Friday, September 28, 2012

It's Father's Day...

One of my all-time favorite things is stories, particularly fairy-tales and fables and for that reason, I LOVE anthology movies.  Trick'r'Treat is probably the best Halloween movie ever made and I'm sure I'll get around to reviewing it sometime in the next month... 'cause... y'know... October.

Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black and the Zuni fetish doll.  Joan Collins and Donald Pleasance in Tales That Witness Madness.  Vincent Price spinning yarns of the South in From a Whisper to a Scream.  Anyway, I think you know where I'm going with this.

Possibly the best Stephen King movie ever made was the king of all horror anthologies. 

Creepshow.

I was somewhere around 11 when I saw it the first time and, I'm gonna be brutally honest, here, I can't see a shooting star without thinking "Jordy Verrill, you lunkhead!" or getting a shiver when I hear someone ask "where's my cake".

It's truly a classic and it's one that resonates with a lot of people.  Maybe it's because Stephen King and George Romero know how to push our buttons but each tale kind of hits a primal fear.  Yes, even Jordy Verrill.

I can't even get snarky on this movie.  I adore it.  From Adrienne Barbeau (who is the NICEST PERSON, EVER, and is still racktastic, even at age 67) getting her bitchy comeuppance in The Crate to E.G. Marshall's mysophobic misdeeds in They're Creeping Up On You and Billy... oh, yes, Billy... in the wrap-around.  Everybody forgets him but he's a symbol, even now, of the bullied and abused getting revenge. (Trivia:  Billy was played by Stephen King's son, Joe, better known as Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box.)  Yes, we know that revenge gets your soul all sticky but it's fun to watch it, even if we'd never act on it.

And it never takes itself too seriously.  Yes, it's dark, but it's still has humor and, in a strange way, heart which gives it a vitality that lasts even today.  It's not a kids movie but it makes you feel like a kid again.  It's like staying up past your bedtime reading comic books by flashlight which, I'm sure, was the intent.  It's not over-the-top gory but it is gruesome and it's got a nostalgic feeling to it that I don't think will ever go away.

This is a movie to pass on to your kids... when they're a little older.

2 comments:

  1. I think I track forwarded through Jody Verill last time I watched it. I do find it odd you didn't mention Leslie Nielson's story in there, since that and They're creeping Up on You are probably the ones that bugged me the most. (so to speak.)

    And I can hold my breath for a long time.

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  2. Something to Tide You Over isn't my favorite. I love Leslie Nielsen but something about that one story didn't click for me. Maybe it was Ted Danson's bad toupee.

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