112) Creepshow 2 (1987) - The More Horror There Is...

"Welcome, kiddies, to another edition of Creepshow."

Director

Michael Gornick

Cast

Prologue

Domenick John - Billy

Tom Savini - The Creep

Old Chief Wood'nhead

George Kennedy - Ray Spruce

Dorothy Lamour - Martha Spruce

Frank Salsedo - Benjamin Whitemoon

Holt McCallany - Sam Whitemoon

The Raft

Paul Satterfield - Deke
Jeremy Green - Laverne
Daniel Beer - Randy
Page Hannah - Rachel

The Hitchhiker

Lois Chiles - Annie Lansing

Tom Wright - The Hitchhiker

I'm bypassing the anthology horror movie "Creepshow" from 1982 and going straight for its sequel.

The first movie is directed by horror icon George Romero, with a screenplay written by the other horror icon, Stephen King. 

King even stars in part one, in the segment called "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" - one of my favorite stories. 

The movie has a cast of well-known actors such as Leslie Neilson, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, E. G. Marshall, and Tom Savini... to drop a few names. Even King's son, Joe King, has a role in "Creepshow."
The whole movie is presented in a comic book style very similar to EC anthology horror comics, "Tales from the Crypt", "The Vault of Horror", and "The Haunt of Fear." I have a stack of reprints sitting in the closet. Original copies cost some serious coin these days.
It's definitely a unique movie that's memorable either for the actual stories, the imagery, the style, the cast, or all of the above. Though "Creepshow" is a favorite guilty pleasure of mine, I don't have any plans to write anything up about it.
Part two continues the style of part one, though in its own unique way, with new stories that lean towards the campy but are just as unforgettable. Despite being weaker than the first and containing three stories instead of five like part one, I still find something to enjoy about it.

This time, we're treated to the "Creep" (Tom Savini, and voiced by Joe Silver) who acts as the storyteller similar to the Crypt Keeper, the Vault Keeper, and the Old Witch who tell the stories in the comics I just mentioned.

Two other stories were originally intended to be in this movie.
One is "Pinfall" and the other is "Cat from Hell."
Readers of my blog (both of them - mom and my buddy Ryan) may remember my mention of "Cat from Hell," written by Stephen King, in my review of the anthology movie "Tales from the Darkside." The story is told in that later anthology movie.

Old Chief Wood'nhead

"This hair's gonna get me paid 'n laid!"

"Old Chief Wood'nheadt" is the first segment to start things off. 

The story takes place in a dusty old general store that's barely hanging on within the nearly dead town aptly named Dead River, Ariz. 

Outside the general store stands a wooden tobacco store Indian which the store owner, Ray Spruce (George Kennedy) lovingly takes care of by reapplying its war paint as soon as it begins to fade.  

The store is long owned by Ray and his wife, Martha (Dorothy Lamour) - an old couple who are split between keeping the store or closing it down permanently.

Martha clearly sees the town's promising outlook is long behind it. Ray thinks there's still enough life left in Dead River to keep going a while longer. His store has been a welcoming part of the community for so many years. As Martha points out, he's given out more than he's put in. And once he has nothing left to give, everyone will just look for someone else to take from. 

He thinks the memories are too wonderful and numerous to just close the store for good. Thanks to the general store, they built their life together, and even managed to send their girls to college.

Among the "good things" the Spruces have done for the people of Dead River, they have financially helped a local Indian tribe.

An elder of the Indian tribe, Benjamin Whitemoon (Frank Salsedo) visits Bruce and Martha to give them a collection of the tribe's most valuable, sacred and cherished turquoise jewelry as payment for the debt the tribe incurred after all the financial helped they received. 

Ben tells them to keep the jewelry until they can pay their debt in full. If they can't pay back in full within a certain time, the jewelry is theirs.

At first Ray refuses to accept the offer, but Benjamin insists as refusing would be an insult to the tribe.

"It's a bad thing to borrow," Ben says. "It's a worse thing to beg."

So, Ray accepts it and promises to guard it with his life. 

And that's exactly what he does when Ben's nephew, Sam Whitemoon (Holt McCallany) and his gang shows up armed with a shot gun, moments after Ben leaves. 

Sam robs the couple, while his little gang - Andy "Rich Boy" Cavanaugh (Don Harvey) and Vince "Fatso" Gribbens (David Holbrook) - trash the store. 

After threatening to blow holes in the couple multiple times, and taking all the cash they have on them, Sam demands the jewelry Ben left with the couple. 

