The Corner Penthouse

(Since Halloween is fast approaching, this seemed like the best time to revisit some of my past horror movie reviews. I'm revising and reposting a few of them, such as this one.)

Back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, horror anthology films and television shows were pretty popular. Titles like Tales From The Crypt (British film and HBO series), The Vault of Horror, Creepshow 1 & 2, Tales From The Darkside (series and movie), Trilogy of Terror, and Tales From The Hood all come instantly to mind, with many others buried in the deep recesses of my brain. I've always loved these types of shows and movies, so it is my pleasure to be able to review Arrow Film's new Blu-ray release of Creepshow 2.


Creepshow 2, which is being released as both a Limited Edition and as a Special Edition, features three stories over its 1:29:38 runtime written by Stephen King and adapted by George A. Romero.


1. Old Chief Wood'nhead - A group of young hoodlums face retribution from an unlikely source after looting a local general store.

George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour (in her last film role) play the elderly couple, and a bunch of unknowns play the thugs. Overall, a nice segment, though you know how it's gonna end pretty much as it begins, and one death is foreshadowed so blatantly that it comes as no surprise. The only real issue I had was the wooden acting by Frank Salsedo, who played the Indian who gives the trinkets to the store owner. The wooden statue was less wooden than he was.


2. The Raft - A group of horny teens wishing they'd read the warning signs first before taking a dip in a remote lake.

Think of it as "The Blob" on water. Why these teens decide to drive up to the middle-of-nowhere just to swim out to this wooden dock floating in the middle of this secluded lake is beyond me. This group makes every wrong decision possible. Needless to say, in a horror movie, that won't turn out well for you. There's a fun little capper at the end, but if the lake was so dangerous to swim in, surely it would have been cordoned off and made highly inaccessible. At least there is some nudity from Jeremy Green (the pretty brunette who plays Laverne). Fun Fact: Patricia Tallman (Babylon 5, Night of the Living Dead 1990) is the blob-covered stunt double for Page Hannah.


3. The Hitch-hiker - An uptight businesswoman finds herself with some unwanted company following a hit-and-run incident.

This was the most fun, campy, over-the-top segment of the film. It's carried entirely by Lois Chiles (as Annie Lansing) and Tom Wright (as The Hitchhiker), and both actors do a more than admirable job in their respective roles. I was cracking up by some of Annie's monologues about what she would say to her husband after leaving her lover's apartment. ("I went to get laid, George. There's this wonderful guy. He charges $150, but that's for six - count 'em, SIX - orgasms.") The Hitchhiker, whom I'm thinking is a Cyberdyne android, is comical with his incessant "Thanks for the ride, lady". Lois provides some nudity, for those looking for such a thing in their horror films. Tom did ALL of his own stunts, as he details in his bonus feature interview, and I feel that that part of the segment gets overlooked, which is a shame. The stuntwork was some of the best elements. Keep an eye out for horror icon Stephen King as a truck driver at the scene of the crime, a step down from his larger role in the original Creepshow. Goof Alert: Annie drives past "The Grasshopper Shop" (a white corner building) twice in two different directions even though there is no indication that she turned around on her route.


The stories are framed with a live-action/animated sequence featuring the host The Creep and little boy Billy, done in an EC Comics style. The Creep, who speaks in a pun-filled manner that would be a pre-cursor to The Cryptkeeper from the HBO Tales From The Crypt series, is voiced by Joe Silver, and portrayed in live-action by horror make-up maven Tom Savini. While the Creep's make-up is well done, it's a little too pronounced for my taste, making the character look more like a live-action cartoon character. It's also quite obvious that the live-action Creep features a dubbed voice, though kudos to Tom for trying his best to match the lip sync of the pre-recorded dialog. The animation, in my opinion, fares much better, even though it comes off like a cheap version of Don Bluth's style.


Originally five stories were written for the film. One of these, "The Cat From Hell", was later used in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). The other was the Stephen King short story, "Pinfall", about ghostly rival bowling teams. The Limited Edition Blu-ray includes a never-before-seen comic adaptation of the story by artist Jason Mayoh.


Creepshow 2 is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer. There is a light amount of grain here and there (a little heavier in the last segment), but nothing more than you would expect for something shot on film. Picture is crisp and clear with no issues that I noticed. On the audio side, there is English mono, stereo, and 5.1 tracks.


A whole slew of all-new bonus features were created for this release (along with a few ported over from the 2004 Anchor Bay DVD), most of which are interviews with the principle cast and crew, and all of which are in HD. These were all a joy to watch, and were highly informative. A few of them include some brief behind the scenes home video footage. The TV spot was obviously sourced from a rough-looking recorded-from-TV VHS, but I'm glad that it's here for completion sake. Kudos to Arrow Films for spending the time and money to put together a nice collection of supplements for a film that, in other hands (I'm looking at you Image), was given a barebones release.

• Audio Commentary features Perry Martin hosting director Mike Gornick.
• Screenplay for a Sequel (10:45) - an interview with George A. Romero.
• Tales from the Creep (7:53) - an interview with Tom Savini, make-up artist who portrays The Creep.
• Poncho's Last Ride (14:44) - an interview with Daniel Beer, who portrays Randy in The Raft, recorded in Oct. 2016.
• The Road to Dover (13:51) - an interview Tom Wright, who portrays the hitch-hiker in the same-named segment, recorded in Oct. 2016.
• Nightmares in Foam Rubber (32:03) - interviews with effects artists Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero.
• My Friend Rick (2:43) - Howard Berger discusses his mentor Rick Baker.
• Behind the Scenes (5:50) - Tom Savini getting made-up as and playing The Creep.
• Image Gallery (3:34) - 38 images (all nearly full-screen; there's a little bit of a border/background image).
• Trailers and TV Spots - Trailer #1 (1:38), Trailer #2 (1:12), TV Spot (00:34).
• Original Screenplay - PDF on BD-ROM (put the disc in your computer and you'll find the PDF in the "BD ROM" folder).

The film contains 12 chapters and includes English SDH subtitles, which utilizes British spellings, such as "colour" and "tyres", and leaves out some unimportant words here and there. Not supplied for review were the reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Mike Saputo, the Pinfall comic book by artist Jason Mayoh, and collector's booklet featuring a new writing on the film by Michael Blyth.

Final Verdict: Recommended. The Limited Edition includes the comic and booklet, otherwise the Special Edition will get the job done as disc content is the same on both.





Images used come from the still image gallery on the disc. Blu-ray has been provided by Arrow Films for review on this site.