Creepshow 2 (1987) - A Review

Production Company: Laurel Entertainment

Streaming Service: The Roku Channel 

Release Date: May 1, 1987

Rating: R

Review: 

The 1980s were an interesting time in general but they were an especially interesting time for horror movies, new and old directors alike were scrambling to get a foothold and make popular movies so if something worked once they’d do it until they couldn't anymore. One novelty that was done to death in the 1980s was the horror anthology. An anthology is a collection of works compiled into one larger work like a book of poems or a compilation album so naturally when it came time to adapt horror comic Creepshow into a film they figured it would be best to keep it in the same format it was in during print and they made a movie with many smaller horror shorts within it. Creepshow was extremely successful, making more than double its budget at the box office, and where success goes, copies follow.

After a few years of Creepshow copycats working to capture the original's success, the fine folks at Creepshow figured it was time to give it another shot, it was time for Creepshow 2. They had a different director and a different production company but they were going to make it work.

Some sequels are just as good if not better than the originals, take Aliens, Terminator 2, and Shrek 2. Creepshow 2 is sadly not one of them, but just because it's not as good as the original doesn't mean it's just plain not good, or does it? Let's find out.

Unlike Creepshow 1 which had 5 scary stories within Creepshow 2 has a whopping 3 which to be fair is 2 more than most movies have. I'm going to go over the three segments individually and give them their own ratings in the order they were shown.

grading scale:

Major spoilers for all three stories ahead

Segment one: Old Chief Wood'nhead

Old Chief Wood’nhead is the name of a wooded Native American statue outside of a small town general store owned by a kind old couple Ray and Martha Spruce (George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour) who often do favors for people in the local area including the local Native American tribe. An elder from the tribe named Ben Whitemoon (Frank Salsedo) comes by the store in the morning while Ray is painting Chief Wood’nhead. Martha tells Ray not to let Ben take advantage of him before Ray and Ben go into the store, Ray asks Ben what he can get for him then Ben mentions that he is ashamed to be in the store because his people are in so much debt to them but Ray reassures him that there is no shame. 

This part has an uneasy feeling to it, it is heavily implied that Ray and Martha are going through financial trouble and the way this scene is shot and delivered gives me a feeling that Ray didn't really want Ben to ask for anything but would have given it to him if he did, that plus Martha (who was critical of Ben and of Ray’s generosity earlier) is lingering nearby.

Ben steps towards Ray and Martha and says he has brought them something. Ben gives them a bag and explains that it is full of the tribe’s valuables and that Ray and Martha are to hold onto them as collateral until the tribe can pay back its debt. Ray immediately tries to refuse but Ben says it would be an insult not to take it causing Ray to accept and Martha says that she was wrong about Ben.

As Ben leaves he says goodbye to Chief Wood’nhead who appears to move a little bit. After Ben is gone Ray and Martha reflect on how the dying town they live in will recover some day and Ray says that he will finish painting Chief Wood’nhead tomorrow. When the couple are done reflecting they walk back into the store only to see a man with long dark hair and a shotgun standing behind the counter, two other men make themselves seen as well, one doing a mocking impression of a Native American greeting. The man behind the counter tells the other two to take what they want and they begin ransacking and trashing the store, Ray quickly tries to step in but is met with threats and mockery. It is revealed that the man with the shotgun is Sam Whitemoon (Holt McCallany), Ben's nephew, Sam threatens Ray as the other two goons continue to break and steal stuff.

Sam tells Martha to get her purse from the back of the store, after Martha heads to the back Sam decides to use the photobooth in the store where he ogles himself and his hair talking about how his hair is going to make him successful in Hollywood.

I think it is pretty strange that they made becoming a movie star the villain’s motivation for robbing a store, especially with what happens a little bit later, you’d think if he wanted to become famous he’d take it easy on violent crime but I guess he didn't think that far ahead. Imagine if it was revealed that before Tom Holland became an actor he robbed an elderly couple.

