COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - CREEPSHOW SEASON 3 (RLJE FILMS BLU RAY)
As a new year is upon us, I think it’s important to recognize that opinions change over time. Sometimes that means that movie you loved as a kid doesn’t resonate with you as well as an adult, and inversely you may enjoy something more now than you did when you were younger. As horror fans, we sometimes pride ourselves in our stubbornness to not change our tastes. Saying things like, “I don’t watch modern horror” or “there are no good movies after the 80s” are not only objectively untrue, they are psychologically difficult to actually believe. We can’t help that as we age our tastes will change, and that doesn’t mean it will happen to everything. So we should resolve to be okay with changing our minds, and also giving things we didn’t enjoy at first a second or even third look. Such is the case with CREEPSHOW SEASON 3, released on DECEMBER 6, 2022 on BLU RAY from RLJE FILMS. Is this a case of “third times a charm” or is this more “three strikes you’re out”?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
CREEPSHOW, the 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 vignettes, exploring terrors ranging from murder, creatures, monsters, and delusions to the supernatural and unexplainable. You never know what will be on the next page…
E1: Mums/Queen Bee
Jack's mother is taken from him, but her garden leaves more to remember her than he first thought. Then, three teens meet their favorite pop star and realize she's not at all what they imagined.
E2: Skeletons in the Closet/Familiar
A movie buff opens a prop museum, but a rival collector could put everything at risk. Then, Jackson is being followed by a dark force, but will his attempts to rid himself of it work?
E3: The Last Tsuburaya/Okay, I’ll Bite
An art collector could never have anticipated how a terrifying painting would change his life. Then, life in prison is tough, but Elmer's pet spiders always have his back.
E4: Stranger Sings/Meter Reader
A siren lures a doctor into her trap to carry out a diabolical plan. Then, a teenage girl must fight off a demonic plague when she realizes her family might be infected.
E5: Time Out/The Things in Oakwood’s Past
Tim always wished he could have more time in the day. A town digs up a time capsule that holds a dark secret.
E6: Drug Traffic/A Dead Girl Named Sue
A family is detained, and a young girl's distressing symptoms quickly escalate without her medication. Then, when the dead rise from their graves, townspeople take justice into their own hands.
HOW IS IT?
The CREEPSHOW series used to strike me as more wasted potential than anything else. However, outstanding practical effects weren’t enough to make the first season all that compelling. For whatever reason, the stories seemed to lack something. Maybe it was that they were trying too hard to be campy, or that they just didn’t feel that much different than what you get from other modern horror films and shows. After finishing the 3rd season I see remnants of my former sentiments on display, but for the most part, the series is better this time around even if it is still very uneven.
Without reviewing each episode and the included stories individually, I will suggest what I thought were the two strongest stories among the bunch as well as the two that really didn’t land with me. To kick things off on a high note we have “The Last Tsuburaya” in the first half of episode 3. This feels like a Creepshow story in how pulpy the whole thing is. The main character is a total buffoon, almost unbelievably sociopathic and entitled, and his yearning to buy something only he can see is certainly the kind of setup that makes these kinds of anthologies work. What really makes this one stand out amongst the rest of the season is that it feels like the most original in terms of tone and story. While other stories do make similar attempts (“Drug Traffic”- Episode 6) this one is the most successful because of how well-paced it is. The scares really don’t start until the back half, and even then it isn’t as in-your-face as some of the other entries. Not to mention the creature design is really fun and out there.
Another standout entry is “Time Out”, the leading story for episode 5. This one lacks some of the originality as the first, but both dabble in the “careful what you wish for” arena. In this case, the example of a young professional using a time-stopping cabinet to excel in both his personal and professional life is an easy thing to relate to these days. With burnout being a big area of concern in today’s working world, it’s easy to understand how someone who takes the opportunity to get ahead by stopping time. It wouldn’t be a CREEPSHOW episode without there being some sort of consequence, and this one is no different. Even though it’s not a surprising ending by any means, it is a satisfying one. It’s strange that this episode resonated so well with me considering how simple the concept is, but just like in cooking and sports it’s all about getting the fundamentals right.
Overall, this season didn’t have a lot of really stand-out stinker stories. I attribute this to the creators finding some of their footings, even if it is still very middling, there isn’t as much variance in quality as the first season. That said, episode 2 happens to carry the burden of having the two stories that I connected with the least. To start, “Skeletons In The Closet” is so close to being great, but what’s holding it back is really glaring. The dialogue is so heavy-handed on the horror references that it gets to be eye-roll inducing pretty quickly. It’s a shame too because it’s a fun entry that suffers from “try-hard” syndrome. Then, the second story, “Familiar” is essentially a possession story that is really bland. It’s the one story that I found myself having a hard time getting through largely because there isn’t a whole lot that is compelling or interesting about it. Even now, I’m having a hard time recalling specifics about it aside from paranoia and psychics, and I just rewatched these the day before writing this.
In summary, CREEPSHOW SEASON 3 is markedly better than the first season in almost every way. The stories are more consistent, even if the dialogue and characters can sometimes be a bit cringe, there are some genuinely fun and interesting ideas here that I hope to continue to dominate the upcoming fourth season!
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
RLJE FILMS is an off-shoot of AMC NETWORKS and handles a lot of the physical releases for SHUDDER exclusives. Considering how newly produced these are, the quality is already quite high and that shows in the blu ray from RLJE FILMS. The colors are crisp and clear and the aspect ratio is preserved at 1.78:1. You can see screenshots from the release throughout this review and below:
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
Much like the visuals, the audio here is quite good as RLJE provides a 5.1 DTS-HD surround soundtrack. The episodes themselves don’t really give your surround sound a big workout, but it is nicer than a stereo audio track and certainly sufficient for the type of show CREEPSHOW is.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
CREEPSHOW SEASON 3 has a few things in way of special features, with the majority of it being behind-the-scenes footage. There is a Comic-Con panel from the show’s creators and producers available for viewing, and only the most devout of CREEPSHOW fans will get much out of it. Still, it’s admirable that RLJE FILMS has included some extra tidbits since major studios have been cutting special features for a while.
DVD & Blu-ray Bonus Features include:
Amazon’s Comic-Con@Home Panel Interview with Greg Nicotero, Mattie Do, Rusty Cundieff, Michael Rooker, and James Remar, moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s Clark Collis
Behind-the-Scenes Raw Footage
Comic Art Booklet
Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
LAST RITES
CREEPSHOW SEASON 3 is more fun than its inaugural season by bringing some new ideas to the fray while continuing to really drive home the “bread and butter” type of stories germane to the format. It’s still not the second coming of the 80s Romero/King foray, but it is carving out its own identity and is worth a watch for those who enjoy episodic “monster of the week” horror shows!
THE GORY DETAILS
RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, has picked up select rights to the horror series CREEPSHOW 3 from Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller, and the supernatural. RLJE Films released CREEPSHOW 3 on DVD and Blu-ray on December 6, 2022.
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