The film is based around a comic book called "Creepshow" and is lead (but not strictly speaking narrated) by The Creep, who is the fun but bad influence on young Billy.
There are 5 short stories of much better quality than those seen in "Creepshow 3"; "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up on You".
"Father's Day" is an odd one, but nicely disturbing with a good ending. I just really didn't understand 1) why daddy dearest was so desperate for cake; I've never given my dad a Father's Day cake! and 2) why he waits so long to exact his revenge for his murder... unless there's more in a bottle of Jim Beam than I imagined! But it's enjoyable. And also, keep an eye out for the murder weapon throughout the other tales!
"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" stars Stephen King himself. Jordy is a bit of a simpleton. Jordy finds a meteorite on his farm. Jordy imagines the lavish riches such a thing would bring him. Jordy accidentally breaks open the meterorite and he and all his home (and later other areas) becomes infected with some kind of alien plant. Jordy doesn't make it to morning. Very slapstick, very funny!
"Something to Tide you Over" is actually scary! But it's not the 'monsters' that give me the creeps in this short; it's Leslie Nielsen's jealous-husband character. He ruthlessly, imaginatively and slowly kills his wife (Gaylen Ross) and her lover (Ted Danson), but doesn't expect them to return for revenge - obviously they do! The idea behind this short is scary because theoretically, this could be done by anyone. Nielsen clearly thrills in his insane display and the couple's deaths are slow, tense and scary. Although, with all Nielsen's filming equipment around, I was waiting for someone to get electrocuted!
"The Crate" is fabulous. A Professor (Fritz Weaver) at an American college opens a chained, nailed-shut and bolted crate with the janitor (Don Keefer), who had found the object under the college stair case, locked behind a metal grill. Now, it could just be me, but if I found a box which was so locked up, I'd probably get a few more people around when breaking into it (note that I didn't for one minute think that I'd be smart enough to leave it alone!)
Anyway, what's in the crate is like a cross between one of the creatures from "Critters" and a carnivorous baboon. There's death and mayhem (my one complaint being that they appeared to be using water in place of fake blood and thought by shining a red light on it, it would look convincing....it didn't), followed by yet more death and mayhem. Really the 'Crittoon' (as I've dubbed him) just seems to want to be left alone!
The Professor turns to a friend (Hal Holbrook), well he makes some panicky noises at a friend..., who sees this creature as an opportunity to get rid of his overbearing, bitchy wife (Adrienne Barbeau). Holbrook's character convinces his drunken wife to go under the stairs and voila! No more wife! Simple, right? Well... then he has to get rid of the evidence...
Now the final tale, "They're Creeping Up on You", is about cockroaches. It's disgusting and makes you itch. I'm impressed that E.G. Marshall, who stars in this short as the horrid businessman, was happy to film with so many horrible little things! Although to me they were horrible HUGE things (we do not get bugs that big in Scotland)! *shudders*.
His character is cruel and deserves his gruesome end. Very disturbing!
All in all, a great anthology of horror and 3, 2, 1 is a good order to watch this set of movies in; end on a good note!
[Picture: Warner Bros.]
Hani
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