Creepshow Episode 3: Recap and Review

Episode 3 of the new hit Shudder show Creepshow was a rather middling entry in the creepy comic book homage to all things old.

All Hallows Eve Even then they’re a little too old, this group of friends still want to trick-or-treat but getting candy isn’t all they are looking for.

Written by: Bruce Jones

Directed by: John Harrison

Cast: Connor Christie, Madison Thompson, Jasun Jabbar, Andrew Eakle, Michael May, Julia Denton, Scott Daniel Johnson, Tom Olson, Erica Frene

If an Amblin movie had the seriousness of American Horror Story (the good seasons at least) and then you threw in a little comic book camp you might get All Hallows Eve.  Everyone here is kind of doing something different.  The ensemble cast is no doubt talented but seems to all be on a different page when it comes to character motivation (that may be by design). The story is straight out of an ensemble eighties film only this vignette has a much darker feel and certainly heavier ending.  Creepshow is at its absolute best when it leans into pulpy penny dreadful roots.  This episode is no different.  As the kids confront their destiny the audience yearns for the morality tale we know that’s coming.  It’s Halloween III:  Season of the Witch had a relationship with Stranger Things and the offspring was this episode. I dug it. I wish they would have given us a little more of the gross and creepy practical effects we saw little of in this episode but I still am living off the werewolf episode so it was excusable. It was a little too sweet, and a little too melodramatic but again I think that was probably more a feature than a bug. I would put it middle of the pack.

The Man in the Suitcase A college student brings the wrong bag home from the airport only to find a pretzeled man trapped inside, afflicted by a strange condition that turns his pain into gold.

Written by: Christopher Buehlman

Directed by: Dave Bruckner (The Ritual)

Cast: Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, Will Kindrachuk, Ravi Naidu, Madison Bailey, Ian Gregg, Nasim Bowlus, Carey Jones

Ho Nelly!  You want some morality tales, I have some morality tales.  This whole episode could be defined as Payback is a bitch. So first the issues I have with this vignette. Why is the dude in the suitcase from the Indian subcontinent?  It feels kind of icky and a little absurd.  But mostly It felt more like let’s make him look and talk funny which seems problematic as hell.  Also, I don’t love the Nancy Reagan just say no to drugs messaging that’s going on in this episode. I mean the throwback nature of Creepshow doesn’t have to keep the antiquated politics of the era it is aping. That being said I really really liked this episode. It felt extremely weird. The strangeness of the man in the suitcase, the odd way the entire episode plays out made its Dutch angles feel much more Dutch. Bruckner leans into this weirdness and in that way the episode does more with what it has script-wise. An especially large shout out to an empty airport baggage claim. Places that are typically bustling and full of people make really frightening settings when emptied of their life.  There was a lot of humor in this episode which made it a great foil for this first story in this episode. 

Both episodes were okay but neither I found to be particularly newsworthy or revolutionary. Nerdy kids looking for revenge and greedy folks who get their comeuppance have been done before. The third episode was ok, just ok. Both of the vignettes fit neatly in the middle of all the episodes I have seen so far which is probably what you want out of the third episode of a series.  I hope the series gets a little braver in its storytelling and morality.  

Creepshow, the new anthology series based on the 1982 horror-comedy classic, is still the most fun you’ll ever have being scared! A comic book comes to life in a series of twelve vignettes over six episodes, exploring terrors from murder to the supernatural and explainable. Haunted dollhouses, werewolves, murderous goblins, villainous trick-or-treaters, the dead, and medical marvels are just a few of the things to watch out for in this new series. You never know what will be on the next page…