Kicking off the Halloween month, I felt it was essential to start it off with the famous Creepshow from 1982. I was tempted to do a review of the film, but with how many different short stories that are within it, it felt more fitting to review each of the stories and give them more attention individually. I'd argue that Creepshow is one of the essentials for Halloween watching, so if you're preparing to get into the Halloween atmosphere, this is already something I'd heavily recommend. Directed by none other than Night of the Living Dead's George Romero, the king of the zombie genre, Creepshow contains five different short stories over the span of two hours. Not to be confused with the more recent television series which was just terrible after the first season. Creepshow contains a lot of unique faces, a lot of incredibly fun stories, and some written by Stephen King, with some stories being adaptations of stories from books. We're starting off with the first of the stories within the Creepshow anthology film, and that is the hilariously fun Father's Day. It wouldn't be a Romero film without a zombie related story to kick it off now, would it?
Before starting the review, it's worth noting that Creepshow is a thriller and horror anthology film, to which it was created back in the 80s alongside a comic book with a similar structure. The comic book is still being published, to which it's available with some new stories now for October. Now, 80s horrors and thrillers are completely different to that of today, and these stories are mixed with various attempts to scare but also thrill with some fun themes. Its aim isn't to scare you to death as you watch, but to give you fun short stories each with their own atmospheric styles and settings. If you've ever seen a Romero film, you know what to expect. If you've ever read something from King, or even seen the older film adaptations of his works, then you'd also be familiar with what Creepshow is like. That fun, older style of thrills and spooks. To go into Creepshow is to have fun, and that's precisely what you're going to end up with! Anyway, to move on from this little bit of backstory on what Creepshow is, this review will feature spoilers over the first episode, Father's Day. So read on from here at your own discretion.
Creepshow: Father's Day
The first story starts off with a group of relatives meeting up for an annual dinner, to which they meet up at their luxury estate that was passed down to the younger women in the family. These women are of a more independent manner, holding control of the family fortune and generally being incapable of accepting anything from anyone. One of the women brings her husband along for the dinner, to which the family opens up about a murder that took place within the family. Before this, we're told that the family obtained their wealth from their father, to which he obtained the family wealth through various illegal matters. The children, almost all women, kept inside and incapable of growing as a result. The father fell victim to a stroke which left the women having to take care of him in his later years. This sets up the next part of the story: his nastiness over years and years of pushing the women in the house led to them finally cracking, on Father's Day, one of them takes a marble ash tray and kills him with it. They then cover up the murder and get away with it.
It doesn't take long for this episode's action to take place. With the family dinner taking place again on Father's Day, it leads to the revival of the father's corpse, leading to his undead body roaming through the estate in search of revenge. All because he wants some father's day cake! In classic Romero fashion, his zombie body is crafted with physical effects, and lots of beautiful colourful lighting to coat the sets. I loved how the episode looked, visually incredible with its various colours that didn't seem natural at all: bright reds, greens, and a strong blue which was almost meant to mimic a natural moonlight, though it's clear things have been exaggerated. Action comes in a mix of sudden jump scares and slow casual horror. A particular scene had a person effectively frozen in fear as a gravestone slowly shifted towards an edge, leading to his crushing and inevitable death. Plenty of time for that character to have moved, but they didn't. Constant perspectives changing from the gravestone, to the character frozen on the ground. This sort of constant back and forth is what makes Romero's directing so effective. Again, that lighting alongside the practical effects!
Father's Day is a short story on revenge. A father murdered coming back on the anniversary of his death to return to life for a brief period, but also in search of the one thing he always wanted to have: that precious father's day cake. This adds a bit more of a comedic twist to the whole episode. Removing the thrills and scares and replacing them with a few laughs; I think that's really what makes Creepshow so good. That ability to tell stories so silly, so fun, but still so effective in portraying that fun thriller and horror atmosphere. To add to this, the perfomances surprisingly aren't terrible. It has that typical early 80s feeling to it, but I assumed far worse from the actors. They each ended up being pretty good, far from exaggerated or poor. Quite theatrical in some regards, but that's precisely what you want from a show like this. Over the top, not too serious. So if you're looking for something to watch this October, go and check out 1982's Creepshow! You won't be disappointed.
And I'll be reviewing more of the episodes from it as I watch more. Some of them are incredibly creative and entertaining!
