Hello friends, happy Tuesday, I hope you’re well! I’m bringing TV Tuesday back again. Today I’m going to be talking about the the first season of the TV show Creepshow.

I went back and forth about whether I was going to talk about this show in a separate post, aside from my Stephen King wrap up post, coming out soon. In the end, a separate post won out because I decided to briefly talk about each story in this anthology series. Today I’m starting with season one. Season two and three will come shortly after this. If you haven’t seen this and you plan to watch it, I spoil all the stories so read at your own risk!

The TV show, which is a spin-off of the movies from the 80s is actually really well done. I have to say I was very surprised by how much I liked this. After not caring so much for the movies, I just truly think they didn’t hold up to time, the TV show is definitely a revamped and more modern take.

First off, I actually really like the comic book style of this. It reminds me of the way Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was filmed (although, that was better), where action words come off the page, comic strip boxes come up to tell you, for example “3 hours later” and the way scenes transition is like flipping through a comic book; it’s all really well done.

Each episode has two short stories; I think for a 45 minute episode, it’s the perfect length for two stories. It means that nothing really drags and everything wraps up well. Some I liked more than others, but each one had a good horror/creepy element… for the most part.

The very first one was King’s short story Grey Matter, which was one of his better stories from Night Shift and I enjoyed seeing it come to life. It was creepy to see the father slowly become this thing. 

The other stories were all created and written for the show. 

The House of the Dead Head – I liked how simple this was; a girl gets a (might I add, beautiful!) doll house and inside she finds a severed head and all her figurines move every time she looks away. I liked that she never thought, hey I should tell my parents this weird thing is happening, no she takes it on herself to try and save this family. I don’t know there was just something about this that had me wanting more. I was always curious to see where these figurines would be next. I like that they basically told the story. Really creepy and effective storytelling. The ending was a little lacklustre since she just gives the house away… but now the next person has to deal with the haunted doll house (ooo I never thought of it as a haunted house until now!).

Bad Wolf Down – this one was interesting; I wasn’t very invested in the story. I did like that the woman was this werewolf type demon who wanted to stop killing. In order for these soldiers to get away from their enemies they have her turn them into werewolves. I thought that was kinda cool. I also liked the way this one ended because it left it to the viewer to fill in the blanks. Like we knew how it ended, but they didn’t tell us. More show less tell, and I like that. 

The Finger – this one was so, so weird. A guy who’s down on his luck finds a finger and decides to keep it(!). Over time it begins to grow… and grow… into this weird creature that he names Bob and keeps like a pet. It was just SO creepy… but then it gets worse. Any time our main character, Clark talks bad about someone, Bob goes out and basically kills them, brings back a present for Clark. It was just super creepy and the actor who plays Clark did a good job of playing the weird guy. He also broke the fourth wall the entire time, which made for even creepier storytelling because it was like he was telling the viewer the story.

All Hallows Eve – this one was good; I liked the twists and turns. At first I thought these kids were out stealing other kids and that’s how the group was formed; every year they would add to it, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, when they try to terror this one kid, Eddie, we learn a lot about him. He’s the one who tortured these kids… and actually killed them… and they’re really ghosts. I was like, wow, creepy. So now it’s their turn to get revenge. I thought the turn of events was really well done because I didn’t see it coming. 

The Man in the Suitcase – I think this one is my favourite so far. This guy, Justin, is coming home from somewhere and he thinks he’s grabbed his suitcase… only inside is a man all twisted. When Justin tries to get him out and he hurts him… the man in the suitcase produces gold. So of course, when he tells his friend about this his friend and ex girlfriend get very, very greedy and they can’t kill him because they need the cash. So over and over they hurt him in different ways to produce more gold. Justin thinks it’s a bad idea, so of course they kill him… or so we’re lead to believe. I liked the way this ended up to a point. When the man in the suitcase becomes this demon-like creature and traps the two of them for being so “naughty” and greedy, it should have ended there. The added scene where we see Justin in the hospital (I guess because he was the one who let the demon creature out) and we see the man outside of the suitcase as a man with his suitcases with the two inside it just felt like they told us too much. I didn’t need that extra scene, I got it originally. 

