ironhorse_iv
While, 'Creepshow 2' directed by Michael Gornick is not the scariest movie out there, based upon the short stories by author Stephen King. I do have to say, this American live-action/animated horror taken from tales from King's 1985's collection book, 'Skeleton Crew' ,can still give you, goosebumps, while watching it. Without spoiling, too much of the scares, like the original horror movie, 'Creepshow 2', was supposed to have, five short stories adapted from author Stephen King, being told, during the course of the film. However, due to budgetary reasons, two of the stories, 'Pinfall' & "Cat from Hell', were scrapped; with the latter, being filmed for 1990's 'Tales from the Darkside: The Movie'. Instead, the movie went with three stories structure with "Old Chief Wooden Head' on the helm, 'The Raft' as the meat of the story, and 'The Hitchhiker' being the climax. While, this story structure might sound right to some critics, since the first tale is most developed of all the three stories, had the longest sequence in the film and on the surface level, the most controversial story facade of the three, since it deals with Native Americans. I still believe, there is still a problem with having it, display in the forefront. First off, the story about a wooden Indian decor, taking revenge on some unlikeable robbers for killing his cigar store, owner, Mr. Ray Spruce (George Kennedy) was pretty bland and somewhat boring. It's no 1980 'Shining'. It's just another simple minded revenge story. Nothing really smart or scary about it. I was really hoping for a Golem like, complexity feel to the story, but it just felt safe & disappointing with the sequence being not really gory with most of the kills being off-screen, and the visuals, not being challenging. Still, I do have to say, the acting throughout it, was good, and the story does leave the audience with a feel good moment, even if the action is somewhat cheesy and silly. However, it wasn't nothing worth, putting as the first sequence in the film. I thought, the story would makes more sense for it to be the climax, as it allows the audience to leave, with a somewhat cheering moment, seeing how the other two stories have, very obnoxious protagonists. Since the movie didn't do that, the rest of the film really leaves a sour taste in the audience mouth. That brings us to 'the Raft', a story about a group of very unlikeable teenagers, getting trapped on a floating raft, when they discover a carnivorous mysterious blob that looks like an oil slick in the lake, surrounding them. Unlike the first story, I kinda dig this concept. It reminds me of the isolation horrors genre films like 2016's 'the Shallows' mixed with the style of 1990's 'Tremors'. Just wish, it expanded the story, not by exposing the origins of the creature, but showing the madness of the characters slowly developing, while being trapped on the raft, like the source material. It really could been, a strong environmental & psychological message if it wanted to. Still, it not, a big deal. The only problem with this sequence story, I really had, against it, was how dumb-down & awful, the characters, were. Why would one of the character accept to grope, another character, during a tense moment, while being trapped on the raft!? It makes no sense. Another problem with this sequence is the acting. Daniel Beer as Randy AKA Poncho is one of the worst actors, I have, ever witness in a horror movie. He really does destroy, the tone of this sequence. I can't help, laughing, how bad, his reactions were. Yet, unlike 'Old Chief Wooden Head', I was not disappointing with the visuals here. While, the creature look like, a rain-out, trash bag. It still look somewhat scary. Also, the oily deaths were very gruesome and the suspense was equally, worth the punch. Even the ending was somewhat clever with the sign and the creature being able to go onto land was a lot better, than the generic and clichés story ending, we got, with 'the Hitchhiker'. This story was, by far, the most, bland of all of the three, with the protagonist, Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles), accidentally kills a hitchhiker with her car, only to be haunted later, by him, on her way home. It was hardly scary. The only scary part of the sequence, was seeing Stephen King cameo as a truck driver. It's very surreal to see, seeing him, here, seeing how he would end up, get run over, in 1999 in similar fashion. It almost seem like he wrote his own prophecy of attempted demise with stories such as this, and other novels like 1987's 'misery' & 1983's 'Christine'. Sadly it was ruin, by how silly & unrealistic, the driving scenes were, and how cheesy, the one liners, was being spoken. Sadly, this sequence was lot more cartoony, than the animation sequences, featuring a kid fighting off, bullies with giant Venus flytraps that were intermixed as prologue, interlude, & epilogue. Despite that, at least, the animation sequences were well-drawn. I just wish, the post-credit scene wasn't there, as it kinda ruins the illusion of the comic book movie with its preachy, safe message about not blaming comic books for juvenile delinquency. I guess, this was added, after parents complain about the first movie, being too violent and gory. It just didn't fit. Nevertheless, 'Creepshow 2' just didn't performed as well, as the first movie. There were far too little thrills, and even fewer appeal to intelligence to be a great film. At least, it was better than the unofficial sequel, 'Creepshow 3' in 2006, which had no involvement from Stephen King or producer, George Romero. That film was horrible. In the end, while, this movie might be below average. I still think it's worth checking out, at least, once. After all, there is no business, like show business.
