A boy is in his room reading a comic book instead of doing his chores. His father barges into the room and grabs the comic book the boy is reading. To teach the boy a lesson, the father slaps him and throws the comic book, entitled Creepshow, away and threatens to spank him if he ever finds him reading Creepshow comic away. The father then justifies his reason for throwing the comic away to his wife, stating that he doesn't like what his son reads in the book. Later that night, as the boy is in his room hating his father, he sees a ghostly figure in his window beckoning him closer.

This is the beginning of one of the greatest horror movies that you'll ever see. I know from that description it doesn't sound like much, but once the movie gets going it never stops. Given to us by two of the undisputed masters of terror, Creepshow was written by Stephen King and directed by his close personal friend George Romero. This movie is an homage to the horror comics that were published by EC Comics in the 1950's. To get a little off subject, EC Comics were made famous for their comic titles Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear. Unfortunately, comic books were the target of parental groups in the 1940's and 1950's for their "potentially harmful effects on children." I guess not much has changed really, but I digress. The best thing about EC Comics is that it's the same comic that Mad Magazine was spawned from, so not all is bad. Anyway, back to the review...

A sleeper hit at the time of it's release (November 1982) this classic gives us five "Jolting Tales of Horror". They are: Father's Day, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, Something to Tide You Over, The Crate and They're Creeping Up on You!.

Father's Day is about Nathan Grantham, a despicable patriarch who was killed on Father's Day seven years ago by his daughter Bedelia. She bashed him in the head with a marble ashtray as he screamed for his birthday cake. His ungrateful, money grubbing relatives got together from then on annually for dinner on Father's Day. Seven years after his death, Nathan Grantham comes back from the dead in a quest for the cake he never got. This story also gives us a cameo by Ed Harris.

Next we get The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill (originally titled "Weeds") was adapted from a previously published short horror tale by Stephen King. This is about a dimwitted backwoods hick who thinks a newly-discovered meteorite will provide enough money from the local college to pay off his $200 bank loan. Instead, he finds something much different. Stephen King does a fantastic job as the Jordy in this story, which is easily the funniest of the lot.

My favorite of the stories is Something to Tide You Over. Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen) is a coldblooded, wealthy husband. When he finds out that his wife Becky (Gaylen Ross) has had an affair, he stages a terrible fate for his unfaithful wife and her lover, Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson). He buries them up to their necks on the beach, below the high tide line. They drown, but they return for vengeance.

The Crate, also adapted from a previously published short horror tale by Stephen King, is about a mysterious, extremely lethal creature is in a crate and is unwittingly released. Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook) is a pacifistic college professor who sees the creature as a way to rid himself of his drunk, emotionally abusive wife, Wilma, (Adrienne Barbeau, in one of her best roles). The monster in the crate was nicknamed "Fluffy" by the film's director, George A. Romero.

Lastly we come to They're Creeping Up on You! In this story, Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a cruel, ruthless businessman whose germaphobia has him living in a hermetically sealed apartment, but finds himself helpless when his put-upon employee, allows his apartment to be overrun by...well, you'll just have to watch the movie. Let's just say that this story puts the CREEP in Creepshow.

Finally, we get an epilogue which shows us the aftermath of the first story between the father and son.

Comic book imagery and effects were used extensively by George Romero to recreate the feel of the E.C. horror comics. This takes nothig away from the movie and makes it a bit more fun as you watch it. On top of that, the acting is top notch for a horror movie, yes this is meant to be light-hearted, but everyone does a fantastic job - specifically Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen, and especially E. G. Marshall.

The effects were done by the always terrific Tom Savini. I think this movie is the pinnacle of his career.

The Father's Day segment has clips in the trailer, which I remember seeing at the drive-in with my parents when I was four years old. The sight of Nathan coming back from the grave made my blood run cold and was my first experience with horror.

Finally, for a little bit of trivia. The success of Creepshow sparked interest in a television series in the same mold. After a few changes, Laurel Productions renamed the television version Tales from the Darkside. The series later spawned a film adaptation very similar to Creepshow, entitled Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, which was directed by Creepshow composer John Harrison. Tom Savini has said that the film is the real Creepshow 3. This series lasted four years (1983–87) before being replaced by a virtually identical series named Monsters, which lasted another three years (1988–91).

As I stated above, this is one of the greatest horror movies that you'll ever see. If you've never seen it, go out and buy it right now.

Unequivocally 10 out of 10 reasons to not throw out comic books.