‘Creepshow: Seasons 1-4’ Blu-ray Review

All the way back in 1982, Stephen King and the late great George A. Romero collaborated on the first Creepshow film, an anthology-based homage to the horror comic books of the 1950s. In the intervening years it has become a cult classic, a film remembered fondly by most. It is, even all these years later, still a wonderful movie. 2019 saw Creepshow return, but this time as an anthology television show that aired on the horror streaming platform, Shudder; and when that was announced I was immediately excited, being a big fan of Creepshow and Creepshow 2 for that matter (but the less said about aert three the better). Premiering on September 26th, the first season of Creepshow featured six episodes, with two separate tales to be found in each of those episodes.

We can thank Greg Nicotero, the famous special-effects guru who was trained by the legendary Tom Savini, who also directed a whole bunch of episodes of The Walking Dead, for bringing Creepshow back to the horror-verse. It’s a splendid idea, with horror fans, myself included, never willing to turn down a dash of nostalgia and a dollop of anthology horror. The series itself featured an array of creepy tales from names such as John Skipp and Joe Hill, who is the real-life son of Stephen King and writer of excellent novels like Horns and Heart Shaped Box.

What immediately strikes you about this iteration of Creepshow, is that Nicotero, known for his excellent SFX work, stuck to the very guns that Romero and King held tight to back in ’82, using practical horror effects and not resorting to digital. It’s something I love in horror, and seeing it here was something that I was overjoyed about. At the time people questioned this revival, worried that it had a lot of work to do if it was to live up to the original film, but I think the debut season, and the three seasons that have since followed have proved any of those fears wrong. Taking a leaf out of the EC comics of old that inspired the look and feel of the original films, the episodes are introduced to us by a “horror host” called The Creep, not unlike the Crypt Keeper we know and love from the Tales from the Crypt days, and I personally enjoyed this aspect. It felt truly old-school and unflinchingly cheesy, full of that 50s comic aesthetic that the 1982 classic based itself upon.

There have been plenty of clamouring for a Creepshow sequel or television vehicle for many years from horror fans and now we have it, right there in the flesh, and what we have in these four seasons of Creepshow is a great big fun-filled, gory and delightful bang. Keeping the comic-book style that we love from back in the day, this is in keeping with the films yet also feels like its own thing, not exactly the same as the movies were, but instilled with many of the charms and traits they held. Full of top-notch special effects, the tales in each episode are packed with interesting concepts and I had an absolutely fantastic time getting stuck into this four-season boxset.

Special Features:

• Cast and crew interviews
• Behind-the-scenes footage
• Photo galleries
• Creepshow Animated Special
• CreepshowHoliday Special

If you’re a horror hound or merely just a fan of the Romero/King original, and haven’t already caught the show on Shudder, then I recommend checking out the new Creepshow: Season 1-4 Blu-ray boxset, which is out now from Acorn Media International.