Chad

SterlingBen

I remember renting this as a child and being terrified of that evil monkey.

Trevor

While I did enjoy it again, and can't recall a better anthology at the moment, if I had known this was for Stephen King Day I probably would have picked something else. Just enjoyed the B&W version of The Mist and am spinning Misery right now. Am in the mood for some Salem's Lot, but doubt I'll be able to stay awake that long.

Kurt D

The evil monkey was probably from the Romero movie Monkey Shines. The real terror comes from the fact that Creepshow still hasn't received a decent DVD or Blu-ray release.

Trevor

Do you mean in terms of extra features? I found the film to look and sound quite good on my BD.

rbrown498

I have to admit--I was rather dreading watching Creepshow again for the Challenge. I've seen it multiple times, including twice in the theater on its first run. It's been a while since I've last seen it, mainly because I've grown tired of it. You know the old saw: Familiarity breeds contempt. So, I was rather surprised by how much I enjoyed it while watching it tonight. Sure, it held no surprises after all these years, but I was able to better appreciate certain aspects of the film, such as the fidelity to the comic book form that the film shows. It also seems that my opinions about the individual stories have changed a bit over the years. I used to love the "Father's Day" segment, but this time around I didn't find a whole lot going on in its favor. I liked the second story a little better than I remember liking it before, and I found the third story with Leslie Nielsen to be my favorite. I think that out of all the segments, "Something to Tide You Over" best captures the feel of the old EC comics. I enjoyed "The Crate" as much as ever, and the final segment made me more uncomfortable than it ever has. I also had fun playing "spot the marble ashtray" in all the segments, and I was reminded how much I liked John Harrison's score for the film (although I think that I like his score for Romero's Day of the Dead even better). I also noticed, for the very first time, that the first song playing on the jukebox in the last segment is the song that plays on the gramophone and during the end credits of The Evil Dead. I wonder what song that is? All in all, I have to admit that Creepshow is a pretty singular achievement in horror cinema, and I'm a little ashamed to have been dreading watching it again.

Giles

listening to the commentary track makes you appreciate the movie even more, if you ask me.

Bladz

I agree. The BD actually looks better than I had expected it to look. I was most impressed with the vibrancy of primary colors, particularly reds and blues. I didn't watch it for this challenge because I saw it a few months back, but it has always been a favorite. I would put it at #3 in my horror anthology list, after Dead of Night (1945) and Black Sabbath.

DEEveeDEE3

Watched it last night as well and was really surprised how good it was. Haven't seen it in years since the VHS days..I ike the opening with the shot of the house and the pumpkin. I also didn't know George Romero was behind it. Best story is with monkey and Adrienne Barbeau..Though I still like the Ted and Leslie one.

clckworang

The Blu-ray did indeed look great. I bought a while back and had never taken the time to actually watch it until last night. I hadn't sat down and watched this movie all the way through in years, and by years, I mean probably since I was a kid. And since was one of the earliest horror movies I can really remember seeing. I would have been 5 when it came out in theaters, but I know it got played a bunch on HBO. I distinctly remember watching it with my dad the first time I saw it, which is odd since my parents have never been horror fans.

Upon revisiting it last night, I immediately was taken aback because I had completely forgotten about that opening with the kid and his dad. Then, Father's Day started, and I was shocked again because I totally didn't remember that one at all. And it still didn't really ring any bells for me as I watched it. That one might be my least favorite of the film.

Then the meteor one started, and I realized I had forgotten about that one as well, though it quickly came back to me once it started. It was one of those "oh yeah!" moments. I thought a lot about Men in Black that Vincent D'Onofrio played as I watched it. The characters and performances really had a similar vibe to me. I can remember being slightly distressed over the ending of this one as a kid but found more humor in it this time.

Then came "Something to Tide You Over." I remember that this one really scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. It had a profound impact on me. I was so distressed at the way these character died. I remember it made me uncomfortable, like if you had something under your skin but you can't get it out. Sure enough, it had the same effect on me this time. I don't know if the nature of this story just feeds into certain fears of mine or if it more tapped into that feeling I had when I watched it as a kid.

The Crate was solid. This one was a favorite of mine as a kid because of the monster. Watching it again, it didn't hold up for me as well, but like I said, it was still solid. Talk about shrill! Adrienne Barbeau really takes it to another level. You can tell why her husband would want to kill her. Just shut that mouth already! I guess this was the most graphic story. I was actually sort of struck by some of the gore. I didn't remember it being so gory watching it as a kid and was slightly surprised my parents would have watched it with me.

And then finally we have the cockroaches. For me personally, this story has to be one of the most effective, creepiest things ever put on film. Maybe I can just relate because there are loads of roaches in South Texas, and it's true what they say: they grow things bigger in Texas. They get everywhere. There are lots of palm trees down here, and they live in the damn palms! Among other places, of course ... Anyway, this one really does get under your skin, no pun intended. It freaked me the fuck out way back then, and it still gave me the heebie jeebies last night. Bleh! I don't want to think of it. And I can also say that I have a couple of friends who refuse to watch this segment, absolutely refuse.

And here are a couple of overall impressions. While watching the movie, I kept thinking about Ang Lee's version of the Hulk and how he really wanted to make the film seem like a real comic book. I thought Romero did a really good job of this, though he seemed to push that element more in the beginning (with the split panels) even though I did keep some elements (the page turning, the backgrounds at key moments) throughout all the stories. I just thought this feel might have been what Lee was originally hoping for. It was really something to see the cast assembled for this film, even if some of them maybe weren't big names yet. Leslie Nielsen deserves big props for his performance. Also, one last thing, I was really surprised at how many stories were told here. There were at least five, though you could argue six with the movie's bookends. It seems like most of these anthology films stick to three or four. Maybe I'm off about that, but it just felt like this movie was able to cram a whole lot in.

Anyway, sorry to go on such a long rant; I could probably keep going. This movie just sort of tapped into an old memory bank, and I felt the need to get some of those thoughts out there. I'm sure those childhood memories somewhat cloud my objectivity about the film, but it still was a whole lot of fun.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Me too. I didn't remember them showing it so much. I thought it mostly stayed in the crate. Granted, the last time I saw it was at work about 16 years ago, which was our station's copy which was naturally edited down, and before that when it first came out on VHS.

Trevor

In all my viewings of this film, I've never once even considered calling the creature in the crate a monkey.

When Ben mentioned it I also thought he was confusing films. I had just finished watching it and couldn't think of where the monkey was. Thought I had blinked and missed a stuffed monkey doll in the kids bedroom or something.

Never really thought about what it was I guess, maybe a yeti, which I guess would be monkey-related.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Way back when, I always thought it was a Tasmanian devil. I don't know where I got that from but it stuck with me.

Did anyone else notice that the ashtray that was used to kill dad in the first story was used as a soap dish in the last story with bugs? When I saw that, I almost wanted to go back to the rest of the stories and see if it showed up in all of them and that's the reason everyone has bad luck. Bad luck being defined as being killed or covered with grass.

Undeadcow

Enjoyed dewar hung this much more than I thought I would although it sometimes gets too silly. The Crate and bug segments are my favorites. For some reason it is hard for mr to watch Leslie Neilson (sic) in a serious role. I want my cake too!

Spiderbite

I watched this movie about a year ago and don't plan on re-watching it since I thought it was just okay. My problem with the movie is that I think I like the comic/magazine/trade/whatever it was way too much. I would seek it out in bookstores as a kid (my Dad hung out in bookstores a lot) and I would find this book and read it over and over again. By the time I was old enough to see the movie, I came away disappointed. The art by Berni Wrightson is just so damn good that I think it spoiled me no matter what they did.

Watching it as an adult, I see that a lot of the likenesses in the book are based on the actors in the movie but the movie still doesn't give me the impact or the creeps that the book did (and still does). I am glad to hear that the BD looks good because the dvd release was a piece of shit.

Now if you really want to talk about a turd...hello Creepshow 2!

My rating: *** out of *****

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I liked Creepshow 2.

Now if you really want to talk about a turd...hello Creepshow 3!

Spiderbite

Had no idea there was a Creepshow 3. I can't imagine it being worse than part 2.

Trevor

I think I watched all 3 of them a year or two back for the Challenge. Iirc, 3 was much worse than 2, and that was saying a lot.

clckworang

I haven't seen Creepshow 2 since I was a kid, but I remember liking it, too. As I said in my above comment, though, I recognize that my judgement could be clouded because of the nostalgia factor. But as I said, I haven't seen it since I was little.

I still haven't seen Creepshow 3, mainly because I suspected it was a turd.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

It's a DTV low budget turd that I can only imagine they later thought the investment to buy the Creepshow name would help sales. It's been so long since I've but I think they may have had some bad costumed crypt keeper type guy hosting it as well.

Kurt D

yes, just talking about extra features. I haven't seen the BD yet.

I went ahead and watched this last night - I can watch it about once a year - and appreciated it much much more than usual.

Pretty much everything works perfectly for what the movie wants to do.

I was under the impression that the BD had no extras, though. Does it have a commentary track? This is a movie that could really stand to have an hour-long making of doc, plus seamless branching of deleted scenes, etc ...

Trevor

The BD has just the trailer iirc. Normally I don't upgrade if there aren't new special features, but for $5 I couldn't resist.

Bladz

My upgrade was a birthday gift so I really couldn't resist.

Kurt D

I might not resist either. The DVD looks way worse than I remembered it ...

Giles

only the UK DVD, is a "special edition" which includes:

Disc 1:

Disc 2: