Creepshow Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Creepshow Blu-ray Movie Review

Warner Bros.' bare-bones edition of George Romero's Creepshow (1982) was reviewed by Dustin Somner nine years ago. For Dustin's thoughts on this anthology film and synopses of the five vignettes, please refer to his review.

I need to crawl out of this grave!

Creepshow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A special Collector's Edition of Creepshow has arrived courtesy of Shout! Factory. The release comes with a hard and sturdy slipcover with new cover art designed by Laz Marquez. There is also a thirty-six page booklet with behind-the-scenes photos, color stills, and various posters. The liner notes are written by Michael Gingold, a longtime Romero fan. The film appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on an MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50, which carries a mean bitrate of 32993 kbps. Shout! advertises on the back cover and inside the back of the booklet that this is a new 2018 HD transfer scanned in 4K from the original camera negative with color correction supervised and approved by director of photography Michael Gornick. The scan was performed at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging on the Lasergraphics Director scanner. The restoration was done by LA-based Duplitech. If you've seen Creepshow before, I'd advise you to first watch a ten-minute featurette titled The Colors of Creepshow. Here, Gornick explains his general dissatisfaction over how the color grading of the VHS and DVD versions of Creepshow were handled. He's pleased with the work done by Fotokem and praises the colorist (Steve Peer) whom he worked closely with on the timing. Gornick strove for an "affectation of the colors," which is particularly evident in the segment, "The Crate." He states that this represents what the film was supposed to look like when the release prints were first made. Kudos to Shout! for allowing Gingold to serve as the primary overseer. I'd like to see the studio borrow a page from Criterion, BFI, Eurkea et al. by printing detailed info on the transfer and restoration for all its releases for vintage titles.

Colors are clearly defined and saturation levels deep (especially red). The grain is nicely balanced throughout. It sparkles on the white walls and countertops in Upson Pratt's apartment ("They're Creeping Up On You"). There are periodically some minor film artifacts and blips but Shout! probably did not want to compromise the grain structure so left them in. The transfer easily blows Warner's VC-1 encode from 2009 out of the water. There's clear improvement in the skin tones. I have supplied an equal sampling of frame grabs from each of the five episodes.

There are the standard dozen scene selections for the two-hour feature.

Creepshow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has remixed a new DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3458 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1988 kbps, 24-mix). (There isn't a mono track included, as stated on the original packaging.) While there aren't any source flaws on the master used for the 5.1 remix, the pitch levels have been amplified and there are some synch issues. This will be especially noticeably if you've watched the film a lot on home video. I recall a similar technicality nine years ago when Studio Canal made a new 5.1 recording for their release of The Deer Hunter. This is 2018 and shouldn't be happening! I'm not aware of any replacement program Shout! has set up for this title. If you find the high pitch irritating, I'd recommend that you stay strictly with the 2.0 track. On the positive side, the synths and piano emanating from John Harrison's score sound just fine on the fronts and rears.

Optional English SDH can be accessed through the menu (see Screenshot #25) or via remote.

Creepshow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Warner BD-25 only had a trailer but Second Sight put out an unofficial special edition with lots of bells and whistles in the UK over five years ago. Luckily, Shout! licensed all except for the featurettes, Just Deserts: The Making of Creepshow and Behind the Screams with Tom Savini. They've easily topped Second Sight with two new commentary tracks, four new sets of interviews, and four additional featurettes.

• Audio Commentary with Director George A. Romero and Special Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini Moderated by Michael Felsher

• NEW Audio Commentary with Director of Photography Michael Gornick

• NEW Audio Commentary with Composer/First Assistant Director John Harrison and Construction Coordinator Ed Fountain

• Audio Interviews with Director of Photography Michael Gornick, Actor John Amplas, Property Master Bruce Alan Miller, and Make-up Effects Assistant Darryl Ferrucci

• NEW Terror and the Three Rivers: A Round Table Discussion on the Making of Creepshow with John Amplas, Tom Atkins, Tom Savini, and Marty Schiff (30:10, 1080p)

• NEW The Comic Book Look – An Interview with Costume Designer Barbara Anderson (12:51, 1080p)

• NEW Ripped from the Pages – An Interview with Animator Rick Catizone (15:37, 1080p)

• NEW The Colors of Creepshow – A Look at the Restoration of Creepshow with Director of Photography Michael Gornick (10:10, 1080p)

• NEW Into the Mix – An Interview with Sound Re-recordist Chris Jenkins (13:05, 1080p)

• NEW Mondo Macabre – A Look at Mondo's Various Creepshow Posters with Mondo Co-Founder Rob Jones and Mondo Gallery Events Planner Josh Curry (9:42, 1080p)

• NEW Collecting Creepshow – A Look at Some of the Original Props and Collectibles from the Film with Collector Dave Burian (12:31, 1080p)

• Tom Savini's Behind-the-Scenes Footage (25:52, 1080i)

• NEW Horror's Hallowed Grounds – A Look at the Original Film Locations Hosted by Sean Clark (14:56, 1080p)

• Deleted Scenes (15:31, 1080i)

• Posters and Lobby Cards Gallery (6:44, 1080p)

• Movie Posters Gallery (2:20, 1080p)

• Color Stills Gallery (2:15, 1080p)

• Special Effects Makeup Gallery (6:04, 1080p)

• Behind-the-Scenes Gallery (6:29, 1080p)

• Theatrical Trailer (1:49, 1080p)

• TV Spot (0:28, upscaled to 1080i)

• Radio Spots (1:04)

Creepshow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I retain fond memories of first watching Creepshow on USA during my early teens. I can remember each horror tale but for some reason, I can recall everything from "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" (probably because I watched it several times over again). I maintain that Romero was best at straight-up horror as opposed to an amalgam of horror mixed with black humor. (This isn't to insinuate that he's wasn't adept at incorporating comedy at the appropriate moments.) Because of the shorter run times of some of the segments, there isn't ample room for character development. Leslie Nielsen plays the avaricious Richard Vickers to perfection but King doesn't bestow him with any sympathy. The first half of "Something To Tide You Over" is conceived to be tortuous on both Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) and the audience so the resolution/final denouement can produce maximum effect. Adrienne Barbeau gains more sympathy but that's primarily because of the elongated storyline and longer runtime of "The Crate." All in all, each horror tale contains great moments. Creepshow is arguably Romero's most experimental work.

Had it not been for the audio synch and amped-up pitch issues on the 5.1 track, this release would have received my highest endorsement. The 4K scan looks wonderful as the image is richly detailed with excellent contrast. Shout! has rounded up a smörgåsbord of dazzling bonus features that should crave the appetites of horror connoisseurs. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to Romero's legion of fans.