like an accident, and Nathan's massive wealth was divided among them equally. Ever since the time of the murder, which occurred on Father's Day, Bedelia visits her father's grave at the family estate, then joins the others in the mansion for dinner.This year, as Bedelia sits on Nathan's grave, Nathan's rotting corpse emerges from the ground and attacks her, strangling her to death. Nathan then exacts revenge on the rest of the family. Hank is squashed with a falling gravestone, the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Nann Mogg) is killed, and Nathan twists Sylvia's head off of her body. In a final gruesome joke, he 'surprises' Cass and Richard with Sylvia's head, decorated to look like a Father's Day cake, complete with burning candles.Story #2: "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" --
Jordy Verrill (Stephen King) is a simpleton who lives alone on his family's rundown farm. A meteor crashes to Earth, landing in his field, and Jordy has aspirations to sell the meteor to the local college for a small fortune -- two hundred dollars. He tries to pick up the meteor but it's too hot, and burns his fingers. Jordy's solution is to pour a bucket of water on it, but that causes it to split in two. A dejected Jordy sees his dream of a two hundred dollar windfall go down the drain. Still, he resolves to try and sell the halves, which are now covered in a greenish liquid.Later that night, the crater where the meteor landed is now covered in weird green plantlife, as is everything the meteor came into contact with. Jordy notices his fingers have green wounds on them, presumably from the burns, but later he discovers the alien vegetation, which has now covered the entire farm. Jordy realizes that the alien plant life is now growing on his skin. As the night progresses, Jordy becomes covered in shaggy green weeds, causing him to itch.Jordy's itching skin causes him to run a bath, but before he can get in, the image of his deceased father appears to him in the mirror and warns him against getting into the water, since the water is what makes the weeds grow. Jordy gets in anyway, and when morning dawns, Jordy has become a gigantic lumbering mass of alien vegetation. Desperate, he shoots himself in the head with a shotgun, revealing that the deep green weeds have even penetrated his brain.Story #3: "Something to Tide You Over" --
Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is awakened by a knock at his door from Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen). It seems that Harry has been having an affair with Richard's wife, Becky (Gaylen Ross), and Richard has come to confront him. Instead of attacking him, Richard plays him a cassette of Becky's terrified voice begging Harry for help. Harry accompanies Richard back to his private beachfront estate, where Richard forces him at gunpoint to climb into a hole in the sand on the beach. Burying Harry up to his neck, Richard then connects a television that displays live footage of Becky, also buried up to her neck in another location on the beach. The tide is already starting to come in and wash over her face. Harry realizes that they will both be dead soon; there is no reasoning with Richard, who seems to take great delight in his revenge. Richard abandons Harry and goes back to his beach house, where he watches the drowning deaths of both Becky and Harry on the video monitors. Before the last wave covers Harry's head, he vows revenge on Richard.Later that night, Richard is alone in the beach house when he seems to hear voices calling him. While he showers, two shuffling figures enter his home, defying the many security cameras and alarms that Richard has in place. When Richard emerges from the shower, he hears somebody in his house and immediately thinks it's Harry, somehow still alive. He is terrified to discover that the invaders in his home are the water-logged corpses of both Becky and Harry, both of them zombies covered in seaweed with green, pruning skin. Richard's gun has no effect; the zombies taunt him the same way he taunted them, and we finally see Richard, now completely insane, buried on the beach in the same way, waiting for the tide to come in. "I can hold my breath a looooooooooong time!" Richard yells crazily.Story #4: "The Crate" --
