CREEPSHOW - DVD review

Before "Tales from the Crypt" there was "Creepshow," at least on the big screen. "Creepshow," made in 1982, is based on those old, gory, sexy E.C. horror comics of the late forties and early fifties, the ones that were eventually banned by the comic-book industry itself under pressure from civic and religious groups.

Written by Stephen King and directed by fright-flick veteran George Romero ("Night of the Living Dead"), "Creepshow" presents a quintet of stories reminiscent of the kind that many of us still remember from the glory days of terror comics. Introduced by an animated Grim Reaper, the stories leap out of a comic-book framework into real life; or death, as the case may be. It's good, not-so-clean, not-so-wholesome, sometimes-scary fun.

The stories are adolescent, of course, but that's the whole idea. Remember, it's comic-book stuff. The first story stars Viveca Lindfors and Ed Harris in "Father's Day," a tale about a mean, old man who was knocked off by his daughter a few years earlier. He comes back from the grave to get his revenge.

The second story is an amusing interlude called "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill," starring King himself. He's a one-man show playing a backwoods hick who finds a meteorite in his front yard. Naturally, he has to touch it, and when he does he gets a green gunky fungus on his fingers, which soon spreads all over his body. It's pretty funny, actually.

The third story is called "Something to Tide You Over" and stars Leslie Nielson as a wronged husband who gets even with his unfaithful wife and her lover, played by Ted Danson. Nielson drowns them both, but, as you know, sometimes they come back.

The fourth installment is my favorite, "The Crate," starring Hal Holbrook as a college professor with an obnoxious wife, played by Adrienne Barbeau. A colleague finds a mysterious box down in the cellar of one of the school buildings. It's marked "Arctic Expedition, 1834." In the crate is a monster that devours anything in sight. So the professor invites his wife to take a peek. "Just tell it to call you Billie."

Finally, there's a really creepy yarn about a rich man, E.G. Marshall, who hates bugs. You can guess what happens. And you'd better not have an aversion to bugs yourself or you're in for big trouble with this one.

Video:
The film is presented in two aspect ratios: On one side of the disc is a 1.33:l full-frame format, and on the other a 1.69:1 widescreen rendering. However, in spite of what the box says of the standard version--"It has been formatted to fit your screen"--it offers more top and bottom image than the widescreen version with no sacrifice in left or right-hand material. The widescreen edition is clearly a matted rendering of the standard version. Go with the latter. The picture quality is OK but not great. It's a little soft and faded and occasionally marked by age spots.

Audio:
Likewise, the two-channel Dolby Stereo Surround sound is a bit on the soft side, the front speakers displaying minimal channel spread, the rear speakers even less, except during a few musical passages.

Extras:
There isn't much besides the movie, either: English and French subtitle choices, scene access, and a theatrical trailer. It's a good thing the movie is there to entertain us.

Parting Thoughts:
Romero and King tried to duplicate the success of "Creepshow" a few years later in "Creepshow 2" (Romero writing a screenplay based on three King stories), but the magic wasn't there. The episodes weren't half as good-humored, and the movie was largely a bore. Horror, like comedy, is hard to pull off. Here they both come off, if unevenly. Some of it is silly, some of it dumb, and most of it gruesome. It's macabre whimsy, to say the least.