Creepshow (1982)

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer:

Stephen King (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The Most Fun You'll Ever Have... BEING SCARED!

Plot:

Inspired by the E.C. comics of the 1950s, George A.Romero and Stephen King bring five tales of terror to the screen.

Plot Keywords:

Tense | One Word Title | Patricide | Ec Comics | Reanimation

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Hal Holbrook	...	Henry Northrup (segment "The Crate")
Adrienne Barbeau	...	Wilma Northrup (segment "The Crate")
Fritz Weaver	...	Dexter Stanley (segment "The Crate")
Leslie Nielsen	...	Richard Vickers (segment "Something To Tide You Over")
Carrie Nye	...	Sylvia Grantham (segment "Father's Day")
E.G. Marshall	...	Upson Pratt (segment "They're Creeping Up On You") (as E. G. Marshall)
Viveca Lindfors	...	Aunt Bedelia (segment "Father's Day")
Ed Harris	...	Hank Blaine (segment "Father's Day")
Ted Danson	...	Harry Wentworth (segment "Something To Tide You Over)
Stephen King	...	Jordy Verrill (segment "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill")
Warner Shook	...	Richard Grantham (segment "Father's Day")
Robert Harper	...	Charlie Gereson (segment "The Crate")
Elizabeth Regan	...	Cass Blaine (segment "Father's Day")
Gaylen Ross	...	Becky Vickers (segment "Something To Tide You Over")
Jon Lormer	...	Nathan Grantham (segment "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill")

Also Known As:

Cuentos de ultratumba (USA: Spanish title)
Stephen King's Creepshow (International: English title) (long title)

Runtime:

120 min | USA:130 min (approx.) (Original Workprint)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Netherlands:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Norway:18 (video premiere) (1984) | Norway:(Banned) (video) (1986) | Norway:(Banned) (1983-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Creepshow Films Inc.

Trivia:

Cameo: [Joe King](son of Stephen King) The young boy featured in the beginning of the film (avid reader and collector of "Creepshow" comic books).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hank enters the graveyard to look for Aunt Bedilia, the hanging lantern (which Bedilia had previously hit her hat on) has now gone.

Quotes:

Nathan Grantham: [beginning of a flashback sequence] Where's... my cake? I... want... my... cake! Where's my cake, Bedelia? Where's my Father's Day cake? I want my cake you dirty BITCH! I'm going to have it!
Nathan Grantham: [Nathan clacking his cane, bellowing] BEDELIA! It's Father's Day! Where's my cake? You promised me my cake! Bedelia, I'm your father and you're supposed to be taking care of me!
Bedelia Grantham: [distressed, almost driven to the point of madness] I DON'T HEAR YOU! I SAID I DON'T HEAR YOU!
Nathan Grantham: BEDELIA, YOU BITCH! What do you think I've got you here for? You're just like all the others - you're nothing but a bunch of VULTURES!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in WildCat (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Gaudeamus Igitur

It's pretty good

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. One of the best things about it is director George ('Night of the Living Dead') Romero's creative, vivid direction, that captures the bright color schemes and comic book framing to a tee. 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. All five of the tales presented, despite some missteps, offer up good gory fun. Some of the acting is good, too, particularly Adrienne Barbeau as a heavy drinking, obnoxious faculty wife who gets what she deserves, Hal Holbrook as her hen-pecked husband and E.G. Marshall as a wealthy, obsessively clean old jerk who is savaged in his futuristic apartment by a legion of cockroaches. Talk about flesh crawling! Tom Savini's special effects are great, as usual.