I love every second of the great classic that is Creepshow, from the opening image of the pumpkin right down to the final candle blowing out in the wind... If like me, you consider the movie to be the Fillet Mignon of horror anthologies, then by all means you should be in hog heaven when you watch this! No stone is left unturned... All segments of this movie-length doc have hilarious intros in which quotes from the movie are used ironically. There's such a wealth of fascinating trivia, like in Father's Day, the guy who wore the excellent suit of the Grantham zombie - a gruesome masterpiece of makeup effects to this day - refused to have mealworms(not maggots) put on him, and so a female member of the crew happily volunteered. And it was kinda disturbing to learn that the owner of the mansion later buried his dog in the very hole that Mr.Grantham crawled out of. Ew... I never had a clue that in certain shots the house in Tide was a matte painting. It sure fooled me. It was also very interesting and cute to learn that because the story called for a cold deserted beach where you could "scream all you want" and never be heard, all members of the crew had to walk in single file so as not to leave footprints all over the sand. Some of the most fun I had with this doc was listening to Tom Savini talk about how he created all of his monsters. It turns out, that the enchantingly eerie skeleton seen in the opening was actually a real skeleton underneath that they had shipped in from India. There's a fascinating little sketch that shows how the puppet was operated using many puppeteers. Also, the crate monster was actually a person in an elaborate suit, with the lips and jaws being remote-controlled. Savini says that the teeth really were very sharp and could seriously injure a person if they clamped down. Even in its most basic stages as a mere face mold you can clearly see the striking ferocity of his most awesome creation. Savini also states that his happiest time was with the unlimited creating that he was free to do on the set of Creepshow, and it shows, it really does. He reused parts of the monster in an episode of the rancid TV series "Tales From the Darkside" called "Trick or Treat". It was heavily remodelled, but I never forget a face! Adrienne Barbeau speaks of how she had to dig deep to play the fabulously wicked drunk Billy, and that the "unmitigated bitch" as she calls her, is high on her list of favourite roles! It was especially awesome to see the secrets behind the infamous roach eruption scene, one of the finest moments in horror cinema as far as I'm concerned. Their first attempt to force the bugs to tear their way out of the Upston Pratt dummy didn't work and they simply jammed and wadded in the mouth. It was then the director himself who suggested they merely leave the chest uncovered and use toilet paper to conceal the cavity, and then it went off perfectly. I felt a bit sad for all the poor little roaches, learning that that they were obliged to exterminate them all afterwards-all the ones that they could manage to wrangle anyway! That was my favourite part, the part about the roaches. I loved the chapter that dealt with all the film's amazing music, which I believe is what really keeps the film alive and gives it its very special magic. I can't really pick any particular track that I like best as it's all so good, but...probably the Crate score cause it's so dark and brooding, followed closely by the mournful tones heard in Tide. I also loved when they discussed the stylistic comic-panelling and electro-shock back-lighting effects that they felt were very important to keep because they were intended to capture the spirit of the old E.C. comic books-and for me, all truly great tales of terror... For me they positively crystallised that spirit. This was thorough, witty and immensely fun. Everything a fan could possibly ever want in a documentary on Creepshow. Fantastic, it's a documentary worthy of the movie!
Just Desserts: The Making of 'Creepshow'
(2007 Video)
My favourite ever movie got the treatment it deserved.
12 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers