"Creepshow 2" was something of a roller coaster ride with me. I liked it as a jr. high kid so I bought iton DVD eventually (I'll get to why in a little while). Watching it as an adult I didn't really think much of it for the longest time. After popping it in every now and then when I wanted a horror flick around Halloween it began to grow on me a little. I eventually gained a new measure of appreciation for it though it's still a long way from my favorite horror movie.

 

Most of what’s wrong could have been overcome with a talented director, or possibly less intrusion from meddling studio execs. I’m not going to go hang a picture of George Romero on my wall, but he’s got some talent and could have made the movie more worth watching (he was the original movie's director if you’re wondering about the reference). I think he worked on the screenplay with Stephen King, but the writing from either isn’t good enough to save this sequel.

 

I’m sure you want an idea of what this movie is (or a refresher if, like me, you saw it back at the turn of the previous century). It’s 3 short stories framed in a larger one. It’s inspired by the old horror comic books and is similar to other such shows, like “Tales From the Crypt,” in the way it uses the comic theme with a horrific character host.

 

The frame story revolves around The Creep (who distributes the comic books) and a little boy that loves to read these books. The boy goes on a bit of an adventure with Venus Fly Traps and bullies through the different frame segments. The first and last minutes of it are live-action, but the rest is animated. It’s a weak and disjointed story with poor acting and animation. The movie as a whole would have been better without so much of this element.

 

There was originally a plan to have 5 shorts like the first movie, but due to financial restrictions that number was reduced to 3. I imagine the frame story was expanded last minute to fill time. That also serves to offer an explanation for the choice of weak animation over live-action.

 

In the first of the stories, “Old Chief Woodenhead,” a wooden statue of a Native American man comes to life to take revenge for the murder of the old couple in front of whose store he stands. It feels a little like a Western mostly because of the desert location and dealings with “Indians.” The teenage murderers are arguably the worst actors in the whole movie and do a lot to spoil the story. The make-up effects on Woodenhead are half-way decent, and the actors portraying the old couple are not bad. The story isn't the best example of a revenge tale, but it's got a Stephen King flavor to it that helps.

 

The next short is based on a Stephen King short story “The Raft.” This part is the main reason I have ever had any interest in this movie. It’s about 4 college kids sneaking away to a secluded pond. They swim out to a wooden raft anchored in the middle of the pond when they notice what looks kind of like an oil slick except that it attacks and eats living things (kind of like the Blob but in the water).

 

I spent a lot of time on the lake as a kid and came up with all sorts of stories about giant man-eating fish, and dreaming that the sound of the water lapping against the wooden dock at night was actually a huge creature rising from the depths (if only I had discovered Lovecraft at that time). I also had an overgrown fishpond in the woods behind my house that made for great imaginative monster tales. So a monster story set in a pond was particularly, though delightfully, terrifying for me.

 

The acting is acceptible even if not truly great. The story (or “concept” maybe would be more accurate) is good, the pacing good enough, and the rest is too simple to screw up terribly. There is actually a feeling of peril. The oil monster could look better but could also be worse. It is by far the best portion of this movie though it's not necessarily good enough to make the rest sitting through if you're hating it.

 

The final short, “The Hitchhiker” is a better campfire ghost story than a movie. A woman, distracted by worrying that she is about to be caught having an affair, hits a hitchhiker and speeds off hoping to avoid facing the consequences. As she drives home she is plagued by the undying corpse of the murdered man wanting retribution.

 

It has some creepy moments and some fun monster jump scares. There are a few times that the corpse looks downright silly hanging onto the front of the car, and his repetitive lines get old. I thought the car haunting should have been cut back and the end reactions strengthened with maybe a little more focus on the husband's reactions to the end.

 

Stephen King fans will likely enjoy his cameo as the truck driver. Some fans may recognize Lois Chiles as the adulterous wife. She's probably delivers the best performance though she really doesn't have much in the way of difficult competition.