A janitor at Horlicks University, Mike (Don Keefer), discovers an old dusty crate behind a grate under a basement stairwell. He calls Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver) to investigate with him, drawing him away from a stuffy faculty gathering. At the gathering is Dexter's good friend, Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook). Henry is married to an obnoxious shrew of a woman named Wilma (Adrienne Barbeau). Wilma, who is continually drunk, embarasses herself and Henry at the party, and it seems as if she is about to ruin the friendship Henry shares with Dex. Henry, who is somewhat meek, fantasizes about ways to murder her.Back at the university, Dex and Mike pull the crate out from under the stairs and realize that it appears to have been under there since the late 1800s. A stamp on the outside of the wooden box indicates that it contains specimens from an arctic expedition. When the two of them open it, they sense movement from inside, and Mike is attacked by something when he puts his arm in the crate. Whatever it is pulls Mike inside, apparently eating him as it goes, and Dex catches a glimpse of a horrible, shaggy beast with huge teeth.Dex runs blindly from the lab and finds the only other person in the hall, a student named Charlie Gereson (Robert Harper). Charlie goes down into the the laboratory and finds it covered in blood, with no sign of the crate or the creature. Charlie and Dex find the crate back under the stairs, and when Charlie attempts to investigate, the creature attacks him and eats him, too.Dex is afraid to go to the police; instead he goes to Henry's house, and he arrives while Wilma is away for the evening. He tells Henry the story about the creature, and Henry knows Dexter has to be telling the truth. Henry hatches a plan. He gives Dex sleeping pills and leaves him locked in his study, asleep. Henry writes Wilma a note, concocting a bogus story designed to lure her to the laboratory. He gets there ahead of her and cleans up the evidence of the blood. Wilma can't resist Henry's trap, and she shows up at the university as planned. Henry lures her under the stairs and her obnoxious ranting draws the creature out of its crate. It eats Wilma before Henry's eyes; Henry then chains it inside the crate and dumps the crate into the deep water of a nearby quarry.When Dexter wakes up the next day, he and Henry vow to keep the secret of what really happened, and let the authorities deal with the disappearances. The final frames show the creature in its watery trap, tearing the crate to pieces and presumably escaping.5th and final story: "They're Creeping Up on You!" --
Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a neurotic business tycoon who lives in a sterile, white penthouse apartment atop a skyscraper in a major city. He communicates with the outside world via the telephone, treating his employees and subordinates in a cutthroat, heartless manner. One phone caller informs him that an employee, Norman Castonmeyer, has committed suicide because Pratt fired him. Pratt seems delighted rather than upset.Pratt is obsessed with cleanliness and has a huge phobia of bugs. Unfortunately, he keeps finding cockroaches in his apartment, which sets him on a rampage to correct the situation. He places telephone calls to the building superintendent and makes thinly veiled racial slurs in an attempt to intimidate the man.As Pratt finds more bugs in his apartment, someone gets through on his private line. Norman Castonmeyer's widow, Lenore (voiced by Gwen Verdon), calls Pratt to curse him for her husband's death. Pratt is amused by her melodramatic sadness, until the cockroaches multiply. He finds them in his food processor, bits of them surfacing in the grain cereal he eats. An electrical blackout occurs, and the roaches attack, swarming by the thousands everywhere in Pratt's apartment. Pratt retreats to his "safe room", a climate-controlled sleep chamber, just as the phone rings. Lenore Castonmeyer's voice curses him over and over "I hope you die! I hope you die!", and Pratt discovers his bed swarming with roaches. The roaches quickly cover him and Pratt suffers a heart attack. The power returns, the lights come back on, and the roaches are nowhere to be seen. Pratt's body lies inside the glass sleep chamber. The superintendent knocks at Pratt's door and laughs when Pratt doesn't answer, asking "Bugs got your tongue?" Suddnely, swarms of roaches burst from Pratt's body, so many that they nearly fill the glass chamber.The wraparound story with Billy concludes the next morning, when two garbage men (Marty Schiff and Tom Savini) discover the comic book next to the trash can in front of Billy's house. They leaf through it reverently and discover that someone has clipped a mail-in coupon for a genuine Haitian voodoo doll. Inside the house, Billy's father, Stan suddenly suffers neck pain, while up in his bedroom, Billy stabs a voodoo doll in his form of his cruel father repeatedly with a pin as payback for Stan tossing out his favorite comic book.Like each story in the comic book, this live action scene of Billy stabbing the voodoo doll becomes an illustrated comic book picture, and as the camera pulls back, we see that the comic's macabre "host", "The Creep", is holding the second issue of the "Creepshow" comic book in his boney hands, with Billy and his voodoo doll adorning the cover. The Creep titters, and a nearby candle flame goes out, plunging the scene into darkness.Credits begin to roll...(At the end of the credits, we once again hear The Creep's laughter).

