Caity Healy | Managing Editor
I remember when I was little — probably far, far too little — I sat down with my dad and watched “Creepshow.” I remember being enthralled by the collection of short 15-minute stories, which were just the right length for my adolescent brain to focus on; the eeriness to each tale had me glued to the screen. Of course, I had to watch the sequel, “Creepshow 2,” which had me just as intrigued.
Now that I’m older, it’s easy to understand why I was so mesmerized by these films. It was Stephen King’s screenwriting debut, which pretty much explains everything — I love his work. It’s clear to see how his childhood of watching B-list horror movies and reading countless scary stories, as he explains in his memoir “On Writing,” had an impact on the way these films were written. It was also directed by George A. Romero, the director of “Night of the Living Dead” — another clear reason I fell in love. And, lastly, the special effects makeup was done by Tom Savini, one of my current-day horror-makeup idols. Oh — and Ted Danson is in it, so that’s probably what really drew me in.
Having loved this 1982 horror-comedy anthology film for so long, I was both elated and nervous when I heard that Shudder, a horror-only streaming service designed for scary flick-fanatics with its several subgenres of horror, was creating a 12-part series with the same title. So when it was finally released on Sept. 26, I sat down to watch with a myriad of expectations and nerves, and began the first episode.
Episode 1 was comprised of two stories, “Gray Matter,” which was directed by Greg Nicotero and was a direct homage to the short story by the same name written by Stephen King, and “The House of the Head,” which was directed by John Harrison. But before either could begin, the much-loved creature from the original, The Creep, sat down to introduce the story the viewers would soon witness. Full of all the campiness of the original, and the practical effects to match, I immediately fell in love.
“Gray Matter” began with too many Stephen King references to count — everything from the announcement of the missing Grady twins from “The Shining” to a missing dog poster for “Cujo” and a missing cat poster for Church from “Pet Sematary” could be noticed. Diving into the story, everything about it felt nostalgic; it was truly like the original. However, nothing compared to Part II.
The second story, “The House of the Head,” involved a dollhouse. That was enough to terrify me. But wait — the dolls move on their own. And to top it off, there’s a demonic head of an evil doll that haunts the dollhouse family. Without giving too much away, I’d say this one replicated the comedic-horror that the first film captured so flawlessly. It had me creeped out, laughing and genuinely enchanted by the story.
Overall Rating: I highly recommend this series to anyone who, like me, loved the original, or loves the feel of practical effects and ‘80s nostalgia.
Contact the author at chealy16@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of Shudder
