Creepshow 2 (Divimax Edition)
Picture: B
Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
The anthology feature film has been dead and really was
never the hugest of successes, but it did usually thrived in the Horror
genre. Though reunions have occurred
with casts in new projects, the likes of Michael Gornick’s Creepshow 2
(1987) is one of the rare sequels in the anthology film world. This film runs about 90 minutes, offers
three main live-action stories, and once again tries to reconjure the classical
version of the graphic Horror comic book by way of Stephen King and George A.
Romero.
In trying to bring back the feel of something older and
loved, you can be trapped trying to create and synthesis or retain some of the
elements and taking the next step ahead.
This film offers both. The
Creep and The Raft are duplications of the former,
while The Hitchhiker is more of the latter and is the best of the
three shorts.
In politically incorrect form, and as a sort of send up in
the genre of the return of the Native American repressed, The Creep
has a nice couple (George Kennedy & Dorothy Lamour) befriend a Native
American, only to get killed by a modern gang of teenage-descended Native
Americans. The couple are old school
“mom and pop” shop owners, demonstrated by the old “wooden Indian” they have on
the premises. It is that fixture that
comes to life and goes after each gang member to kill him. After the true nature of the carved killed
is revealed, that pretty much does it for this segment, which becomes a series
of set-up-and-slash-to-death segments.
The Raft has a couple of fun-loving
teens going into the water of a lake, who get (you guessed it) more than they
bargained for. Turns out there is a
strange oil blob that eats people. This
one is amusing and typical of the pulp source King, Romero and Gornick are
trying to recreate. It has some
moments, but is nothing too memorable otherwise.
That brings us to The Hitchhiker, in which a
beautiful, somewhat well off, cheating wife (Lois Chiles from the 1974 Great
Gatsby and James Bond film Moonraker) is riding home quickly so she
is not caught. Instead, she hits an
African American homeless man, then decides not to get out of her car and help
him. As we have seen in a similar
installment of the original Twilight Zone series, this can be a creepy
and disturbing situation when the dead keep following the car driver who
supposedly can ride at speeds faster than pre-video game era zombies. What we get here is a hilarious, demented
twist on those expectations that is as funny as it is creepy and Chiles is
terrific in her role. So if you see Creepshow
2, catch the first two segments for nostalgia and the final one of
something smart and memorable.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is the most
pleasant surprise of all, benefiting from the Divimax High Definition transfer
process. The animation is simple and
not always the most color-rich production, but the live action footage really
benefits the most. This is a nice
upgrade that outdoes the previous DVD of this film and the only DVD of the
first Creepshow Warner issued on DVD years ago. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the old
analog mono, or was that just simple stereo?
It certainly was not a then-modern sound release, so this remix is a big
help, though I can hear why no DTS was attempted. Extras include a Gornick commentary track hosted by Anchor bay’s
in-house commentary man, Perry martin, stills, trailers, original storyboard
art, a DVD-ROM of the screenplay, and a make-up effects featurette called Nightmare
In Foam Rubber. That is a good set
of supplements.
The animated segment is about a harassed and bullied boy
who eventually gets a way to avenge himself.
This is also lightly amusing, but like the earlier two segments, makes
the film overall a missed opportunity.
Too bad, because the Creepshow idea could have went on for many
films to come, but anthologies are too often treated like package deals and
that extends to the very bad ones that occasionally surface on TV. Fortunately, Creepshow 2 has just
enough moments to make it worth a look, especially in such a nicely remastered
Divimax DVD edition.
- Nicholas Sheffo
