Chris Ward reviews season 4 of Creepshow….
As horror fans, the TV shows we have had over the past decade or two have been plentiful yet so many of them have never quite hit the mark, especially when they are serialised versions of established franchises. Ash vs. Evil Dead managed to recapture much of the magic of its parent property, but after three seasons of consistently entertaining carnage somebody decided that was enough, and whilst The Exorcist, Hannibal and Bates Motel have their fans, they also took their respective stories in other directions that, sometimes, was unwarranted.
And then there is Creepshow, the anthology series based on the George A. Romero/Stephen King collaboration from 1982 that saw effects maestro Greg Nicotero take the helm and bring us more tales of the macabre in an EC Comics style. Season one was a little underwhelming but the combination of recognisable genre stars hamming it up in tales of revenge, selfish people doing bad things to get what they want, and classic monsters given a modern twist gave us hope amidst the inconsistent scripts.
However, with seasons two and three Nicotero and his crew found their stride, and the essence of the Romero/King original was fully tapped into, so much so that season four soon followed, and as we all know, if a popular genre TV show that isn’t The Walking Dead makes it past three seasons, then something must be working.
Subject wise, season four doesn’t deviate from anything we have seen before, and why should it? Much like the tales of terror in the old EC Comics, there are only a few ideas that get recycled over and over, but as long as the frights keep coming then all is good, and this season keeps that going, although the quality may be half a step below what we saw in season three.
The first episode contains two stories – ‘Twenty Minutes with Cassandra’ and ‘Smile’ – that are probably the weakest of the season, the former being an odd monster tale that has a message about friendship but doesn’t really make a lot of sense, whilst the latter sees a celebrity photojournalist and his wife pay the price for their success by someone reminding him of his past in a war zone when he could have saved another life but didn’t. Neither story has any standout moments and if they weren’t here, nobody would be any worse off for not seeing them.
However, the first tale of episode two, ‘The Hat’, is where things pick up considerably. Here, struggling horror author Jay (Ryan Beil) needs to make the deadline with his next novel, stating that his hero Stephen Bachman (if you know, you know) never missed a deadline. When he goes to see his agent Nicole (Marlee Walchuck), she offers him Bachman’s lucky hat that he apparently never wrote without, and before long Jay is writing like a demon, which is a very apt turn of phrase.
Stephen King was always at his best when writing about horror authors and ‘The Hat’ is a fun and loving homage to King, as well as containing a few nods to other notable horror writers, which taps into its sources and adds some other horror tropes you will have seen before, but when it is done this well then revisiting the subject matter is a treat.
Grieving Process follows and brings a classic monster into the season as April (Rachel Drance) is attacked and loses a lot of blood from a wound in her neck. Her husband Richard (Sachin Sahel) and her sister Jean (MaeMae Renfrow) care for her after she returns from hospital, but things aren’t right as April seems to have developed a bloodlust, and because he loves her, Richard goes out and kills. However, things take a darker turn when a child rides her bike into his car.
A bit of a drop off from ‘The Hat’, ‘Grieving Process’ is a more serious tale that taps into family, loyalty and the lengths someone would go to for love, and it does have a nasty tone to it that the actors sell very well.
Episode three features ‘The Parent Deathtrap’ and ‘To Grandmother’s House We Go’, and whilst the latter brings us a modern twist on Little Red Riding Hood, it ultimately doesn’t really hold any surprises and feels very generic. However, ‘The Parent Deathtrap’ has the plot of a 1980s horror comedy involving a teenager who murders his snobby, overbearing parents and ends up going to the school prom with a girl that the ghosts of mum and dad do not approve of. It is a weird one, but it works, mainly thanks to the oddball performance and manic energy of the script, as well as some fun kills.
Elsewhere, we have the return of the bloodsucker with ‘Meet the Belaskos’, where a family of placid vampires move into a new neighbourhood where their presence is not welcome, especially when the vampire daughter starts dating the human son of the next-door neighbour, who doesn’t like vampires. Again, this could be the plot of a screwball ‘80s comedy and there is plenty of gore to keep horror fans happy, resulting in one of the best episodes of the entire series.
‘Cheat Code’ and ‘Doodles’ offer up modern takes on tales we have seen before, with ‘Cheat Code’ involving a father and son who get obsessed with an impossible video game, to the point where their very lives are in danger, whilst ‘Doodles’ sees an ambitious illustrator have to battle with her conscience to land her dream job in a tale that has odious characters you want to see get their comeuppance.
The season ends with ‘George Romero in 3-D!’ and ‘Baby Teeth’, which are a bit of a weak finale, especially after the mighty ‘Something Burrowed, Something Blue’, the first story of episode five, because this is where we get an appearance from the legendary Tom Atkins, who also appeared in the original 1982 movie. Here, Atkins plays Frank, an estranged father who is dying and wants to make amends with his daughter before he goes, offering to pay for her wedding. However, Frank has ulterior motives for wanting to reconnect with his daughter, as somebody must feed the dormant Minhocão beast that lives in his basement when it wakes up. A classic Creepshow story that is one of the highlights of the season, and who better than Tom Atkins to lead it.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray singularly or as part of a boxset that contains all four seasons, Creepshow season 4 is a bit of a mixed bag – as most anthologies are – but between the strange start and weak ending there are some of the best stories to be found in the entire Creepshow series here, and now that the creators have found their stride with the modern takes on classic tales and have their own stylish format – no wraparounds or cringey intros to be found here – there is no reason that Creepshow cannot continue to season five and beyond.
Chris Ward
