Creepshow Season 4 (2023) Review by Phil Newton
Creepshow Season 4 (2023) Review by Phil Newton
Hot on the heels of Seasons 1-3 of Creepshow (which we reviewed back in September) comes the latest instalment of the spooky anthology series which premiered on Shudder’s streaming service this October to great acclaim. Season 4 brings us six brand new episodes, each one featuring our skeletal host (The Creep) who opens the pages of his latest comic to reveal two, “strange, eerie, terrifying… tales of suspense and horror,” which then spring to life as the animated scenes transition to live action.
The first episode opens with a double bill of ‘Twenty Minutes With Cassandra’ (directed by Greg Nicotero) and ‘Smile’ (directed by John Harrison). The former features a hysterical woman named Cassie (Ruth Codd) who turns up on the doorstep of Lorna (Samantha Sloyan) warning that there’s a monster outside and it’s going to kill her in the next twenty minutes! The latter features an award-winning photo-journalist (Matthew James Downden) and his wife (Lucie Guest) who are stalked by a mysterious individual who keeps taking pictures of them. This is not the strongest opening to the new series; despite an interesting premise the tales are too talky and a little too serious in tone, and might have played better had they been sequenced later on.
As with all anthologies, the next story is never far away, and thankfully things soon pick up as the season progresses. The third episode is particularly good, with ‘Meet the Belaskos’ (directed by John Esposito) about a family of vampires that move into an ‘integrated’ neighbourhood – sadly the blossoming relationship between blood-sucker Anastasia (Karis Cameron) and the boy next door (Matthew Nelson-Mahood) is put in jeopardy by his hate-fuelled father and his vampire-hunting buddies. ‘Cheat Code’ (directed by Justin Dyck) is even better, about Jeff (Lochlyn Munro) who finds an old 8-Bit video game called Weird Wednesday which was pulled from shelves, shrouded in mystery. The game is simple enough – the player navigates down a street tyring to avoid various objects – but nobody ever reached the final level. Jeff’s son Dave (Connor Wong) and his friends soon become obsessed with completing it, finding a cheat code which then reveals the full horror behind this infamous game.
John Esposito also directs my personal favourite story of the season, ‘Something Burrowed, Something Blue’ starring veteran actor Tom Atkins, perhaps best known for his scene-stealing role as Detective Ray Cameron in Night Of The Creeps. Atkins plays Frank, a wealthy man nearing the end of his life. Estranged from his daughter Allison (Kristy Dawn Dinsmore) and her fiancé Ryan (Curtis Lum), he invites the couple over for brunch in an effort to make amends, and offers to host their wedding at his home free of charge. Of course there’s a catch – Frank has aMinhocão held captive in his vault, and the creature must be fed every 15 years or else all hell breaks loose!
In the final episode Greg Nicotero pays homage to his friend (and original Creepshow director) George A. Romero with ‘George Romero in 3-D!’ Bookshop owner Sarah (Kyra Zagorsky) is battling her landlord when her son Martin (Graham Verchere) and colleague Dawn (Megan Charpentier) offer a lifeline when they uncover a stash of old Brain Rot comics which came from the company that made Night Of The Living Dead. When Martin puts on the special 3D glasses it brings the comics to life in the most realistic of ways! There’s a lot of fun to be had here, and the stories that mix chills with humour seem to be the most effective ones.
Compared to the earlier seasons there’s less well known talent involved this time around, both in front of and behind the camera. Aside from the names already mentioned, P.J. Pesce – veteran of many straight to video sequels – also directs a couple of tales, but it’s really down to Producer Greg Nicotero to steer the ship. Whilst perhaps not quite reaching the heady heights of the previous seasons, there’s still much to like in this latest collection and if you’ve enjoyed any of the others then Season 4 makes for a worthy purchase.
Creepshow: Season 4 and Season 1-4 Box Set are available on Blu-ray, DVD & digital from 11 December
