Creepshow is a 1982 American horror comedy anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, making this film his screenwriting debut. The film's ensemble cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, and Viveca Lindfors as well as King himself (King's acting debut actually came a year prior in the Romero film Knightriders). The film was primarily shot on location in Pittsburgh and its suburbs, including Monroeville, where Romero leased an old boys academy (Penn Hall) to build extensive sets for the film.
Creepshow consists of five short stories: "Father's Day", "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" (based on the King short story "Weeds"), "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up on You!" Two of these stories were adapted from King's short stories, with the film bookended by prologue and epilogue scenes featuring a young boy named Billy (played by King's son, Joe), who is punished by his abusive father for reading horror comics.
Creepshow is an homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s, such as Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear. In order for the film to give viewers a comic book feel, Romero hired long-time effects specialist Tom Savini to replicate comic-like effects.
The film earned $21 million in the United States. It was followed by a 1987 sequel, Creepshow 2, directed by the first film's cinematographer, Michael Gornick, written by Romero and based on stories by King. A second sequel, Creepshow 3, was released in 2006, without involvement from either Romero or King.
Plot[]
Prologue[]
A young boy named Billy Hopkins (Joe Hill) gets disciplined by his abusive father Stan (Tom Atkins) for reading a horror comic titled Creepshow. After swiping the comic from Billy and throwing it in the garbage, Stan tells his wife (Iva Jean Saraceni) that he has to be hard on Billy because he does not want their son to be exposed to the comic's content, calling it "horror crap". As Billy sits upstairs, wishing that his father rots in Hell, he hears a sound at the window.
The source of the noise turns out to be the Creep, the host of the comic book, beckoning him to come closer. The film transitions to animation as the Creep removes the trash can's lid, transitioning to the opening credits. When the credits end, the film transitions to the first story.
"Father's Day"[]
The first story, "Father's Day," is an original story by King written for the film.
Sylvia Grantham (Carrie Nye) meets her nephew Richard (Warner Shook) and niece Cass (Elizabeth Regan), along with Cass's new husband Hank (Ed Harris) at the Grantham estate for the family's annual dinner on the third Sunday in June. They proceed to tell Hank about the family matriarch, Great Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors), and of how it is an open secret in the family that she murdered her late father: the miserly and domineering Nathan Grantham (Jon Lormer) who had accumulated the family's fortune through bootlegging, fraud, extortion, and murder-for-hire.
Many years earlier, Bedelia was rendered an unstable spinster, the result of a lifetime spent putting up with her father's incessant demands and emotional abuse, which got even worse after he suffered a stroke and she was made to nurse him full-time. The torture culminated with Nathan orchestrating a fatal "hunting accident", which took the life of his daughter's fiancé Peter Yarbro (Peter Messer), in order to keep her under his thumb. That Father's Day, Bedelia, driven into a murderous rage by Nathan's constant insults and his petulant demands for his cake, bashed her overbearing father's head in with a marble ashtray (that is hidden throughout the other stories).
In the present day, Bedelia arrives at Grantham Manor that evening. She stops by the family cemetery, just outside the mansion, to lay a flower at her father's grave. She drunkenly reminisces about the murder, and reveals that Sylvia staged the killing as an accident in order to steal and distribute Nathan's fortune among the rest of the family. She accidentally spills her whiskey bottle in front of the headstone. Just then, Nathan's reanimated, putrefied, maggot-infested corpse (John Amplas) emerges from the burial plot, still demanding the Father's Day cake he never got. He avenges himself on Bedelia, strangling her. He proceeds to systematically wipe out the rest of his family: telekinetically crushing Hank to death with a gravestone, then twisting Sylvia's neck; he also kills Mrs. Danvers (Nann Mogg), the Granthams' cook, possibly to cover his tracks. As a gruesome final joke, Nathan surprises Cass and Richard by presenting them with his Father's Day cake: Sylvia's severed head, covered with frosting and lit candles.
