Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Creepshow 2
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Creepshow 2
Released by: Image Entertainment
Released on: September 3rd, 2013.
Director: Michael Gornick
Cast: George Kennedy, Tom Savini, Domenick John, Dorothy Lamour, Lois Chiles
Year: 1987
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
This follow up to the George A. Romero/Stephen King collaboration from 1984 finds Romero producing and co-writing with King. In his place, one time Romero cinematographer Michael Gornick lands in the director's chair. The results? Not as good as they were the first time around but still plenty fun.
The book end segments begin with a live action scene in which a young boy named Billy (Domenick John) eagerly awaits the arrival of his favorite comic book at the local newsstand. The creepy guy unloading the truck (Tom Savini) lets him have it and off he goes. From here, we get the first of our three main stories, 'Old Chief Wood'nhead.' This one revolves around a general store run by a kindly old man named Ray Spruce (George Kennedy) and his wife Martha (Dorothy Lamour). After a kindly aging native Indian named Ben Whitemoon hands Ray a leather parcel, he waves goodbye to his friends and heads out for the day. Shortly after, his nephew, Sam Whitemoon (Holt McCallany) shows up with a shotgun and two friends in tow. It seems Sam has aspirations about making it in Hollywood and to get there, he's going to need some fast cash. He roughs up the Spruce's and shoots Martha in the process, completely unaware that the old cigar store Indian on display outside is keeping an eye on things.
In the second story, 'The Raft', a quartet of teenagers head to a remote lake in their Camero for a bit of swimming and some pot smoking. Deke (Paul Satterfield), Laverne (Jeremy Green), Randy (Daniel Beer) and Rachel (Page Hannah) hope into the freezing lake and make their way to the raft out in the center, unaware that a few feet away something that looks like an oil slick is devouring a duck. Once they're on the raft, this 'thing' targets them and panic sets in as they try to figure their way out of this.
The third vignette, 'The Hitchhiker', begins as a woman named Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles) leaves the apartment of her gigolo in order to race home in her Mercedes before her husband (Richard Parks) gets home and finds out what she's been up to in his absence. On the way through the dark back road, she runs over a hitchhiker (Tom Wright) but rather than stop to try and help him, she runs over him again and again. Hoping to get way with the crime, she heads for home, but that hitchhiker, he's a persistent one.
Of course, it all wraps up by bringing young Danny's story to a close, which has taken on an animated form since the live action opening, but which will switch back to live action just in time for the end credits to role.
At an even ninety minutes this one doesn't overstay its welcome. The stories are all well-paced and feature pretty decent performances. Kennedy and Lamour are really likeable in the first story, which makes their plight an easy one to find some sympathy for, while Holt McCallany makes for a decent villain. The effects done on the cigar store Indian are creepy and effective as well. The four teenagers in 'The Raft' are all pretty vacant but they serve their purpose. There's a clever scene where some tantalizing nudity is used very deceptively resulting in probably the best gore effect in the movie, while 'The Hitchhiker' closes things out in a pretty fun way, again featuring some good acting and nice gore effects. King has an amusing cameo in this last story as well.
This one doesn't feel like the classic that the original Creepshow film has been elevated to over the years, but judged on its own merits it is a perfectly good follow up. The stories once again feature some dark and twisted humor and pull their inspiration from the E.C. Comics stories of the fifties, which, when done well as it is here, is never a bad thing.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Image presents Creepshow 2 in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. While this does look better than the DVD versions released over the years have looked, it's definitely on the softer side of the detail spectrum. Close ups fair the best, no surprise there, and colors are very nicely reproduced. Black levels stay solid as well, and contrast looks pretty good. But where you'd expect to see a lot more background detail, things look a little washy. The image is clean for the most part, though some minor specks are noticeable throughout, and there are no noticeable problems with compression artifacts or edge enhancement.
The only audio option on the disc is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, no alternate language options or subtitles are provided (the packaging lists English closed captioning but it's not there). This might as well be a stereo mix as there isn't much going on in the rears at all. Clarity is pretty decent, meaning the voices have good depth and range to them as do the sound effects, and the score has some vibrancy to it. Levels are nicely balanced and there are no problems with any hiss or distortion. This is a clean and decent mix, just don't go in expecting anything particularly immersive.
