Creepshow

Released in cinemas in 1982,ÊCreepshowÊis typically regarded as a minor entry in both the film output of George A. Romero and the history of adaptations of the works of Stephen King. Yet this lack of critical attention hides the fact thatÊCreepshowÊis the only full collaboration between AmericaÕs bestselling author of horror tales and one of the masters of modern American horror cinema. Long considered too mainstream for the director ofÊDawn of the DeadÊ(1978), too comic for the author that gave audiences the film versions ofÊCarrieÊ(1976) andÊThe ShiningÊ(1980), and too violent for a cinemagoing public turning away from gore cinema in the autumn of 1982,ÊCreepshowÊis here reassessed by Simon Brown, who examines the making and release of the film and its legacy through a comic book adaptation and two sequels. His analysis focuses on the key influences on the film, not just Romero and King, but also the anthology horrors of Amicus Productions, body horror cinema, and the special make up effects of Tom Savini, the relationship between horror and humor, and most notably the tradition of EC horror comics of the 1950s, from which the film draws both its thematic preoccupations and its visual style. Ultimately the book argues that not only isÊCreepshowÊa major work in the canons of Romero and King, but also that it represents a significant example of the portmanteau horror film, of the blending of horror and comedy, and finally, decades before the career of Zack Snyder (Watchmen,ÊMan of Steel), of attempting to recreate a comic book aesthetic on the big screen.