Ray refuses to just hand it over, and the two start arguing. In anger, Sam fatally shoots Martha. Shocked, Ray approaches his now dead wife. Sam points his gun at him and pulls the trigger. After Ray collapses, Sam snatches the tribe's jewelry and tells his buddies they're leaving for Hollywood that night. 

After they leave, the wooden Indian Chief (Dan Kamin), with fresh war paint on, comes to life to avenge the death of the couple. He pays each of the thugs a visit, the last being Sam. Needless to say, none of them make it to Hollywood. 

Incidentally, this is Lamour's last film before she passed away in 1996. Having been a well-known actress of the golden age of Hollywood, Lamour is especially known for starring in the "Road" movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. 

Anyways, this is the best segment in the story thanks to its cast, acting, and story. 

McCallany plays his character as truly intimidating. He puts in a lot in this one role. 

McCallany's acting and presence on screen is truly daunting. He plays it so well that the audience wants to hate this egotistical, narcissistic, callous thug, and see him get what's coming to him. 

The segment left me with an admiration for McCallany as an actor thanks to this one particular role. He was a star in "All My Children" when he appeared in "Creepshow 2." According to IMDB this is his first film role. I didn't even realize until recently that he later stars in the film "Fight Club." 

The dialogue is a little campy but the story has originality to it. And it starts the movie off with something that's very unsettling. Having a "monster" as the good guy the audience is rooting for is a change of things. Still, the premise is still chilling none the less. This is a story I wish I thought of myself. It's a tale of vengeance towards the wrong-doer, similar to another segment in this movie.

The Raft

"It came when we came...like it could smell us." 

"The Raft" is based on a

short story by Stephen King, found in his story collection "Skeleton Crew." The story centers on two sets of college aged lovers- Deke (Paul Satterfield) and Rachel (Page Hannah), Randy (Daniel Beer) and Laverne (Jeremy Green) - as they take a trip to a secluded lake called Cascade Beach. It's the off season and they're there to have a good time, among other things. 

They plan to swim out to an old raft that sits in the middle of the lake and "hang out." 

When they reach the raft, it doesn't take long before Randy notices what looks like a huge oil slick following them in the water. 

He quickly becomes nervous about the oil slick as he sees it devour a duck on the water.

The others, however, think he's acting crazy. 

They quickly change their mind when the black oil slick grabs hold of Rachel, pulls her into the water, and digests her. 

Terrified, Deke thinks he can outswim it back to shore. Just before he attempts to do so, the blob grabs his foot through the wood planks of the raft and pulls him through the cracks. 

Randy and Laverne are now by themselves out in the lake with this thing underneath the raft trying to grab them through the wood. 

Soon, night falls and they take turns keeping watch as the other sleeps while trying to be careful not to step on any spaces where the blob can grab them, 

As morning comes, Laverne becomes the next victim of this blob, leaving Randy with no other choice than to try to swim back to shore. He makes it, but the blob capable of more than he thought.

The acting is bad but the segment's saving grace is the unsettling story that leaves the viewer feeling apprehensive and disturbed.

The look of the monster - greyish black, greasy, glossy, and viscous - is gross. It looks like something that would live just as well in some dank city alleyway.

The way the slime shoots up out of the water like tentacles eager for its prey is impressive. And kudos to the actors who immersed themselves in it.

"The Raft" is a classic creature feature story, but with a somewhat different setting. Rather than having otherwise innocent teens trapped in a cabin in the woods, or at a camp site, they're stuck on a raft surrounded by water within reach of the shore. Escape isn't necessarily impossible but don't count on it.

Tom Wright in "Creepshow 2."

The Hitchhiker 

"That'll cost ya, Mrs. Lansing." 

An adulterous businesswoman named Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles) heads back home late after sleeping with the guy she's having an affair with.

When she gets in her car and takes off, Annie realizes she only has 15 minutes to get back before her working husband returns home. 

So, she races back hoping to beat her husband. 

Annie lights up a cigarette after an otherwise fantastic night. But she drops her cigarette in her lap which causes her to lose control of the car.

In the chaos, she hits a hitchhiker (Tom Wright) holding a sign that reads "Dover."

At first she's shocked that she just hit someone. But as no one else is around, Annie takes off and doesn't look back. 

A truck driver (Stephen King) and some other drivers find the dead hitchhiker lying in the secluded street and report it to the police.

Meanwhile, as a shaken Annie tries to get home and not think about what just happened, she convinces herself that as no one was around to witness what she did, she's therefor in the clear. The only witness was the hitchhiker, and he's dead. 

She stops and starts convincing herself to go to the police. In that moment, sees the hitchhiker in her rearview mirror lumbering towards the car. 

Annie glances back, but he's gone. When she turns back around, he's right next to the driver's side window. 