The Companion – This one bored me. It played on the revenge trope where this kid is being bullied; he stumbles upon this creepy thing; then he uses it to wreck havoc on his bully. I’m not into that and I thought the beginning was really slow, like it felt like we got 15 minutes of being bullied, then we get a 10 minute backstory on how this creature came into existence (which was probably the best part) then it ends on him using this creature. Very cut and dry story with a very boring plot.

Lydia Layne’s Better Half – wow this one was suuuuper creepy and effective and I loved it. Lydia Layne is this huge powerful woman and she has to make a decision on who’s up for a promotion; it comes down to this man or woman. She chooses the man and the woman, Celia, freaks out; in small pieces we learn that these two are lovers and that Lydia did it for very personal reasons. The promotion would involve Celia moving and Lydia couldn’t have that. I mean, over the course of the story we learn that she’s very selfish. They’re arguing and Celia ends up dying because her head is plummeted by one of the many trophies Lydia has (the woman of the year one to be exact) oh gosh it was so gruesome! For some reason, I guess Lydia was going to get rid of the body by taking it out in the elevator, but then the elevator crashes in a power outage. Classic. Over time, Celia takes her revenge… my gosh the way this ended left me gasping it was so good! 

Night of the Paw – I liked this story because it was just so creepy and you’re constantly left guessing what the heck the powers of the paw are and what this has to do with this woman. So this old couple who own a funeral parlour are strapped for cash, so they use this magic paw they came into possession to wish for more money. Instead, the old woman dies. So naturally, the old man wishes his wife to come back to life. Boy, does he regret that and he has to kill her again, poor guy. So, because he can’t live with himself he wishes for a killer to come and kill him. That’s where this woman comes into play, she dies and the paw brings her back to life… so she can kill the old man. But she claims she’s not a killer. It was all really well done. I really liked when the paw would put up or down a finger because I’m like what does this mean?! This one made you think, and I really liked that.

Times are Tough in Musky Holler – This one I thought was stupid. It was short at least. So apparently all these people who’ve done wrong to this town are now being executed and tortured and the people who they did wrong to are getting their revenge. Their heads get played in holes on a football field as dead zombies of people they used to know or be came to eat them… it felt super cheap and stupid; it wasn’t scary at all. It was boring.

Skincrawlers – This one was gruesome and gross. I think this one was trying to turn wanting to be skinny just to be in a relationship on its head, but I could be wrong. Basically this doctor has found an animal that’s like a leach that drinks fat, not blood and that’s how these people are getting skinny. All the reasons we see these people wanting to get skinny is to be in a relationship. Our main character Henry is skeptical and doesn’t want to do it… but then he sees that it could work so he decides to do this live on TV. Well that does not go well because there’s an eclipse that is the catalyst for these leach like creatures to activate… inside everyone who had this procedure done. I rooted for Henry because I knew he was smart to be skeptical. He basically kills the monster it becomes… it was an interesting story.

By the Silver Water of Lake Champlian – This was the last short story for the season and it was alright. Basically, there’s some creature that lives in the lake but only this one guy believed it… everyone in the town thought he was crazy, and then he died. Now his kids, especially his daughter Rose believes and wants her family to as well, but her mother is dating this douche of a guy Chet who belittles and abuses them. Rose wants more for her mom and doesn’t understand why Chet is still around. One day when the fog comes in, she goes out to the lake with her brother and boyfriend… and a dead monster/dinosaur is there. Obviously when Chet sees it he thinks he’s going to claim it as his own find and make millions… until another comes and eats him, bye Chet! It slinks away but at least this family can believe for themselves, which was a nice sentiment. As far as scary stories go, it wasn’t very creepy or scary. Ghoul-y maybe?