Tags: comedy, dark, cult, horror, violence, psychedelic, revenge

Review:
A couple of Romero regulars such as his wife Christine, Tom Savini and who can forget Stephen King as Jordy Verill.Creepshow is a true modern day horror classic.
The film centers around five stories - consisting of a murderous revenge tale of a father on fathers day ; a redneck (played by Stephen King himself) who begins growing a green substance on his body after coming in contact with a meteor ; a man who buries his wife and her lover up to their heads on the beach as the tide begins to come in ; a strange monster that lives in a crate that was discovered beneath a stairway ; and a Scrooge-like businessman who lives in a purely sanitized apartment that can't get rid of pesky cockroaches.Each of the stories displayed in this movie are a little bit corny to a certain extent, but they are still well done and are quite amusing.
I thought that whole comic aspect was pretty unique, and I liked the stories in the film ("The Crate" is by far the best of them all, the one with Leslie Nielsen is my runner up for second place).Bottom line - if you are expecting some serious, intense horror movie, this is not for you.
George A.Romero("Dawn of the Dead","Day of the Dead","Martin")after huge success with "Dawn of the Dead" directed his another masterpiece-an anthology of five short stories called "Creepshow".The script was written by Stephen King,and the special effects were made by F/X wizard Tom Savini("Martin","Maniac","The Prowler").The first story "Father's Day" is so-so-nothing special,but the zombie looks terrific;the second story "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril" is the funniest,Stephen King steals the show as a Jordy,a goofy farmer,who finds a strange meteor;the third story "Something To Tide You Over" is my favourite-it's ghastly,creepy,funny and a little bit disturbing,again great make-up of the drowned zombies;the fourth story "The Crate" is the longest and goriest-there's a lot of suspense and plenty of gore mixed with black humour.Finally we are getting to the last story "Creeping Up On You"-an enjoyable story about cockroaches with some rather gross special effects.Overall I must say that I love "Creepshow"-surely they don't make them like this anymore.This is a REAL horror,not a teen-oriented garbage like "Scream" or "Urban Legend".Check it out..
The one segment I dislike is Something To Tide You Over, as it's a particularly nasty and sadistic story (despite the just desserts moral).Overall, this has a worthy place in the annals of 80s horror and will always hold fond memories for me; a young boy who just wanted to see that crate monster tear his victims apart like sour bread..
Despite some major problems (mainly contained in Stephen King's uneven and often heavy-handed script), this is still a pretty fun attempt to bring 1950s EC horror comics to the big screen.
Each tale has a different horror theme usually tempered with some comedy and ranging from a rich patriarch returning from the dead to get revenge on his obnoxious family to a meteor that causes an outbreak of vegetation to a fanged, ape-like creature that's been locked away in a crate for decades.
This movie is divided in five stories, conducted by a leading segment where the stressed father of a boy that loves horror comic books throws his Creepshow magazine in the garbage.
George A Romero & Stephen King combine here to give us 5 joyously silly tales based on the style of the E.C. Comics that both men loved as youths.The film begins with a young boy having his comic collection thrown away by his father, this angers the boy and he plots evil revenge that segues into the five stories."Father's Day" is the opening story and whilst it isn't short on the camp factor, it's a very inauspicious start, a zombie father returns to enact vengeance on his horrid family in the name of cake!
We then get to my personal favourite of the bunch with "Something To Tide You Over," here we have a delightfully villainous Leslie Nielson burying his unfaithful wife and her lover {Ted Danson} in the sand up to their necks as the tide starts to come in, naturally there is a grizzly twist a coming."The Crate" sees the arrival of Hal Holbrook and Adrienne Barbeau into the proceedings, a smart message of not opening crates marked with "Danger, Do Not Open," and here we get a genuinely scary monster into the show.