"Thanks for the ride, lady," he says, his face covered in blood. 

He continues to appear, attempting to get in her car. And each time, Annie tries to kill him again. Every time Annie thinks she's killed him, or ditched him for good, he shows up again trying to get ride. 

Though this story seems the most cliche out of all the stories, it has the most horror comic book story style to it - the best horror story for a a buck or two. 

The makeup on Wright is rather gory. The blood covering his appearance increases throughout the story as Annie keeps trying to kill him again and again. It's a welcoming touch. 

Like "Old Chief Wood'nhead", it's a retaliatory kind of horror premise. Sinners only bring retribution upon themselves when it comes to horror movies. However, there is a psychological twist to the story that leaves the audience asking if she really saw the dead hitchhiker or not. Is her conscious simply running at full throttle? 

It's a shame "Creepshow 2" ends on this particular story. 

If only the movie included at least one more story. One of the originally planned tales that were ultimately left out would have been better to end on. Then perhaps "Creepshow 2" might have been appreciated a little more.  

Tom Savini as "The Creep" in "Creepshow 2."

The Interludes 

The animated transitional scenes are just as entertaining as the stories...for me, anyways. 

They give the movie its horror comic book feel, even more so than "Creepshow." The interluding story that transitions all the rest follows young Billy who initially waits eagerly for the delivery truck to drop off the first editions of the "Creepshow" comic hot off the presses. 

The delivery guy is none other than the Creep. 

After Billy gets the first copy, the Creep vanishes back to his lair, where he welcomes us "kiddies" and introduces us to the stories in this next "edition" of Creepshow.

"It's amazing that you bores and ghouls keep coming back for more," he says. "You must be gluttons for punishment, eh? Well I guess you bloodsuckers enjoy being repulsed? You're loyal to the gore." 

He's similar to the Crypt Keeper, or the Old Hag who take readers from one story to another in the pages of "Tales from the Crypt" and "Vault of Horror".

After the first tale, we find Billy picking up a package at the post office. It contains some Venus fly traps he ordered from his copy of "Creepshow." 

He pays the $9 c.o.d. charge, and heads out. The Creep opens a new service window at the Post Office to tell us the next anecdote.

On his way back home, Billy bumps into a gang of bullies. Rhino, their leader, snatches Billy's package and rips it open. He takes one of the plant bulbs and stomps on it.

Billy retaliates with a swift kick to the groin. 

He books it on his bike with the bullies in hot pursuit. 

In the meantime, the Creep tells us one last tale.

At the end, the bullies corner Billy in a vacant lot, ready to pound him. 

But what they don't notice is a group of towering, carnivorous Venus fly traps looming behind them.

The kids scream in absolute terror which is uncomfortable to hear. 

Billy, meanwhile, stands motionless with a sinister smirk on his face as he watches his bullies meet their end by becoming a meal for the plants. It's a bit uncomfortable to watch. The animators went as far as they could with this small animated segment.

The stories overall are what I like in this sequel. It's too bad there's less of them than part one. 

Like its predecessor, "Creepshow 2" has a notable cast of stars. 

It's worth noting that as actor Hal Holbrook stars in the segment called "The Crate" in the first "Creepshow," his son plays "Fatso" in "Old Chief Wood'nhead."

I first saw this movie at a rather young age - probably too young - thanks to my brothers renting it once way back in the day. Not only did my young self find the first and second story terrifying, but seeing an old innocent couple fall victim to a criminal with a shot gun surely scarred me for life. But having watched it multiple times since those days, I find the story just as much of a fun guilty pleasure than part one. It's the same sort of momentary thrill as reading a cheap horror comic. They're novel and classic, and you get your few bucks worth of momentary uneasiness and cringy horror which is why anyone would read such comics in the first place. 

It does nothing else for you other than give your eyes and the darkest part of your imagination something to play around with. Otherwise, that's all it's good for. Again, the best scares a few dollars can buy. Like such comics, the movie leaves its audience with the creeps as they imagine themselves in those same predicaments.

"Creepshow 2" definitely accomplishes the same thing, which is what it sets out to do with the same cheesy, pun-filled dialogue found in cheap horror comics. 

Holt McCallany as Sam Whitemoon.

After the segment "Old Chief Wood'nhead" the Creep tells the audience, "Well, kiddies, that was quite a price for young Sam Whitemoon to pay... toupée, eh?"

The overall stories are prone to sticking power. That is, they easily stay in the memory of audiences. Vengeful wooden Indians, and man-eating oil slicks somehow have that power. 

I came across "Creepshow 3" but that's another post for another time.

Anyways, as the Creep says, 'til next issue, try to stay scared.