Hello friends and happy Friday! I’m back again with the next instalment in the Stephen King Project, Creepshow. Let’s get into it!

I read this in one day because it’s a graphic novel (this is based off the screenplay King wrote to the movie, Creepshow in 1982).
January 1, 2023

The Graphic Novel (2017)

Father’s Day: The story was captivating and held the reader’s attention. The art really encapsulated the story because as the plot thickened the art got crazier and zanier. This story was quick; there was no in-depth backstory to it, just some highlights to make everything come together. The reader didn’t like that the ending was then explained to us by the narrator, but everything else was really creepy and done well. 

The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill: This took an unexpected twist. The reader did not see the main character turn into what he did. It’s conditioned in our minds for him to turn into something terrible and gruesome, but he didn’t… he basically became part of the earth, which in a sense is like being buried alive and that’s where the true horror comes into play. This was so well done because it was subtle in its approach and made the reader think a little harder. 

The Crate: This short story was the longest of the five in this graphic novel and wasn’t that great. It played on misogynistic themes where the husband and wife are constantly bickering at each other – the reader hates things like this because if you’re going to bad talk marriage and women… why get married or talk to women? It’s as simple as that. That aside, the plot wasn’t scary and the way it ended was left open ended, as of this monster in the crate could come back. This felt long for no reason; there was set up and background that wasn’t needed because all it did was confuse the reader as to who was who and was just overall boring. This didn’t age well.

Something to Tide You Over: This one was alright – it definitely had the quick panic, heart racing ‘what’s going to happen’ vibes. The reader liked that there was zero backstory and it was just a guy seeking revenge only to get his dish served to him cold. At first the reader thought that the crate from the previous story was going to make a comeback, but the way this one ended was better than what the reader thought was going to be. It was short, sweet, not too scary but told a cohesive story in a decent amount of time. 

They’re Creeping Up On You: This was truly creepy; the bugs and the darkness and having them everywhere where you can’t see them; crawling around. This would have been a pretty perfect story if there wasn’t so much backstory. Like the main character having killed a man, that did nothing for the story. Maybe it was added so we could see these bugs giving what the character deserved because that ending was gross. The ick factor was high in this one. 

Overall, this was a collection of, some more than others, captivating short stories to scare and creep the reader out. The narrator that connected them all together was good, although sometimes the endings weren’t that great because it ended up summing up the story, when it didn’t need to be told. It was like, we understood how it was supposed to end, we got the implication, which would have probably made for a scarier ending, instead of being told, yep that’s how it ended… in case you didn’t get it yourself. This takes no time to get through, easily readable in one sitting, the art had the classic 80s feel to it, would recommend for a good light scare. 

The Movie (1982)

• That’s cool that the movie had a comic book feel to it, which is probably why they decided to make a graphic novel afterwards. 

• Watching this in movie format is so weird. The graphic novel felt believable; watching it as a film felt cheesy. 

• The jump scares were really good. The viewer never saw them coming. 

• Stephen King plays Jordy Verrill and he’s not a bad actor – he doesn’t have a lot of speaking parts so he’s just physically acting and he’s over the top which is kinda funny to watch. In writing, this was one of the better short stories; on film it didn’t play out as much. Not sure if it was King’s erratic acting or just this not having the same doom feeling it does in print, but it just came across as silly.

• The way most of these short stories end on a freeze frame is so cheesy, yet so of its time. 

• The Crate was definitely better as a film because it was so gruesome; the graphic novel didn’t do it justice. Even the plot of the story was better. It was still long and slow.

• Gosh, They’re Creeping Up on You is suuuper creepy on film. Watching all those bugs and the end, shudders. It was very effective how they shot it. 

• The prologue and epilogue were bookended really well. It was just enough to give the viewer a chill. 

• Overall, this wasn’t too bad, some of the stories were better than others, some more scary, but a decent watch. 

(1987)

• This movie was very of its time because some things (most things) don’t hold up well. 

• This movie is comprised of 3 short (that felt extremely long) stories and then some cartoon interlude between them all that felt out of place and didn’t add any value to the story? We’re not sure what to make of it. It’s cheesy and maybe was supposed to be a look at how a kid being bullied is terrifying? This movie, didn’t really need this added storyline weaved through. 

• The first story was long and slow, so slow, that it’s hard to figure out what the point of it was. Even the way it ended was like, oh? That’s it? We get so much backstory on these two characters who don’t even last and there’s so much talking that it was hard to tell how this could be scary. Even the thing that comes alive was cheap in the way it moved; it was laughable, not creepy. For something that felt long and dragged – it didn’t feel like it gave the audience very much. All we really took away was that the guy had long hair and it was going to take him to Hollywood because he wouldn’t shut up about it. 

