Creepshow 2: All good except for the Iron Maiden reference

Creepshow 2

I had such fond memories of the first installment in the Creepshow series that, when I came across Creepshow 2, I eagerly signed up to watch the second part. Same as the first part, this one was adapted for the big screen by George Romero and were roughly based on Stephen King's chilling tales. Much as I am not the biggest fan of Mr King, I must admit his tales of horror are more tasteful and creative than some of the modern regurgitations that are passing off as horror movies.  And Creepshow 2 certainly lived up to its name.

Here's a basic introduction of the three stories: Old Chief Wooden Head, The Raft and The Hitchhiker. The first one is a vengeance is my name sort of tale with a statue going after a bunch of hooligans. Why? Because they killed the nice shopkeeper and his wife. I must admit, I was not expecting the robbery angle at first. My bets were on the grumpy wife pawing the traditional jewels. My only complaint about this section was the choice of wall decoration for one of the robbers. Why, honestly, did the director think that an Iron Maiden poster was the perfect wall decoration for a typical hooligan? To borrow an Izzard quote, is this the point where audience is supposed to say "An Iron Maiden poster? Aah, but that explains it!"?

I found The Raft rather telling but not quite in the way you might have expected. Isn't it funny, how a tale that King has classified as a sub-genre came to dominate the horror genre for a decade or so later? You have to give the writers credit for exploring wider themes and scenarios for horror in movies such as the Creepshow series. And, for those who are curious, it's a run-of-the-mill tale about teenagers frolicking in an isolated area and subsequently being devoured by a weird, mutating oil slick. You heard me. The appeal of the story was of course in the way the story unfolded and how the writers built up the suspense.

Then there was The Hitchhiker. I am not a huge fan of this little tale. My biggest complaint is that it was rather cliche. This in turns makes me wonder if the whole concept of back-from-dead hitchhiker was overdone so badly in the 90s that you can't quite say "horror" and "hitchhiker" without feeling slightly nauseous. Well, by now you have the gist of the tale. If not, take a moment to remember the "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Except in this case, revenge came around the corner rather quickly and there was no annoying sequels.

All in all, Creepshow stayed true to the 1980s style of cheesy horror where a bit of humor is mixed with bad dress sense and hints of a moral lesson somewhere. And of course, the antihero was not as prolific then as is evident from something old-school like this movie. As an example, consider the shopkeeper in the first tale. He was the stereotypical good grandfather type who refused jewels as a sort of a down payment from the local Native American. In modern movies, not even Lost's Hurley will last ten minutes without being tempted to sell/pawn the jewels.