Creepshow 2 (1987) Arrow Player Review

Creepshow 2 (1987) Arrow Player Review

Titans of terror George A. Romero and Stephen King deliver yet another selection of blood-curdling tales in CREEPSHOW 2, the classic horror anthology coming to ARROW on September 29th. Request your screener now… if you dare.

The follow-up to the 1982 horror classic. Retaining the same EC comic book flavour that made the original such a hit and directed by long-time Romero collaborator Michael Gornick, CREEPSHOW 2 is another horror anthology from the minds of two of the genre’s master craftsmen.

In “Old Chief Wood’nhead”, a group of young hoodlum’s face retribution from an unlikely source after looting a local hardware store. Meanwhile, “The Raft” sees a group of horny teens wishing they’d read the warning signs first before taking a dip in a remote lake. Finally, an uptight businessperson finds herself with some unwanted company following a hit-and-run incident in “The Hitchhiker”.

I first saw CREEPSHOW 2 at my local Odeon – or Gaumont as it was known back then – upon its UK theatrical release in 1987. I enjoyed the 1982 original and was hyped-up for this second helping. I was disappointed. The budget was evidently lower than it was for Romero’s flick, and it showed. For starters he animated segments lacked the magic of the EC comic book flavoured segments of the first film and the film smacked more of a Direct-to-Video effort than of a film worthy of your five pounds at the local cinema.

However, time has been kind to CREEPSHOW 2 or perhaps it’s my advanced years looking back wistfully at my formative years evoking a yearning nostalgia that now sugarcoats my previous disappointment in Michael Gornick’s anthology. Of the three segments the middle section THE RAFT is the standout. I do feel though that the fate that befalls the four youngsters is rather harsh considering aside from ignoring a warning sign they did not do anything that wrong, they are just kids being kids and the water-based man-eating oil-slick thing appears to ignore any other living things upon the water such as a couple of ducks which slightly undoes the threat of being near or on the water, a bird-free lake would have added more.

The opening segment “Old Chief Wood’nhead” is a straight-forward vengeance tale in which a man-size wooden Indian outside a shop kills off the youngsters that murdered the store’s owners, and in being straightforward it lacks any surprises and consequently feels lacklustre. It is still miles better than the final segment “The Hitchhiker” where an adulterer drives away after her card hits and kills, well, a hitchhiker. It is both repetitive and lazy. There’s nothing as outstanding as the first CREEPSHOW’s “They’re Creeping Up on You!” but then nor is there anything as dire as the first CREEPSHOW’s “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” which featured Stephen King – he stars again in CREEPSHOW 2 as a trucker in the film’s final segment which makes for a more agreeable appearance than first time round.

CREEPSHOW 2 is available to stream on ARROW from September 29.