After Sam gets out of the photobooth Martha comes back into the main part of the store with her purse. Sam then beckons Martha over and takes the money out of her purse, he then starts to show off the pictures from the photobooth, when he goes to show Martha he grabs her and points the shotgun at her side. At this point the other two robbers begin to point out that they've stolen pretty much all there is to steal and that they should leave but Sam knows different. Sam demands the bag full of the tribe's valuables, Ray refuses and one of the other robbers starts trying to grab it from him, as this happens Sam shoots Martha in the side killing her.

Im pretty sure Sam killing Martha was an accident after another watch through based on how suddenly it happens and Sam's reaction of shock, soon after though he appears to lock back in. He regains his composer really fast if it was an accidental shooting but Sam has been shown to be a bad person so its possible he just didn't care at all.

Ray has the natural reaction to seeing your wife get shot and gets really sad and begins to walk over to Martha's body, Sam at this point is all in and shoots Ray in a definitely on purpose act of violence.

This scene is defiantly the saddest in the whole movie. Watching Ray and Martha get murdered after spending around 20 minutes with them is a real bummer, especially watching Ray's death is kind of heart breaking. im sure if this was a feature length film and we got to spend even more time with them it would have been even sadder but it was effective for what it was.

After they take the valuables from Ray's body they get into their getaway vehicle which is a Pontiac Firehawk that belongs to one of the robbers.

One of the robbers is said to be rich which is why he has a sports car but if one of them was already rich then why did they need to rob a small town grocery store for money to move to Hollywood? I guess its because Sam knew they had the tribe's valuables but the other two didn't know that so why did they go along with it? not a big deal I just thought it was weird.

Before they leave Sam shoots up the front of the store and even shoots at Chief Wood’nhead. After the robbers drive off Chief Wood’nhead creeks to life and gets ready to exact sweet revenge by applying some war paint (the same warpaint Ray said we was going to finish tomorrow)

From this point on the segment is just a mostly offscreen Wood’nhead killing the robbers one by one with only Sam's death being of any interest.

Sam was just chilling out in his living room talking about how great he thinks he is much like he did in the photobooth when studently the mirror he was looking in shatters, he grabs his shotgun and faces the person who did it only to see Wood’nhead standing in the doorway, he responds rationally by backing away and shooting at him, the Chief doesn't take to kindly to that and starts walking towards Sam. Sam rushes into the bathroom and starts to break out the window in an attempt to escape but just as he tries Wood’nhead breaks through the wall and grabs his hair, then Wood’nhead pulls Sam through the hole and swiftly brings his knife down towards his forehead.

The scene ends right before anything actually happens but we all know what happens. Im not exactly sure what to say about this part. Is it offensive or in bad taste? im not sure and I really have no authority to speak on the matter so I'll leave it up to you.

After it cuts away it cuts to Ben waking up in bed with the bag of valuables next to him, naturally being confused he rushes to the store to find it wrecked with Chief Wood’nhead standing out front like normal, fully painted, and Sam's scalp in his hand...

Over all I thought the segment was pretty good, I would rank it second best out of the three, I think it has the most emotion and has the best characters but I feel like it doesn't have enough fun with its premise. Once the killing starts its over in about 4 minutes. I also think the gore could have been more, this movie is rated R and I feel like they squandered it at times focusing more on gratuitous nudity than actual horror stuff, that's less of a problem in the other two parts but feels notable here.

Is it good?: Yeah

Is it fun?: Kinda

Is it scary?: No

Do I recommend: Yes

Segment two: The Raft

The Raft is adapted from a Steven King short story of the same name first published in a 1982 issue of "adult sex magazine" Gallery, the story was republished three years later in King's own short story collection Skeleton Crew.

I find it kind of funny that this story was first published in an "adult sex magazine" but then again Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut both published works in Playboy so maybe I shouldn't be so harsh.

This Segment starts off with a fast car zipping down a curvy road. Four teens occupy the car and if you want to know what they are like ill sum it up with the first line spoken in this segment, "I have a need, a need for weed". Our protagonists are collage stoners which is pretty par for the course when it comes to horror protagonists of the 1980s.

