Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Creepshow: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 16, 2020

Can something properly be termed a “franchise” if it consists of only two movies and a nascent television series? Nomenclature aside, those who have had a fondness for either Creepshow or Creepshow 2 will probably know pretty much exactly what they’re going to get with regard to Creepshow: Season 1, the relatively newly minted television anthology that has been airing on the Shudder network. There seems to be a lot of love for both Creepshow and Creepshow 2, as evidenced not just by this series itself (which one assumes would never have been greenlit without a sense that there would be sufficient interest on the part of fans), but perhaps even more so by some of the almost gushing accolades given to the films that some of the various commentaries on this set offer from a variety of crew members, including producer Greg Nicotero. With that much awareness of “legacy”, this Creepshow , while perhaps geared toward that very aforementioned fanbase, may well appeal to horror fans in general as well, though the television series is lacking some of the films’ sometimes cheeky sense of humor. Creepshow: Season 1 also features a veritable grab bag of references and in fact even “easter eggs” (as some of the commentaries get into) which may in fact only be discernable to diehard fans.

There’s a rather interesting phenomenon with regard to the genesis of Creepshow which may at least partially put the lie to generally perceived notions of “generations”, at least insofar as some people tend to think of these groups as undividable monoliths. We deal in a world of labels, and the so-called Baby Boomer generation has of course been part of that definitional trend, but there can be “rifts” of a sort even within what are almost unavoidably broad understandings of how groups of people are linked. The Baby Boom is generally cited as those born between around 1946 and 1964 (give or take, depending on which data you’re relying on), but that’s almost twenty years, of course. In that regard, EC Comics might mean something very different for those born toward the beginning of the Baby Boom and those who came later. My hunch is anyone born after even the late fifties and certainly into the early sixties will think of one thing and one thing only if EC is mentioned: Mad Magazine, the legendary humor publication that really shaped comedic sensibilities for a whole host of notables who were kids back then. However, for those born earlier in the Baby Boom, as in the case of Stephen King (who came along in 1947), EC could well have other evocations, as in what was at one time one of its flagship publications, Tales from the Crypt. (Trivia fans will know that EC encountered pretty significant censorship issues, and the horror titles pretty much went the way of the dinosaur by around 1955, hence that "split" in various Baby Boomers' references when it comes to EC.)

The fact that there’s a film adaptation of Tales from the Crypt that can be linked to is perhaps another clue as to what may have inspired King, who evidently grew up (at least for a while) on that particular comic as well as a number of other EC horror enterprises, to ultimately help craft his own “horror comic book”, albeit one that went straight to celluloid. The television series, like the films, takes this idea literally, with a number of presentational aspects that feature not just animation, but also segues between scenes or even within scenes that suddenly morph into panels from a comic book and back again. Some of the commentaries once again get into how this approach helped at times to elide certain budget deficits, as in one episode featuring werewolves, where the “transformations” are offered via comic book panels rather than assumedly more expensive CGI or practical effects.

Each of the six episodes of this inaugural season contains two stories, with the Creep showing up either in puppet or animated form for intros, outros and "between tros". The two stories in each episode don't really have any connective tissue (that I could discern, anyway) other than the linking segments which frequently offer comic book panels or brief animations. The stories themselves are a varied lot, some evoking more moody angst than others, but many without much in the way of perceived humor other than perhaps those very interstitials featuring the Creep. There are several "monsters of the week" scattered throughout the first season, typically rendered by some good special effects work. This first season is stuffed full of "meta" references which fans may want to try to discover before turning to some of the explanatory commentaries, and Creepshow is surprisingly stylish almost all of the time, despite what was evidently a less than fulsome budget.

Creepshow: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Creepshow: Season 1 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of RLJ Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb doesn't have much technical data on the series, but the many making of featurettes included (see below) offer clear views of some kind of digital cameras, though model names and numbers aren't always clear. This is by and large a very crisp and well detailed looking series, though horror tropes like very dim lighting can occasionally affect fine detail levels. There are some very slight instances of image instability on some of the comic panels, where in things like lateral pans line detail can get a little "twitchy", and there is also minor but noticeable banding that shows up. Some of the practical effects work, including some at times pretty gruesome looking make-up, is quite effective, if stomach churning.

Creepshow: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Creepshow: Season 1 features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that makes the most of creepy if sometimes hokey sound effects, some of which are at least occasionally employed to evoke startle reactions. With a glut of both outdoor material as well as "supernatural" phenomena abounding (in the forms of monsters and the like), there is regular employment of both the surround channels and the subwoofer. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the series.

Creepshow: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As mentioned above, each episode in the first season of Creepshow is comprised of two separate tales, and so the commentaries below feature two sets of discussions per episode. Episode 5 offers more than one set of two commentaries (are you keeping up with all of this? -- if not, you might need tutoring from the math teacher played by Adrienne Barbeau in the first episode's Gray Matter).

Disc One

• Audio Commentaries

  Episode 1

  Gray Matter with Greg Nicotero and Philip de Blasi

  The House of the Head with John Harrison hosted by Michael Felsher

  Episode 2

  Bad Wolf Down with Rob Schraub hosted by Michael Felsher

  The Finger with Greg Nicotero and David J. Schow.

  Episode 3

  All Hallow's Eve with John Harrison hosted by Michael Felsher

  The Man in the Suitcase with David Bruckner hosted by Michael Felsher

Disc Two

• Audio Commentaries

  Episode 4

  The Companion with David Bruckner and Matt Venne

  Lydia Layne's Better Half with Greg Nicoteri and Roxanne Benjamin

  Episode 5 #1

  Night of the Paw with John Harrison hosted by Michael Felsher

  Times Is Tough in Musky Holler with John Harrison hosted by Michael Felsher

  Episode 5 #2

  Night of the Paw with John Esposito hosted by Michael Felsher

  Times Is Tough in Musky Holler with John Skipp hosted by Michael Felsher

  Episode 6

  Skincrawlers with Greg Nicotero, Roxanne Benjamin and Dana Gould

  By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain with Tom Savini hosted by Michael Felsher

Disc Three is all bonus features, but the menu structure is downright perplexing. The Main Menu features a Series/Featurettes link, and then below that individual links to all six episodes, which in turn lead to submenus with various making of featurettes devoted to each tale within the episode.

• Series/Featurettes (1080p; 1:02:04) is listed as Series 1 Featurettes in the submenu, perhaps evoking British verbiage, and has a septet of featurettes offering a general overview of the show's creation and production. This has some really good interviews with various creatives behind the series.

Episodes feature aggregations of making of content devoted to each story within each episode.

Episode 1: Gray/Matter / The House of the Head (1080p; 43:27)

Episode 2: Bad Wolf Down / The Finger (1080p; 21:43)

Episode 3: All Hallow's Eve / The Man in the Suitcase (1080p; 16:57)

Episode 4: The Companion / Lydia Layne's Better Half (1080p; 21:27)

Episode 5: Night of the Paw / Times is Tough in Musky Holler (1080p; 10:33)

Episode 6: Skincrawlers / By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain (1080p; 17:14)

Additionally a kind of fun Comic Art Booklet is included which features "panels" from each story along with cast and crew information.

Creepshow: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It becomes pretty obvious in wending your way through the copious supplements on this release how much the creative staff involved in this first season of Creepshow loved the movies, and that love definitely shows in both the general approach here as well as some of the "hidden treasures" some of the episodes offer. I wish this show had been just a little bit funnier at times, but the first season has some overall excellent writing and above average special effects. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package excellent. Recommended.