While the ending is left ambiguous in the film, with Nathan gloating over a terrified Cass and Richard in freeze-frame, the comic book based on the film has the Creep giving a vague hint that Nathan's next act was to "blow out their candles". Returning to animation, the Creep turns the comic book's page to the next story.
"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill"[]
This section of the film is based on King's short story "Weeds".
Jordy Verrill (Stephen King), a comedic and dim-witted backwoods yokel, watches as a meteorite crash lands on his farm. Observing the crash site, Jordy gets his fingers burned when he tries to touch the meteorite. In a fantasy sequence, Jordy imagines selling the meteorite to the local college's "Department of Meteors", hoping that the sale will provide enough money to pay off a $200 bank loan. Taking precautions, he douses the meteorite with a bucket of water, causing it to crack open and spill a glowing blue liquid. In another fantasy sequence, Jordy imagines the "Department of Meteors" refusing to purchase the now broken meteorite. Resolving to try and glue the halves together in the morning, Jordy nonchalantly dumps the liquid inside the meteor into the soil, but not before the substance makes contact with his skin.
As time passes, Jordy finds his fingers being overcome by what appears to be grass. He attempts to call a doctor (Bingo O'Malley), but he reconsiders doing so when he imagines (in another fantasy sequence) that the doctor will chop the afflicted fingers off without anesthetic. Over time, the strange substance continue to grow all over Jordy's farm, everything Jordy has touched, and even on Jordy's body, which causes him to itch furiously. Jordy panics as he discovers the increasing growth, and tries to calm himself by pouring himself a bottle of vodka and mixing it with orange juice. Soon after, Jordy falls asleep in a drunken stupor.
Jordy wakes up sometime later, believing the experience to have been a dream, but his hopes are dashed when he sees that the plant growth has managed to reach inside the house, as well as discovering in a mirror that he has now grown a green beard. He starts to draw a bath to relieve the itching, but he is visited by the ghost of his deceased father (Bingo O'Malley), who appears in his mirror and warns him against doing so by telling him that water is what the plants want. Grimly rationalizing that not getting in would only delay the inevitable, Jordy laments that "[he's] a goner already." When the itching from the growth on his skin becomes unbearable, Jordy succumbs to temptation and collapses into the bathwater.
The next morning, Jordy's farm has been completely coated with dense layers of the alien vegetation, with Jordy himself transformed into a human-shaped collection of plant matter. In despair, he reaches for a Coach Gun, prays to God that his luck will be in just this once, and blows the top of his head off, killing himself. Immediately afterwards, a TV weather forecast announces that moderate temperatures and heavy rains are predicted, the implication being that this will accelerate the spread of the extraterrestrial plant growth to surrounding areas, and will continue to the point where the Earth may be terraformed into an entirely green planet.
Returning to animation, a gust of wind turns the comic book's page (briefly passing over an advertisement for a voodoo doll that is missing its order form) to the next story.
"Something to Tide You Over"[]
This story was also written specifically for the film.
Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen) is a vicious and heartless millionaire whose spry jocularity belies his cold-blooded and murderous nature. He visits Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson), the man with whom his wife Becky (Gaylen Ross) is having an affair. Richard mentions that he and Becky never shared any actual affection, but such is beside the issue; Richard's point of honor is always keeping what's "his", a rule that he enforces no matter what. Rather than physically assault Harry, Richard plays a recording of Becky's voice, where she tearfully begs Harry to help her. Both men travel to Comfort Point, Richard's isolated beach house. Richard points out what appears to be a burial mound in the sand. When Harry promptly runs to it, Richard pulls a gun on him. He forces Harry to jump into the empty hole and begin burying himself.
Eventually, Richard finishes burying Harry neck-deep in the sand below the high-tide line. Richard then sets up a closed-circuit TV camera and a VCR to record Harry. He also brings along a monitor displaying Becky, who is also buried up to her neck further down the beach, where the rising tide is already washing over her face. Richard does tell Harry that he and Becky have a chance of survival: if they can hold their breath long enough for the sand to loosen once the seawater covers them, they can break free and escape. With that, Richard abandons Harry and returns to Comfort Point. Sipping a cocktail, Richard watches with great satisfaction as Harry and Becky slowly drown. Just before Harry is completely submerged by the advancing tide, he looks directly into the camera and vows revenge on Richard.