The main guy who is driving the car (and the guy who said the opening line) is Deke (Paul Satterfield), accompanying Deke in the front seat is his girlfriend Laverne (Jeremy Green) who is rolling a blunt. Laverne is skeptical of the groups plan to go down to the lake as its almost Halloween but Randy (Daniel Beer) assures her that he was just there for a school trip and that the raft is still out in the lake. The final member of the group Rachel (Page Hannah) is amused by the others tomfoolery but stays silent and turns down the blunt when Randy offers it to her.

The group arrive at the lake and see that the raft is in fact there. Deke immediately gets ready to swim out with Randy hesitantly in pursuit. The two men talk amongst themselves referring to each other as Cisco and Pancho, a reference to the 1950s TV show The Cisco Kid.

After a little while the girls get in the water and start following the boys to the raft with Laverne lagging behind. While swimming Randy notices a duck struggling in the water caught in some kind of substance on the surface of the lake.

Deke and Randy now on the raft begin to tell the girls to hurry up, Deke in a joking way and Randy in a more concerned way. Rachel makes it but Laverne is still a good distance away. Randy begins yelling for Laverne to hurry up as the substance appears to float closer. Laverne gets onto the raft just as the substance gets to where she was, she goes off on Randy for yelling at her but Randy mentions his concern about the substance witch is now at the raft but Deke shuts him down saying that its just an oil slick.

Deke and Laverne light up while Randy speculates about the substance even saying that it looked like it was going after the girls. Randy then makes the realization that they are 50 miles out of town and no one knows they are there. Rachel curious about the substance goes over to the side of the raft and looks at it.

I find it very refreshing that a character has some clue that something is going on. I have seen too many movies where everyone is completely oblivious up until something bad happens right in front of them. I do think its weird how on top of things Randy is at this point with the whole "Looked like it was going after the girls" bit but I can let that slide, I guess its possible he saw it move in some weird way we didn't because all the footage we see of it moving is just of it drifting around.

Rachel reaches down off the raft to touch the substance when it suddenly shoots up at her sticking to her skin dissolving it and pulling her off the raft. Deke and Laverne are still high and think Rachel just fell off so they go over to see.

Rachel reaches up from the goo and pleas for help. Randy goes to jump in to save her but Deke stops him because even a high person knows that jumping into the goo that's dissolving a woman right in front of you isn't a good idea.

At this point the remaining group members start freaking out and trying to think of ways back to shore. The goo drifts under the raft and Deke decides that now is his time to swim to shore, Laverne protests saying she doesn't want him to leave them there but Deke insists that he will go get help, before he can the goo starts wrapping around his leg from the spaces between the planks on the raft.

I think the guy who plays Deke, Paul Satterfield, does a really good job here of making this look like it hurts, that plus more practical effects of the skin dissolving makes it look like it really sucks to be grabbed by this goo. The goo in this part particularly reminds me of a jellyfish with how its wrapped around its leg like tentacles.

The goo pulls on Dekes leg so hard he breaks through the raft, Randy quicky goes to grab him but Deke slips out of his grasp and gets slowly pulled through the small hole in the raft.

The goo drifts from under the raft leaving Randy and Laverne safe for now, the two take turns watching while the other rests but after a while they decide to get close to each other for warmth and then fall asleep.

Randy wakes up with Laverne still asleep on him, he sees that the goo is still away from the raft so decides that now is his chance to start kissing and groping a sleeping woman?

I haven't read the original short story so I don't know if this part is from there or not but if its not then I have no idea why they would but this in other than an excuse to but another pair of boobs in the film. We haven't spent a long time getting to know these characters but this seems to go against what we've seen of them, and by them I mean Randy. Up until this point Randy has been nice and concerned for everyone's safety, even trying to save the other two. I guess its possible that he was a creep the whole time it just feels so out of left field.

