Revenge stories are as old as time itself. But that doesn't mean they're always a bit stale and repetitive. And that's clear with the much longer short story of "Something to Tide You Over" in Creepshow's 1982 anthology film. I've been reviewing each of the episodes as I've been going through them as I lead up to Halloween and get into the Halloween month. If you haven't yet read those, check them out on my profile. Creepshow is a great show for a few fun lighthearted thrills and spooks. Some of which are stronger than others. I would classify "Something to Tide You Over" as one of the less strong entries in the film, but definitely still an enjoyable one. Featuring two unexpected large names in the story: A young Ted Danson and a forever-old Leslie Nielson. Two highly popular actors that came into fame from comedy series and highly unlikely to have been found in a horror. Creepshow's "Something to Tide You Over" is loosely blended with some humour, however. A revenge story that comes with a bite of karma towards the end. Mixed with drama, suffering, and a whole lot of jealously within its story. I'd say that one of the main problems with this story though is its runtime. It's one of the much longer ones that really didn't need to be as long as it was!
This story takes us quickly into the luxury home of an individual looking for his lover. To which the discussion of a divorce comes up between the upcoming divorcee and her new lover. The jealousy instantly comes as the former lover refuses to accept the divorce and the loss of any items that may come with it. His home is something he has built and belongs to him, to give any of it up would be too much. He speaks of how his ex-wife is waiting for her lover somewhere, and how they'll need to go to her to meet. It's pretty clear that he's done something bad, but our character blindly follows him, driving off towards the beach way off in the coast. A remote area where there is definitely nothing good to come from it, where nobody can help if anything goes wrong. At this point it's already clear that there's something bad unfolding here, it's pretty evident to the audience. After all, it is Creepshow. But the story takes a bit of time to really get this going. It's slow, setting up some setting, and taking advantage of this fact to flesh out its runtime a little more. While it does this, it still isn't clear where the story is heading. Until our characters head off to the beach, where we see a hold dug into the sand, and our character is told to get in.
It's with this that our estranged upcoming divorcee is holding a gun. Threatening to shoot, while also promising that if the lover gets into the hole in the sand, then he'll see the woman. Most of the story unfolds with the cruelty of our Leslie Nielson's character essentially torturing the two lovers to death by drowning, burying them up to their necks in the sand and waiting for the tide to come crawling in. It's a pretty harsh death for our characters, but shows the nastiness of the killer that is so prepared to get his revenge and maintain his wealth. For a Creepshow episode it's all pretty on the nose from this point on. The two deceased lovers come back to life and start hunting down the killer. That side of the episode is pretty short, and I think that the episode focusing too much on the killing and setting up of those two characters was a bit of a flaw. I think it would've been better to have sped that side of it up more, and then giving more time to the hunting side of it as the dead return to life to get their revenge. This is an episode that is pulled along and stretched a little too much, leading to a bit of boredom and a pay off that isn't quite worthy of all that time spent.
In the nature of Creepshow, it's normal that some episodes are longer than others and some don't land quite as strong. I think that's the whole fun of it. And it still adds some pacing to the more faster stories that have more chaos and action to them. I wouldn't say that this is a must-watch story in the film, but it's definitely not something to skip either. In terms of its directing, I wouldn't say it's super strong either. There isn't much colour and style to it like the rest. That side of things comes at the end. The rest of it really just unfolds on a beach on an overcast and windy day. Not much else to it, really.
Still, it's fun to see Leslie Nielson taking on the role of a killer. I think he did a great job with it. Still very much decided. Very serious and quite threatening as a result. Determined in his actions and not showing any emotion. Quite the opposite from his The Naked Gun days!