Hours later, Richard returns to Harry's "grave" to collect the tape. He finds the ruined monitor, but no sign of Harry. Not disturbed, Richard writes this off as the body having been carried away by the current. Later that night, Richard hears voices calling his name, as a mysterious unseen presence easily bypasses Comfort Point's extensive security system. The culprits turn out to be Harry and Becky, the two lovers having returned as waterlogged, seaweed-covered revenants intent on revenge on their killer. Richard shoots them, but when the bullets have no effect, he barricades himself in his bedroom, only to find Becky and Harry already inside. The two victims taunt Richard, who laughs insanely.
Sometime later, the undead lovers have buried Richard up to his neck on the beach. They have since disappeared together into the surf, leaving Richard's own seaweed-covered video camera to record his coming demise. As the approaching tide proceeds to drown him, the hysterical Richard screams that he can hold his breath "for a LONG time!"
Returning to animation, a stronger gust of wind blows the comic book out of the trash can and onto the street, where it opens to the next story.
"The Crate"[]
This section of the film is based on the short story of the same name.
Mike Latimer (Don Keefer), a janitor at Horlicks University, drops a quarter he was flipping which rolls behind a grate under a basement staircase. While attempting to retrieve the coin, he comes across a wooden storage crate marked "Ship to Horlicks University via Julia Carpenter - Arctic Expedition - June 19, 1834" hidden underneath the staircase. He calls Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver) to notify him of the discovery, drawing Dexter away from a faculty social gathering. Also at the gathering are Dexter's best friend, the mild-mannered Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook), and Henry's perpetually drunk, obnoxious, and emotionally-abusive wife Wilma "Billie" (Adrienne Barbeau), who has a penchant for embarrassing herself, belittling her husband, and annoying or insulting everybody she meets. Henry regularly fantasizes about killing his horrific wife, but is far too timid to actually go through with it.
Stanley meets Mike at Amberson Hall, where the former discovers the crate. Both men move the crate into a nearby biology lab, where they tirelessly work to get it open. In the process, Mike sticks his hand inside the crate and begins yelling in pain. The crate opens to reveal its contents: a shaggy, ape-like creature with sharp fangs (Darryl Ferrucci). Despite its diminutive size, the creature promptly kills and devours Mike whole, leaving behind only his mangled boot. Fleeing the lab, Dexter bumps into graduate student Charlie Gereson (Robert Harper), to whom he frantically relays what happened. While skeptical, Charlie agrees to investigate the professor's claims. The two find the lab covered in blood, with no sign of the creature or its crate. They discover that the crate has been moved back under the stairs, where they also discover Mike's boot. Wanting to measure the bite marks on the boot, Charlie examines the crate closer. The creature pounces on Charlie and kills him, prompting Dexter to escape and take the boot with him.
Traumatized and hysterical, Dexter runs to Henry's house after Wilma leaves for the evening. He tells Henry everything that happened since the crate was discovered, and insists that the monster must be disposed of somehow. Seeing the supposed creature as an ideal way to rid himself of his wife, Henry appears to believe Dexter's story. To this end, Henry spikes Dexter's drink with sleeping pills and writes a note stating that Dexter had supposedly assaulted a female student. This brings Wilma rushing to Amberson Hall, where Henry has since cleaned up the bloody lab. When Wilma arrives, Henry lures her under the basement stairs, trying to awaken the creature. As Wilma rants at Henry for dragging her out there in the middle of the night and assaulting her, the beast awakens and proceeds to eat her.
