Review: Shudder’s Creepshow Does Its Pulpy Namesake Proud

The series bottles the original’s pulpy spirit and atmosphere for an irresistibly macabre package.

Creepshow
Photo: Shudder

George A. Romero and Stephen King’s 1982 horror anthology film Creepshow, which consists of five stories that each hinge on some striking image or plot twist, is a triumph of atmosphere. Its vibrant comic-book aesthetic verges on goofy archness, and it prioritizes the wraparound E.C. Comics homage in such a way that even the lesser tales of terror are elevated simply by association with that good-natured tone of “fun” horror.

Shudder’s episodic revival does its namesake proud. With page-turn transitions, fake comic-book ads, and interludes featuring The Creep, the series faithfully replicates the film’s atmosphere, albeit with one meaningful tweak to the format. Rather than only adapt King’s stories under a single director, the series gives multiple directors a shot at helming segments written by various authors, including Joe R. Lansdale, Christopher Buehlman, and Joe Hill.

The first segment of the one episode provided to critics is a King joint, an adaptation of his 1973 story “Gray Matter,” directed by Walking Dead vet Greg Nicotero (who also did makeup effects for Creepshow 2). In it, a horrified boy (Christopher Nathan) relates the mysterious fate of his hard-drinking father (Jesse C. Boyd) to a kindly shop owner (Adrienne Barbeau, who appeared in the original film). There’s a gee-whiz quality to the dialogue that might have been grating in another context, but it feels appropriate amid the show’s heightened mood created by deep shadows and rich, bright colors. Even when the segment isn’t outright depicting narration boxes and comic panels, the actors capture just the right tone of hammy seriousness.

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In “Gray Matter,” the subtext about alcoholism and grief doesn’t go anywhere particularly noteworthy, as the series is clearly more interested in simply shouting “boo!” while showing off some marvelously squishy special effects. But the episode becomes an efficient delivery mechanism for pleasantly cheesy horror that’s comforting in its own way, like a tale told around the campfire or a story read under the blanket via flashlight.

The second segment, “House of the Head,” directed by John Harrison and written by Josh Malerman, differs wildly in concept from “Gray Matter.” It follows a young girl (Cailey Fleming) who watches a frightful drama unfold inside her dollhouse after a tiny severed head starts to terrorize her doll family. Harrison films the girl’s face through the dollhouse so that we discover the grisly scenes as she does, turning us into a kind of second participant as we follow her gaze from room to room. The tale’s ending is an unfortunate whimper, but its inventive concept underscores the anthology’s sense of variety, both in terms of setups and horrors.

The original film excels at doling out odd, horrific images that stick in the brain, such as a birthday cake topped with a human head or a farmer subsumed by plant growth. The breezy, pulpy nature of this series accomplishes this just as well with its severed doll head and one particularly gooey monstrosity. Shudder’s Creepshow bottles the original’s pulpy spirit, using the atmosphere and variety provided by shorter segments for an irresistibly macabre package.

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 Cast: Bruce Davison, Hannah Barefoot, David Arquette, Adrienne Barbeau, Big Boi, Kid Cudi, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Nathan, Jesse C. Boyd, Cailey Fleming, Tobin Bell  Network: Shudder  Buy: Amazon

Steven Scaife

Steven Nguyen Scaife is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Buzzfeed News, Fanbyte, Polygon, The Awl, Rock Paper Shotgun, EGM, and others. He is reluctantly based in the Midwest.

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