Creepshow has been a cult classic since its emergence in the 1980s as a beloved film featuring shorts that display a specific charm due to their campy nature and gory stories surrounding questions of morality. The original film and subsequent TV show revival have a unique spin in that they weave aspects of comic books into the filmmaking, with comic panels and the infamous Creep being flashed upon the screen with iconic typography that has become renowned for representing Creepshow. To celebrate its success on the streaming platform Shudder, series 1-3 have been released on Blu-Ray for dedicated fans of the anthology to own which include an overwhelming amount of behind-the-scenes access to the creation of your favourite shorts! To celebrate this release, we at Grimoire of Horror have decided to rank our top 3 episodes from each season!
Series 1: Top 3 Episodes Ranked
#3 Public Television of the Dead
Coming in at #3 we have Public Television of the Dead which features a Bob Ross-esque character violently impaling a demonic deadite Ted Raimi?! The Necronomicon being lovingly inspected a la Antiques Road Show?! Public Television of the Dead is a rip-roaring rollercoaster of fun, blood, guts, and gore as well as a love letter to the Evil Dead with Ted Raimi playing…well – himself! Fans of the Evil Dead franchise will appreciate and revel in this off-beat comedic homage to the Raimi universe as director Greg Nicotero had fun littering easter eggs throughout this episode. It’s mixture of comedy and gore made for a neatly-packaged entertaining short!
#2 The House of the Head
House of the Head was included in the pilot episode of the Creepshow revival, and it started the series off to soaring heights. The story centres around Evie and her spectacularly creepy dollhouse as she wakes one day to find herself living in an unexplainable nightmare. Her beloved dollhouse seemingly comes to life as the miniature people who live there are staged in different scenarios each morning which depict a rather troubling story. The macabre tension is built within the episode through the intricately designed dollhouse and the mystery surrounding the moving dolls. It’s clear that a malignant force is terrorising the family within the dollhouse, and Evie witnesses her dolls’ expressions change to pure terror. At times they even begin to pray for the evil forces to disappear. One day, a disembodied head appears, and Evie decides to take it into her own hands to save the fate of her dolls. The episode echoes that of a home invasion and slasher except for one deviation…it’s all set entirely in the ominous dollhouse!
The Blu-Ray copy of series 1 includes exclusive insight behind the scenes of the making of your favourite episodes, and prop master Lucas Godfrey pulls the curtain on the intricate prop design that went into the creation of House of the Head! The episode includes exciting easter eggs and nods to other famous horror works such as The Shining and Creepshow characters which showcase the love and precision poured into the episode.
#1 The Man in the Suitcase
Absurd, bizarre, and disturbing: The Man in the Suitcase perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of the original 80s Creepshow with a moral mediation on greed and the lengths people will go to engorge themselves on their innermost hedonistic desires. With more than a sprinkling of black comedy conjoined with disturbing scenes, The Man in the Suitcase takes top place for series 1 of Creepshow. The short takes a modern spin on the fable of a Djinn (genie) who can grant wishes and reward those with riches beyond their wildest imaginations, but not without a hefty ‘price’ so to speak. As with all Creepshow episodes, there is a refreshing sense of catharsis by the end of the story, and those who need retribution to be enacted upon them end up suffering for their sins! With all that being said we had to rank The Man in the Suitcase as our top episode of season 1!
Creepshow Season 1 is available to purchase from Acorn Media International
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