The next morning, Henry tells Dexter that he secured the beast inside its crate, and then dumped the crate into a nearby quarry, watching as it sank to the bottom. He convinces Dexter that the creature has drowned, and both men agree to let the authorities handle the disappearances. Unknown to Henry and Dexter, the beast is shown to still be alive, and is last seen tearing the submerged crate apart. Returning to animation, it begins raining as the comic book turns to the next page, beginning the final story.
"They're Creeping Up on You!"[]
This last story was also written specifically for the film.
Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a ruthlessly cruel business mogul who suffers from mysophobia, which has rendered him living in a hermetically-sealed penthouse apartment outfitted with electric locks and surveillance cameras. His apparent contacts with the outside world are through the telephone and are primarily made to put-upon employees. One stormy night, Pratt receives a call from George Gendron, one of his subordinates, about the fact that his company (Pratt International) has recently instigated a corporate takeover of the Pacific Aerodyne company. Gendron also informs Mr. Pratt that the takeover caused a business rival, Norman Castonmeyer, to commit suicide, much to Pratt's delight.
During the call, Pratt slowly begins finding cockroaches around his apartment. Being a fanatical insect hater, Pratt arms himself with bug spray in an attempt to combat the insects. Before long, someone manages to get through on Pratt's private line. The caller turns out to be Norman Castonmeyer's widow Lenore (Ann Muffly), who tearfully recalls her husband's final moments and curses Pratt for causing his death. After finding pieces of cockroaches in his food processor, Pratt receives a call from his building's superintendent Carl Reynolds (Mike Tierno), currently on vacation in Orlando. Despite his vacation, Pratt forces Reynolds to send the building's handyman Mr. White to call an exterminator under the threat of firing him.
Soon after, Pratt discovers more cockroaches in a box of cereal, trying and failing to crush any that he can. Mr. White (David Early) soon arrives outside Pratt's door, and tells him (speaking in a stereotypical minstrel voice to mock him) that he is calling a fumigation service. A rolling blackout then heads towards the building. During the blackout, cockroaches numbering in the hundreds of thousands begin pouring out of every nook and cranny in Pratt's apartment. As the insects overwhelm Pratt, he activates the emergency power and attempts to call the police for assistance. The police are unfortunately unable to be of any help because of the blackout, nor is Mr. White, who is stuck in the elevator.
At his wit's end, Pratt locks himself inside a climate-controlled panic room to escape the growing swarm of cockroaches. He gets to get another call from Lenore, who continues to curse at him. It's during this call that Pratt finds his bedcovers wriggling, and he removes them to discover that the cockroaches have already invaded the panic room. With no way for Pratt to escape, the cockroach swarm charges at him, which induces a fatal heart attack.
When electricity returns to the building, the apartment is utterly devoid of cockroaches. Pratt's corpse is shown in the panic room as Mr. White calls in to report. When he gets no answer, Mr. White mockingly asks Pratt "Bugs got your tongue?" Pratt's body soon begins to contort as cockroaches burst out of his mouth and chest, re-enveloping the panic room. Mr. White continues to call Pratt's name to get a response, then calls him a bastard when he gets no answer.
Returning to animation, one last gust of wind blows the comic book further down the street, where it lands on a nearby curb.
Epilogue[]
The next morning, two garbage collectors (Marty Schiff and Tom Savini) find the Creepshow comic book on the curb. They look at the ads in the book for X-ray specs and a Charles Atlas bodybuilding course. They also see the advertisement for the voodoo doll that was briefly glimpsed earlier, but lament that the order form has already been redeemed.
Inside the Hopkins house, Stan complains to his wife that he is suffering from a stiff neck, figuring that he must have strained it. Upstairs, Billy is revealed to have sent away for the voodoo doll, and has decorated it with a piece of his father's clothing and some of his hair. Stan clutches his throat in pain as Billy repeatedly and gleefully jabs the voodoo doll with a pin, finally getting revenge on his father for his abuse.
Transitioning to animation for a final time, the images of Billy jabbing the doll becomes the cover of the next issue of Creepshow. The Creep is seen holding the same comic book, laughing sinisterly as a candle goes out.