• The second story could have been good, but they ruined it by all the toxic masculinity and the guys being all aggressive, plus that almost rape scene – what was that? So not needed. Remove that and you could have had a creepy ‘what’s in the water’ story. Them trying to get away was actually really creepy because you’re like, what is that and how the F are they going to get away. The viewer liked how it ended, because you think that it could end one way and then doesn’t, which felt like slight justice for the one character’s actions. 

• The last story was another one that went on for quite some time, it sorta paid off, but man it really dragged. After she tried to kill the guy a few times, the repetition got a little over played. We get it, he’s not dead. How have you not figured that out yet? King made an appearance in this one for all of a minute and it wasn’t even a worthy line that he had. At first we’re like ok, he saw her car maybe that will lead to something – nope, they never use that info. We all saw how it was going to end, so it wasn’t surprising to see the ending. The jump scares every time the guy popped back up we’re good though. 

• Overall, this is so not worth the time to watch. There’s nothing truly scary. 

(2006)

This movie was SO bad it doesn’t deserve a review or thoughts so to be brief right from the start this movie was horrible; the animation was terrible (not really sure why it was even added – to be on theme with the previous films?); the acting was worse than subpar (how can you have a detective character fumble so hard with a gun) it was so wooden and just awful; the dialogue was horrendous, it started off really bad (like who says things like that?!) and moved into truly offensive by the end; the short stories weren’t like an anthology, characters would show up in other parts and it would be connected somehow, it was just really confusing and it didn’t have to be; this wasn’t scary – the fact that this was supposed to be a creepy movie, nothing was scary or creepy it was boring, dumb and way too long. There’s a reason people have said this movie doesn’t exist, don’t watch it. 

The TV Show (2019 – Present)

Instead of placing all my thoughts here in this post (it got really lengthy) I decided to do individual TV Tuesday posts on each of the seasons. So far, when this post goes live I’ve published season one. I will update this again once all three seasons have been published.

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

Creepshow Animated Special (2020)

• As the title states, this was two short stories that were completely animated in comic book format. This had the same feel the TV show has, probably because it was produced by the same company, and it was done really well. The first story, Survivor Type, was stronger than the second story Twittering From the Circus of the Dead. 

• In the first, this guy who wanted to be a surgeon his entire life gets caught up in the wrong things. It’s funny because he states that’s he’s always ended up on the lucky side… until now. After a cruise ship he was on sinks he finds himself stranded, eating seagulls raw (so gross!) and later amputating his leg… more and more and more. This was so gruesome as you watch him become less and less of a person the longer he’s stranded. How survival kicks in and desperation keeps you alive. It was creepy and scary on more of a psychological level rather than physical, although there was definitely physical horror too.

• In the second story, it’s entirely narrated by a teenage girl who is live tweeting her vacation with her family she can’t stand. That got annoying to listen to, but it does help play into the overall plot of the story. Because as they travel, they end up at this circus for the dead, which the viewer right away can figure out is full of real zombies and ghouls, but it takes our narrator a long time to figure that out. Watching her work through it though is what’s good because you’re watching going, what is going to happen next; how are they going to make it more believable; when is she going to put the pieces together. The underlying theme of her hating her mom until the very end when she’s about to die was well done. The way this ended was so strange; they – the dead people? – were plugging the circus on her Twitter so that the following she created while live tweeting would go to a show near them. Creepy, but so strange. 

Creepshow Holiday Special (2020)

• This had a really cool concept; it’s a support group for people who turn into animals, shapeshifters. We meet this group when one of the guys shows up because he thinks he’s turning into a werewolf. They all laugh because everyone thinks that at first before they find out what animal they are. There’s a woman who turns into a cheetah, a guy who turns into a pig and another who turns into a tortoise (probably the best one). There’s also a woman who doesn’t turn into anything but she likes to dress up as a hippo and at first the viewer is really confused by her presence, but it does pay off in the end, and lastly a guy who doesn’t speak. 

• Turns out the new guy does turn into a werewolf. The beginning of this special is a lot of set up and a lot of exposition on these characters and their abilities. It’s a good 20 minutes out of the 45 minute total running time. Aside from the premise being this support group, we find out there’s a curse on shapeshifters. Santa hates them. We get more backstory on the bible and how Santa and shapeshifters came to hate each other. So naturally all the Santas are after them, so they must protect themselves. It’s such a crazy concept that actually works really well. After all the talking there’s a lot of action and drawn out suspense that makes up for it. It was really good and thought out. The only thing though was that this was live action, but the way they created the characters when the my turned into animals looked so cheesy, cheap and bad (like why do only the top half of their bodies change?! Makes no sense), it probably would have been better animated. That ending was not expected; it was funny, which the viewer will take. 

I’ve also filmed my thoughts if you’d like to watch them:

Up Next: The Gunslinger