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Creep Show II
(Anthology/Eerie Tales) 8********skulls
*Blood* *Violent* *Strong Language* *Nudity* *Sexual Situations* *Gory*
1987/Color/Min./New World Video & New World Pictures & Laurel Pictures
Director..............Michael Gornick (Tales from the Dark Side, Vol 1)
Screenplay........George A. Romero* (Crazies, Night of the Living Dead)
Music.................Les Reed & Rick Wakeman
Producer............David Ball
Executive Producer.....Richard Rubinstein (Creepshow)
Make-up Effects by Howard Berger & Ed French (Blood Rage)
Based on Stories by Stephen King* (Creepshow, Misery, The Shining)
Dramatis Personae
Andrea Lansing......Lois Chiles (Moonraker, Sweet Liberty,The Way We Were)
Ray Spruce.............George Kennedy (Airport, Brain Dead, The Naked Gun)
Martha Spruce........Dorothy Lamour (Death at Love House, Road to Rio)
Randy.....................Daniel Beer
Rachel....................Page Hannah (My Man Adam, Shag, the Movie)
Andy Cavanaugh....Don Harvey (Atom Man vs. Superman, Batman and Robin)
Truck Driver............Stephen King* (Creepshow, Pet Semetary)
Sam Whitecloud.....Holt McCallany
Ben Whitecloud......Frank S. Salsedo
The Hitchhiker........Tom Wright (Weekend at Bernie's II)
The Creep...............Tom Savini* (Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders)
Boy Billy..................Dominic John
Curly........................Phillip Dor
Critique: This anthology remarkably approaches the standards of the original with the same type of slick, humorous, creepy, and truly scary moments. Again, Stephen King provides a highlight, this time in a cameo as a truck driver. Again, the casts shine, in particular George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour.
Old Chief Wood'nhead: Martha Spruce mentions to her husband Ray that if there's no town anymore, why bother with the store? Dead River's lived up to its name. Ray keeps on painting the war paint on the cigar store Indian. He just wants to pay the town back for what it's given him. Benjamin Whitemoon is a representative of the Apaches that have been forced to borrow from Ray for some years now. Benjamin gives an Elinae for Ray to hold, and if they cannot repay in two autumns, the treasure belongs to Spruce. Not wanting to further insult the proud man, Spruce accepts. However, this bargain between honorable men is endangered when some young toughs, including a nephew of Benjamin, come in looking for loot and trouble. Rest assured, though, honor has a way of being served. We get the feeling that spiritual checks and balances are being kept from the very beginning in this one. When the toughs arrive, they have obviously lost awareness of this.
The Raft: Some objectionable marijuana-toking teens go for an off season raft trip. Sex and kicks are the order of the day. They dive into the frigid water of an isolated lake, and head out to the raft, with the only apparent danger being the remote possibility that one's heart might stop from the cold. However, there is something on the surface of the water. They soon learn their trip has taken a rather messy turn for the worse. When attrition brings their ranks down to two, the boy decides to take the opportunity to paw at the sleeping girl. Slick move. We don't like these teens. Nonetheless, their confrontation with the pseudopoded polyp elicits some sympathy.
The Hitchhiker: While returning from her $150 gigolo's bed and muttering to herself about burning the leather seats with her cigarette, and estimating the costs, Andrea Lansing runs over a hitchhiker. Guilty and unwilling to pay the price, she turns off her lights and exits the scene. Soon she sees a new hitchhiker who hobbles up, and says "Thanks for the ride, lady." Unfortunately, there's something all too familiar about this hitchhiker, and what ensues is higher and higher estimations of costs and more and more frantic attempts to avoid paying them. At one point she manages to get her persistent pursuer off the car, but engages in a classic monster intermezzo. What makes those who inhabit horror movies decide the incident is ended when all the evidence says keep your head up? When Mrs. Lansing's damage estimates on the car get up to four thousand, she's looking pretty disoriented. Even after a pretty thorough squashing, our bet is the resilient hitchhiker will be back.
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