Laverne ends up getting grabbed by the goo while Randy is groping her and she gets pulled off the raft screaming. Randy freaks out but uses this as his opportunity to get away so he jumps off the raft and starts swimming as fast as he can actually making it to shore. Once on shore the goo floats up, Randy begins mocking the goo instead of moving away from the water witch predictably ends with the goo getting him. The goo floats away and makes a sort of burp sound and the camera pans to a NO SWIMMING sign that was covered by plants.

I liked a lot of things about this segment. This segment definitely has the most and best gore and effects along with having the most memorable deaths. I thought Old Chief Wood'nhead had bad pacing near the end and was worried that would be a common thing with all the segments but this one definitely handles it much better building a lot more suspense and mystery about what actually happens. I have a hunch that the improved horror elements and pacing are because this segment was directly based on a short story written by Steven King but King is also the only writer I could find credited witch leaves me to believe he also wrote the other two which if true is pretty cool but also kind of confusing.

Is it good?: Yeah

Is it fun?: Yeah

Is it scary?: Kinda

Do I recommend: Yes

Segment three: The Hitch-hiker

This one starts us off in the bedroom of a gigolo (David Beecroft), His client, a woman named Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles) gets out of bed and begins to get dressed after realizing that it's later than she expected. The two causally banter revealing to us that Annie is both rich and married. She leaves the gigolo's apartment and drives off but realizes that she wont be able to make it home before her husband and doesn't have an excuse as to why she was out so late. While taking a turn she drops her cigarette causing her to swerve onto the shoulder hitting a hitchhiker (Tom Wright), instead of stopping to see if the hitchhiker was alright she kept driving, soon after a car and a semi stop at the scene and block it off.

A funny thing here is that the truck driver is actually played by Steven King in a cameo role, in my opinion this might be the best reason to gave it a watch besides the effects which are also pretty good.

As Annie drives away she convinces herself that she didn't kill the hitchhiker and that he might still be alive, just then she sees a man in her rearview window and stops to get a better look when suddenly the bloodied hitchhiker taps on her window and says "how are you doing lady, thanks for the ride", a now horrified Annie drives away only to realize the hitchhiker is still with her.

I'm going to be honest the rest of this segment isn't very eventful, its mostly just Annie trying to get away from the hitchhiker but realizing that she cant so ill cut to the chase.

After the whole ordeal Annie pulls her now wrecked car into her garage relieved to be done with it all believing it to have just been a crazy hallucination caused by head trauma when all of a sudden the now completely disfigured hitchhiker springs from under her car and attacks her while repeating "thanks for the ride lady" in a distorted voice. Eventually Annie's husband arrives at the house only to find her dead in her car with the sign the hitchhiker was carrying laid on her body.

This is in my opinion the worst of the three only because it feels too long for what it is and becomes predictable, the effects with the disfigured hitchhiker at the end are the best and most gross in the whole film though so I need to give them credit for that.

Is it good?: Meh

Is it fun?: Kinda

Is it scary?: Kinda

Do I recommend: Kinda

Final Thoughts

Creepshow 2 might not be the best or even that good but I think there's more good in it than there is bad so if you want to throw something on in the background during this upcoming October or need something low steaks to put on during a Halloween party maybe give it a shot especially since you can watch it for free on Roku and Tubi. I think that horror anthologies are a fun way of telling shorter stories and well Creepshow 2's stories aren't always great they aren't without their merits.

Another interesting thing about this movie that I haven't touched on until now is the plot device that weaves the segments together. In between all the segments we get little animated bits following a kid as he gets the new issue of creepshow and picks up some Venus Flytraps he ordered from the post office. there's not much to it but its enough and is also kind of fun.

One thing I want to mention before the end is that the first two segments were actually filmed here in the great state of Arizona so if you ever find yourself swimming in some little far out lake or out front of a rundown mom and pop shop make sure to keep an eye out for a mysterious oil slick or a wooden Native American that you swear moves when you aren't looking at it.

Is it good?: Yeah

Is it fun?: Yes

Is it scary?: Kinda

Do I recommend: Yes

Reviewer Name: Xander Newman

Date of Review: 9/29/2024