Stephen King as Jordy Verril was surprisingly good(considering he sucks at acting in almost everything he's ever done), Leslie Nielson and Ted Danson killing each other were brilliant (you've come a long way, Becker), and the rest of the cast is just fabulous.
"Creepshow" doesn't have the nihilistic undertone of Romero's usual work or King's expected psychological torture because it is meant to simply be a fun experience.If you're a horror buff, you know Romero has long credited the classic EC horror comics of the 50s (e.g. Tales From the Crypt) as his inspiration.
A zombie who wants his Father's Day Cake, a hillbilly assuming a meteorite will fetch him a mere $200, a man feeding his nagging-boozed up wife to a snarling beast; the tales drip with not just blood but a comical yet stinging look at banal archetypes.And the cast, let me tell ya, is damn good.
George Romero directs his only truly star studded cast with Hal Holbrook, Fritz Weaver, E.G. Marshall, Ed Harris, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Viveca Lindfors (& Stephen King).Its got humor, horror, passion play, revenge, tasmanian devils, life after death, millions of roaches and its sadisticly crafted by masters.
Stephen King and George Romero joined forces and brought us an anthology of short horror stories, tied together as stories in a 1950's style horror comic book.
The film includes five stories, all written by King: a deceased father returns from the grave for a special Father's Day reunion, a small-town simpleton dreams of riches when a strange meteor crashes on his property, a jolted husband exacts revenge on his cheating wife and her lover, a professor discovers a century-old secret hidden in a crate beneath the stairs, and a germophobic businessman's "germ-proof" apartment is invaded by cockroaches.
The stories are all tied together as part of a comic book with some cool illustrations used as transitions between each tale.I was surprised by some of the good performances in this movie.
Romero casts some of his regulars including John Amplas, Christine Forrest (now George's wife) and legendary make-up artist Tom Savini in small parts, but they are an excellent way to round out a magnificent cast.All of the stories are genuinely scary and funny at the same time, which is very hard to do.
Five short stories by horror master Stephen King are arranged here in comic book form and directed by George A.
Creepshow is a film by Stephen King and George Romero which features five different tales.
George Romero, Stephen King n Tom Savini gav a perfect homage to the EC and DC horror comics..
Famous horror writer Stephen King and legendary' zombie director George Romero team up to bring us a series of film shorts in a single package entitled CreepShow.
In the movie Creepshow, George Romero and Stephen King have created perfectly over the top renditions of 5 tales from the E.C. Comic series.
2. "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verril" (Stephen King) - A bit of comic relief, this tale is about a lonely country bumpkin who discovers a meteor that ends up having very curious effects and consequences.
Creepshow is one of the greatest Horror films ever made that combines amazing direction,a terrific all-star cast,hilarious and over the top Black Comedy,a great score and sensational special make-up effects.
Romero and Stephen King at their best.Inspired by the EC Comics from the 1950s,Creepshow is an anthology that tells five different stories of Horror that mixes together and combines monsters,insanity,macabre with a twisted sense of Humor.Creepshow is a brilliant and unforgettable Horror-Comedy Anthology classic that was a collaboration between Horror masters Director George A.
What makes Creepshow such an amazing and great Horror Film is that it takes the style and influence of the EC Comics of the 1950s and gives viewers a movie that has five stories that mixes terror and laughs with an over the top style that is straight out of a Comic Book and is done in a surreal and demented way and never stops until the very end and will keep viewers are entertained for 120 minutes.
What is also great about Creepshow is the well known actors in the cast that is one of the most memorable casts I have ever seen in a Horror film or Anthology movie that includes Hal Holbrook,Lesile Nelson,Ted Danson,Ed Harris,Adrienne Barbeau,E.G Marshall,Tom Adkins and Stephen King and more.
