Creepshow (1982)
★★★ — Creepshow (1982)
George Romero and Stephen King joining forces sounds like a horror fan's fever dream, and in 1982 it very nearly was. Fresh off the social satire of Dawn of the Dead (1978) and the underrated Knightriders (1981), Romero was given a comfortable $8 million budget by Laurel Entertainment to realise King's original screenplay, an anthology structured as a living EC Comics horror comic, the kind that drove the moral panic of the 1950s and eventually prompted the Comics Code Authority. The format gave both men room to be playful rather than relentless, borrowing the garish colour and deadpan black humour of titles like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror. King himself appears on screen in one segment, and the ensemble cast, drawn from both theatre and television, gave the production a repertory-company feel unusual for a genre picture of that era.
Creepshow is the kind of film that feels like flipping through a tattered horror comic after lights out. It's cheesy, colourful, and packed with pulpy fun. Directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, it’s a love letter to 50s comics, with five spooky tales wrapped in bright, grotesque practical effects and a killer synth score. Some segments, like “Father’s Day” and “The Crate,” are proper standouts. Darkly funny, wonderfully silly, and gory in the best B-movie way. Tom Savini’s effects work is a highlight, as usual. Goopy, over-the-top, and totally committed. That said, not every story lands and while the comic-book style animation between segments is neat, the pacing stumbles when the tone shifts too much from creepy to just plain daft. It’s all very campy by design, but sometimes it forgets to be scary altogether. Still, as a piece of 80s horror-comedy, it’s got charm. It doesn’t take itself seriously, knows what it is, and delivers enough shocks and laughs to make it worth a watch on a lazy Halloween night.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 1982 | Watched: 2025-08-27
Where to watch (UK)
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Physical: Amazon UK
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from George A. Romero: Jacaranda Joe (2022) · BIOHAZARD 2 TV-CM (1997) · Survival of the Dead (2009) · The Crazies (1973)
More from the 1980s: Nightmare City (1980) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Style Wars (1983) · Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
