Creepshow 2
| Creepshow 2 | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Gornick |
| Produced by | David Ball |
| Screenplay by | George A. Romero Lucille Fletcher (uncredited) |
| Based on | Stories by Stephen King |
| Starring | Lois Chiles George Kennedy Dorothy Lamour Tom Savini |
| Music by | Les Reed Rick Wakeman |
| Cinematography | Richard Hart Tom Hurwitz |
| Editing by | Peter Weatherley |
| Studio | Laurel Entertainment Inc. Laurel-Show Inc. New World Pictures |
| Distributed by | New World Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 1, 1987 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Box office | $14 million |
Creepshow 2 is a 1987 American Horror comedy anthology film directed by Michael Gornick and the sequel to Creepshow. Gornick was George A. Romero's cinematographer on the original Creepshow. The screenplay was written by Romero, the director of the original film. It was once again based upon stories by Stephen King, featuring three more "Jolting Tales of Horror": Old Chief Wooden Head, The Raft, and The Hitchhiker.
Creepshow 2 was followed by a sequel in 2007 -which had no involvement from Stephen King or George Romero-, titled Creepshow III. Creepshow make-up artist and Creepshow 2 actor, Tom Savini, stated that he considers Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) the real Creepshow 3.
The cover of the special edition DVD released by Anchor Bay Entertainment in both the U.S. and UK is an homage to the Tales from the Crypt comic books from EC.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Prologue
A delivery truck pulls up to a newsstand in a small town where a young boy named Billy (named after and confused with the boy from Creepshow) arrives eagerly waiting for it. The truck's back shutter opens to reveal a sinister figure who drops off a package onto the sidewalk: the latest issue of Creepshow, much to Billy's delight. As the film momentarily turns into an animation, the package opens of its own accord,and Billy begins to read and the delivery man reveals his true identity as the Creepshow Creep.
[edit] Old Chief Wood'nhead
An elderly couple named Ray and Martha Spruce (Kennedy and Lamour) in a small, fictional, southwestern town called Dead River, oversee a general goods store with a cigar store Indian named "Old Chief Wood'nhead" (Dan Kamin) who adorns the front porch and are humbled to see their old, run-down town coming to a bitter end. The Spruces are then visited by a Native American elder named Benjamin Whitemoon from a local tribe who gives them turquoise jewelery, which are his tribe's sacred treasures, as collateral for the debt the tribe has incurred.
The elder bids them and Old Chief Wood'nhead (who nods to him) farewell and returns to his tribe. When the Spruces go back inside their store, the couple are then subject to a vicious robbery led by Benjamin's nephew, Sam (Holt McCallany) armed with a shotgun, and his two friends Fatso and Andy. After ransacking the store, Sam demands that Ray hand over the turquoise. Ray resists, and as a result, the Spruces are then shot and killed by Sam. The three thugs then leave in their car and begin preparations to run away to Hollywood, California. Old Chief Wood'nhead then comes to life after they leave and goes out on a vicious warpath to kill Sam and his friends and avenge the murdered Spruces. After brutally killing Fatso and Andy, Old Chief Wood'nhead corners Sam in his home, with Sam being unable to fight back as the shells from his shotgun have no effect on his wooden assailant. Sam attempts to lock himself in his bathroom and escape through a window, but Old Chief Wood'nhead breaks through the wall, grabs Sam by his hair, pulls him through the wall and scalps him as he screams in terror. When Benjamin Whitemoon wakes up in the morning, he finds the bag containing the turquoise jewelery by his side. He visits the Spruce's general store to find Old Chief Wood'nhead on his pedestal, holding his nephew's scalp and a blood-stained knife. Now aware of what has happened to Sam, Benjamin wishes the old warrior a peaceful afterlife and drives away.
[edit] Interlude 1
After reading Old Chief Wood'nhead, Billy is seen at the town post office, receiving a package from when he sent a product ad from his copy of the Creepshow magazine. Incensed by the skeptical clerk's dismissal of paying $9.99 for a toy from the "funny papers," Billy reveals that the package actually contains the bulb for a carnivorous Venus Flytrap. The clerk doubts the actuality of the package and Billy sets off for home and the Creep presents another tale.