Romero,Stephen King,Horror films or Anthology movies,I highly suggest you see Creepshow,one of the greatest Horror films ever made and an excellent Horror-Comedy-Anthology classic that you will never forget.
Creepshow is a collection of five short stories and while all are interesting in there own way some are delivered much better then others.I thought the film actually starts with the weakest two stories with "Father's Day" and"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill".
Fun anthology movie from horror greats George Romero and Stephen King as an homage to the classic EC horror comics of the 1950s.
It does go on a little long at just over two hours, but it's got some nifty stories, often revolving around just desserts, that pack a good deal of punch.In the wrap around segment, an overbearing, strict dad (an uncredited Tom Atkins) takes away his sons' Creepshow comic book, an act he will come to regret.
Horror buffs will be pleased to note that Kings' own son Joe (now a successful author in his own right) plays the boy in question.Our first story is "Fathers' Day", about greedy relatives of an ancient miser, gathering for a dinner, and interrupted by the old mans' rising from the grave.
He plays a cuckolded husband who tries to take revenge on his young wife (Gaylen Ross, "Dawn of the Dead") and her lover (Ted Danson), but things don't quite work out the way he'd hoped.This viewers' personal favourite is "The Crate", a cool monster story about a beast inside a box that provides henpecked husband Henry (Hal Holbrook) with an ingenious method of finally dealing with his shrewish, obnoxious wife Billie (Adrienne Barbeau, who's an absolute blast).
After seeing Creepshow so many times,it gets greater and greater.Stephen King and George Romero have made quite a film,5 tales of horror that will surprise anyone,"Father's Day"is one of my favorites.Nathan Grantham, who's a wealthy man with a daughter,treated her like garbage,have her boyfriend murdered in a hunting accident.On Fathers' Day,Nathan Grantham kept shouting"WHERE'S MY CAKE?",Bedelia got fed up and bashed her father's head in with a marble ashtray,7 years later when Aunt Bedelia visits her father's grave,he comes out of the grave and says"WHERE'S MY CAKE?",Nathan Grantham strangles his daughter on his way for revenge and cake.He does get his cake at the end by ripping off the head of Sylvia."The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill"is a funny tale,Stephen King is Jordy Verrill who sees a meteor land in front of his yard and goes to see it,he then touches it and later on starts to change into a weed person,Jordy always believed that his luck is bad,he ends up killing himself hoping his luck will be in once."Something To Tide You Over"has Ted Danson as Harry Wentworth who is seeing the wife of Richard played by Leslie Nielsen.who decides to bury his wife Becky and Harry up to there neck in sand,while Richard records this on video.Later on Richard takes a shower and hear's a noise,he opens the door and sees Harry and Becky standing there full of water back from the dead.The 2 want Richard to come to the beach to bury him in sand to see if he can hold his breath."The Crate"another one of favorite tales is about a janitor who finds a crate under the stairs which has been there for a long time,he calles Professor Stanley to check the crate out,they decide to open it and "Mike the Janitor"sticks his hand in and ends up getting eaten by a tasmanian devil like creature.Professor Stanley gets freaked out and runs up the stairs and runs into Charlie Gereson,a grad student who helps Mike the Janitor and has a hard time swallowing what he's saying,so he goes down stairs to see the blood,at first he thinks it's the Professor who did it but goes to look at the crate and finds a shoe,then he decides to measure the bite marks.The creature ends up sneaking up on him and Charlie gets eaten.Professor Stanley goes to see Henry,his friend,who has a wife always nagging him a lot and daydreams about offing his wife.Henry gets an idea how to get rid of his wife and the crate."There Creeping Up On You"is about a millionaire named Upson Pratt played by E.G. Marshall who really hates bugs and germs,later he has lots of cockroaches in his penthouse and get him in the end.Creepshow is a well written movie and a superb cast.I give it 10 out of 10..
Stephen King and George Romero teamed up for this great valentine to E.C. Comics/Tales From The Crypt with a quintet of horror tales with macabre humor and some truly unsettling scary moments.
