While I was aware of this movie and the King stories it contained, I'd never actually seen it until today. Certainly Mr. King has some stinkers attached to his name, but I have to say that Creepshow 2 has to be the absolute worst. Dreadfully executed and ineptly casted it was a real chore to sit through.
Story the First, Chief Wood'nhead, has George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour in it, which is sad considering they've been in much better films. From the get go there's no doubt in your mind that the damn Indian statue is gonna come to life because they have it moving in the first shots. No suspense at all. So much of the opening is devoted to setting up the couple as nice old people that when revenge time comes around it's rushed through way too fast. The shotgun guy acts well and it's a shame he isn't given much more to do. Really lame. Also, they should have called the Indian Chief Rubberhead.
Story the Second, the Raft, a genuinely unsettling and creepy King story is turned into....something. HORRIBLY acted. Line delivery is so bad you don't want to pay attention to what they're saying. In the setup they say how the raft is left on the lake, which means people DO swim in it, and it's not some other lake or raft they're talking about. So it makes the whole NO SWIMMING ending kind of stupid. I guess the monster has the summers off. The trash bag on the water monster effects brought me back to the Creeping Terror. The characters are really unlikable, and i can't tell if that's intentional or just really bad acting. By the time the kids have been whittled down to two, they decide to go soft-core for no reason. It makes no sense at the time or for the characters to do that.
Story the Third, the Hitchhiker. The lady driver's constant monologue is so bland and flatly delivered it refused to go into long term memory. The rest of it is so-so for a horror short, less to gripe about than the previous two, but still not free from the flick's many flaws.
Then there's the animation. Uncle scrotum-chin (if the animation is any indication) gives some kid the comic book version of Creepshow 2, it's probably better than the movie version. I know it's Creepshow, but the animation is just ugly and off-putting. When the Uncle Scrotor character turns real it makes you wonder why they bothered making Tom Savini up like that in the first place. It adds nothing to the film. It ends with him throwing a bunch of comics off the back of a truck and driving away (much like the creators of the movie did with a good story and technical expertise). The closing music is very odd and out of place for a horror film. It made me wonder if they had stock closing credit music in the public domain that they could just use for free. Cutting down the production costs on this to negative dollars.
Kind of upset I watched it finally, but I guess the stories are still there. AVOID.
Story the First, Chief Wood'nhead, has George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour in it, which is sad considering they've been in much better films. From the get go there's no doubt in your mind that the damn Indian statue is gonna come to life because they have it moving in the first shots. No suspense at all. So much of the opening is devoted to setting up the couple as nice old people that when revenge time comes around it's rushed through way too fast. The shotgun guy acts well and it's a shame he isn't given much more to do. Really lame. Also, they should have called the Indian Chief Rubberhead.
Story the Second, the Raft, a genuinely unsettling and creepy King story is turned into....something. HORRIBLY acted. Line delivery is so bad you don't want to pay attention to what they're saying. In the setup they say how the raft is left on the lake, which means people DO swim in it, and it's not some other lake or raft they're talking about. So it makes the whole NO SWIMMING ending kind of stupid. I guess the monster has the summers off. The trash bag on the water monster effects brought me back to the Creeping Terror. The characters are really unlikable, and i can't tell if that's intentional or just really bad acting. By the time the kids have been whittled down to two, they decide to go soft-core for no reason. It makes no sense at the time or for the characters to do that.
Story the Third, the Hitchhiker. The lady driver's constant monologue is so bland and flatly delivered it refused to go into long term memory. The rest of it is so-so for a horror short, less to gripe about than the previous two, but still not free from the flick's many flaws.
Then there's the animation. Uncle scrotum-chin (if the animation is any indication) gives some kid the comic book version of Creepshow 2, it's probably better than the movie version. I know it's Creepshow, but the animation is just ugly and off-putting. When the Uncle Scrotor character turns real it makes you wonder why they bothered making Tom Savini up like that in the first place. It adds nothing to the film. It ends with him throwing a bunch of comics off the back of a truck and driving away (much like the creators of the movie did with a good story and technical expertise). The closing music is very odd and out of place for a horror film. It made me wonder if they had stock closing credit music in the public domain that they could just use for free. Cutting down the production costs on this to negative dollars.
Kind of upset I watched it finally, but I guess the stories are still there. AVOID.