[yasr_overall_rating]
Three more bone-chilling tales that include a vengeful wooden Native American, a monstrous blob in a lake, and a hitchhiker who wants revenge and will not die.
For a film that is almost 30 years old, some might say that “Creepshow 2” has not aged well but the truth of the matter is, even when it was released back in 1987, the horror was not very fiendish, considering that it was based on stories written by Stephen King and produced by horror maestro George A. Romero. And to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t meant to be. The first “Creepshow,” which was released in 1982, and which was directed by Romero, was somewhat darker in tone, while this second outing is played more for tongue-in-cheek and dark humor, a-la “Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.” While the first movie had five stories interwoven, this time around, there are only three, two of which are hampered by frightfully horrifying acting (no pun intended). Only the first story, starring the late George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour, shows any sign of life (pun intended).
In “Old Chief Wood’nhead,” Ray and Martha Spruce (Kennedy & Lamour), play an elderly couple who own a small-town convenience store that is on the verge of closing down. Living in the southwestern town of Dead River, they are visited by a local Native American Indian named Benjamin Whitemoon (Frank Salsedo). Ray has always looked out for Benjamin and his people and accommodated them in times of hardship and now Benjamin wants to return the favor, by imparting to them, turquoise jewelry, which are his tribe’s most sacred treasures. Initially hesitant to accept his offering, after Benjamin says that refusing would be an insult to him and his people, Ray reluctantly accepts them. After Benjamin leaves, Ray and Martha are visited by Benjamin’s nephew Sam (Holt McCallany), and two of his friends. Armed with a shotgun, they ransack the store and Sam then demands Ray give him the jewelry his uncle gave him. In the chaos throughout the store, Sam accidentally shoots Martha dead, and when Ray approaches him, he is killed too. The men leave, with the intent of traveling to Hollywood, where Sam dreams of being a big movie star but on the porch of Ray’s store, stands a large wooden Indian named “Old Chief Wood’nhead,” a figure that Ray constantly looked after down the years, and who has alternate plans for Sam and his buddies.
The second story is simply titled “The Raft,” and centers on four college friends, Deke (Paul Satterfield), Laverne (Jeremy Green), Randy (Daniel Beer) and Rachel (Page Hannah), who travel far from civilization to a seemingly vacant swimming hole in the mountains. Once they arrive, all four immediately jump into the water and make their way to a floating raft, where they are quickly surrounded by a floating black mass, resembling an oil slick. Randy is spooked by the object, feeling that something is not right but everyone else just laughs him off, as they proceed to smoke weed and make out. That is of course, until it manages to grab a hold of Rachel and slowly consumes her in front of them. One by one, it ensnares them, until only Randy is left and with nothing left to lose, he dives into the water and heads for shore, but with the black mass in hot pursuit, will he make it?
The final entry is called “The Hitchhiker.” When adulterous Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles) leaves her lover’s apartment late one night, trying to make it home before her husband, she loses control on a narrow bend and the car accidentally runs over and kills a hitchhiker. Panicked, she takes off, leaving his body on the side of the road. Trying to convince herself that he may still be alive, and that it was an accident and therefore, not her fault, she is shocked when further down the road, she sees him again, this time, covered in blood and battered. Afraid that she is losing her mind, he suddenly appears at her window, thanking her for the ride, where she proceeds to run over him again, making sure that this time, he truly is dead. But he keeps reappearing, every time more bloody than the last, haunting her every move, until she finally makes it home. But will he return again?
Both George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour bring panache and style to their roles as store owners on the verge of bankruptcy and even though they are not in their segment of the film for very long, they bring screen presence and substance, something that is sorely missing from the remainder of the movie. The actors in the other two segments, especially the college kids in “The Raft,” are horrendously bad and don’t even try to give any semblance of a performance. Lois Chiles spends most of “The Hitchhiker” talking to herself, and like a theatrical soliloquy, it gets old fast, as any good actor should be able to emote convincingly, without having to continuously address the audience every few minutes. Overall, “Creepshow 2” is a novelty from the ’80s, a time when CGI was non-existent and special effects were practical, and while they may suffer from the cheese factor, at least you can have some fun along the way.
Available in a Special Limited Edition Blu-ray December 13th