The gruesome special effects by Tom Savini are, of course, another crucial element in the movie's look.While I suspect that the movie's approach & format isn't likely to appeal to everyone, "Creepshow" is a quality homage to the horror comics that Romero & King grew up with.
5 short tales of terror derived from the short stories of Stephen King and Directed by Master of horror George A Romero.
A little bit like the story of the movie at the beginning when the boy gets interrupted by his father when reading the horror comics.So I decided after 20 years to watch it again.
Romero and its writer also legendary Stephen King.The cast consists of some famous names.Ed Harris plays Hank Blaine in "The Father's Day".Stephen King himself portrays, in a rather hilarious way, Jordy Verrill in "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill".The late great rubber face Leslie Nielsen plays the psychopathic Richard Vickers in "Something to Tide You Over".Ted Danson plays Henry Wenthworth in the same story.In "The Crate" we see Hal Holbrook playing Henry Northup.Adrienne Barbeau is his wife Wilma.Fritz Weaver plays the part of Dexter Stanley.In "They're Creeping Up on You" E.G. Marshall plays Upson Pratt.Some of the stories were so-so, some of them worked very well.I liked the one where Leslie Nielsen buries Ted Danson up to his neck on the beach.Not that I have anything against Ted Danson.I also enjoyed "The Crate" very much.Fritz Weaver and Hal Holbrook confronting that monster is a real thrill.So Creepshow gives you the creeps just about enough..
You can't take it seriously, but if you enjoyed horror comics such as Tales from the Crypt, or like Romero's work, or are a Stephen King fan, you will like this one..
The cast features Ted Danson, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris, E.G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, and even Stephen King himself.An interesting bit of trivia: The marble ashtray (which plays a major role in CREEPSHOW's first story) is featured in all five of the film's stories if you look closely.
Features a young Joe (Hill) King (star of the wraparound story and cover of the subsequent graphic novel) reading his very own copy of Creepshow, immortalized in comic book literature and the horror hall of movie fame."That's why God made fathers, babe.
Good revenge tale and look for Ed Harris who has a small part in this segment.Second segment is "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill" which stars the horror master novelist himself Stephen King.
"Creepshow" is blended so well with comedy, suspense, revenge, and great acting with super stories it just worked so well when King and Romero teamed up in 1982 the wrap around even ends nicely with the little boy getting his revenge.
To have a good horror anthology, you MUST have the following ingredients: --Original or source material that's halfway decent.--A talented cast that can do more than just act their way out of a paper bag.--A director who has at least some knowledge of how to maintain a consistent tone throughout the movie.VERY rarely does any horror film, (or any film, for that matter) hit the magic 'trifecta.' CREEPSHOW happened to luck out in all three areas, and then went on to excel in so many more ways than that.Basically a blood-spattered love letter to William Gaines' notorious '50's comic serials like TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR, lifelong fans George Romero, Stephen King and Tom Savini joined forces to make what is basically the best collection of its kind.
CREEPSHOW is one of the best comic book movies ever and Romero was ahead of his time in terms of lighting and framing scenes like colorful panels.While the stories are a bit uneven and some lack the prerequisite karmic brutal justice, there's something enjoyable in each one, whether it's the skeletal Father coming from the grave; Stephen King's fun, bizarre redneck performance; Leslie Nielson in top rare bad guy form; a waterlogged Ted Danson ghoul; and the great Crate tale with fine acting from Hal Holbrook, Fritz Weaver and especially Adriene Barbeau.
I'm just finished watching Creepshow, A Horror Movie made in 1982 directed by George A Romero and with a screenplay by Stephen King.
The direction were nice, coming from Night of the Living Dead director "George A Romero".You will never forget stories like The Crate and They're Creeping Up To You. Once you've see it, you'll admire the great work George and Stephen has done.A well job done from two creative horror guys.
The movie Creepshow has five different stories from a comic book that come to life.