The only extras on the disc are a static menu that offers chapter selection - that's it. None of the extras from the fairly stacked Anchor Bay Divimax DVD release from a few years back have been ported over, which is probably a good reason to hold onto that older disc.
The Final Word:
Creepshow 2 isn't nearly as good as its predecessor but it's still a pretty entertaining horror anthology in its own right. Image's HD transfer does improve over the past DVD issues but stops short of perfection and sadly omits all of the extras. This is an upgrade in the A/V department to be sure, just not a massive one. Fun movie though.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (280)
- blu-ray (3224)
- blu-ray review (4318)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1710)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1756)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (877)
- dvd review (2521)
- idw publishing (216)
- kino lorber (406)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (283)
- severin films (344)
- shout! factory (539)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- uhd review (213)
- vinegar syndrome (520)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Unearthed Films
Released on: January 21st, 2025.
Director: Brett Leonard
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin, Gabby Millgate, Jack Thompson, Patrick Thompson
Year: 1990
Purchase From Amazon
Feed –Movie Review:
Richard (Patrick Thompson of Man-Thing) works for the Australian police in Sydney where he and his partner spend their days tracking down perverts on the internet. When his investigation leads him to Germany where he busts...-
Channel: Movies
01-08-2025, 06:45 PM -
-
Released by: Film Movement
Released on: November 26th, 2024.
Director: Philip Ridley
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Cooper
Year: 1990
Purchase From Amazon
The Reflecting Skin – Movie Review:
Set in a small town in Idaho in the 1950s, Philip Ridley’s 1990 film, The Reflecting Skin, introduces us to an eight-year-old boy named Seth Dove (Jeremy Cooper) who, along with his pals, plays a trick on Dolphin Blue (Lindsay...-
Channel: Movies
01-07-2025, 05:11 PM -
-
Released by: Saturn’s Core Releasing
Released on: November 26th, 2024.
Director: Jerry O'Sullivan
Cast: Jeff Forsyth, Ron Bonk, Ed Mastin, Sasha Graham, Bob Licata
Year: 1998
Purchase From Amazon
Gut Pile – Movie Review:
A micro-budget Evil Dead knock off shot in Syracuse, New York in 1998, director Jerry O’Sullivan’s Gut Pile opens, of course, in the woods where a young man named Dan (Jeff Forsyth), out by himself on a hunting...-
Channel: Movies
01-07-2025, 05:09 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: October 29th, 2024.
Director: Terence Young
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Omar Sharif, Claudia Mori, Romy Schneider
Year: 1979
Purchase From Amazon
Bloodline – Movie Review:
Based on author Sydney Sheldon’s 1977 hit novel of the same name, Bloodline, directed by Terance Young for Paramount Studios and released theatrically in 1979, explores what happens when Sam Roffe,...-
Channel: Movies
01-07-2025, 05:06 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: September 24th, 2024.
Director: O Sing Pui
Cast: Joey Wang, John Ching, Ricky Wong Chun-Tong, Hiu-Hung Fong, Wilson Lam, Melvin Wong
Year: 1990
Purchase From Amazon
An Eye For An Eye –Movie Review:
O Sing Pui’s An Eye For An Eye, released theatrically in 1990, follows Wong Fung-Yee (Joey Wang), the beautiful daughter of a Triad who hopes, as age is catching up with him, to go legit...-
Channel: Movies
01-07-2025, 05:04 PM -
-
Released by: Bleeding Skull
Released on: December 17th, 2024.
Director: Amanda Gusack
Cast: Eric McDowell, Johanna Watts, Levi Powell, Mary Portser, Doris Weldon
Year: 2005
Purchase From Amazon
In Memorium – Movie Review:
Written and directed by Amanda Gusack and released in 2005, In Memorium follows a young man named Dennis (Erik McDowell) and his wife Lily (Johana Watts) as they move into a new house. As Dennis has just found...-
Channel: Movies
01-06-2025, 06:04 PM -