[edit] The Raft
Four college students, Deke, Laverne, Randy, and Rachel decide to go swimming in a desolate lake far away from civilization. As they make their way to a wooden raft in the middle of the lake, they realize that they are being terrorized by a floating black blob resembling an oil slick when it grabs a hold of Rachel and consumes her. The frightened students begin to panic. Deke plans to swim to shore so he can bring back help as he is a fast swimmer. But before he can carry out his plan, the blob seeps through the raft's cracks and pulls Deke through the raft, killing him in the process. Randy and Laverne manage to evade the creature long enough to where it gives up trying to grab them from under the raft as well. Randy and Laverne spend the entire night on the raft, afraid to fall asleep in fear that the creature will attack. They do manage to fall asleep and Randy is the first to wake up in the morning, relieved to find that Laverne and himself made it through the night. With Laverne still sleeping, he begins caressing her body and fondling her breasts. She awakes screaming in agony as the creature has seeped through the cracks and has a hold of her face, much to Randy's horror. As the oil-like blob pulls her off the raft and begins consuming her, Randy uses the opportunity to jump off the raft and swim to shore. He ultimately makes it, barely escaping the creature and yells "I beat you!" However, the oil creature rises up from the water like a wave and engulfs Randy. The blob returns to the lake, with no evidence of the four students even visiting the lake other than their car which was left running the whole time. The camera pans out to reveal a "No Swimming" sign barely visible from behind some growth.
[edit] Interlude 2
On his way back home from the post office and reading The Raft, Billy is ambushed by a gang of neighborhood bullies, who harass him and take his package from him. The gang's leader Rhino then smashes and opens the package, finding the Venus Flytrap bulb, and throws it on the ground, crushing it with his foot. In retaliation, Billy kicks Rhino in the groin and flees, with Rhino and his gang in hot pursuit. The Creep then appears and presents another tale.
[edit] The Hitchhiker
An adulterous businesswoman named Annie Lansing (Chiles) gets up from bed after sleeping with her extramarital lover (who is a gigolo), realizing that she has to get home before her wealthy attorney husband to avoid suspicion. Annie hops into her Mercedes-Benz[1] and makes way for home several miles away. On the way, she accidentally kills a hitchhiker (Wright) as a result of her speeding down the dark road. Seeing that no one witnessed the incident, Annie takes off. Shortly after Annie takes off, the area of the incident is crowded with passersby, who report the hit-and-run to the police.
Miles away from the scene, Annie stops along the road and begins thinking about what she has done and the consequences involved. She ultimately concludes that no one has anything on her and thinks that everything will be fine. Before she can continue, however, the hitchhiker she killed suddenly appears outside her window and utters "Thanks for the ride, lady." (A line repeated by the hitchhiker throughout the story). Annie speeds off in terror, but everywhere she goes, the hitchhiker always reappears. He becomes her tormentor as she repeatedly runs him over, hurls him off the top of her car, slams his body into trees, etc. as he only gets more and more battered and bloody without dying. Annie eventually loses control of her car in which she drives off the road and down a hill and into a tree, knocking herself out.
She awakes a short while later, not seeing the hitchhiker anywhere in sight, believing it to be a bad dream. She gets back on the road and drives home, succeeding in getting there before her husband. As she begins to step out of her car, the hitchhiker appears from under her car, completely mangled from the trip, still uttering "Thanks for the ride, lady." The hitchhiker attacks her as she vainly attempts to fight him off. Later, Annie's husband finally arrives home to find his wife's dead body in her car, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning caused from the still running car, with the hitchhiker's sign showing his targeted destination (reading DOVER).
[edit] Epilogue
As the Creep is about to drive away, he spots Billy still being chased by the bullies. Billy leads his pursuers into a vacant lot swarming with out of control plant growth. As he rides into what seems to be a dead end, the bullies move in to pummel him only to learn that the bulb they smashed was not the first one Billy had ordered, as a quintet of Giant Flytraps emerge from the surrounding weeds and devour the thugs one by one. The spectacle is witnessed by the Creep himself, who cackles in glee as he drives off in his delivery truck to deliver the latest issue of Creepshow to another town. Following the end credits, the following text appears: "Juvenile delinquency is the product of pent up frustrations, stored-up resentments and bottled-up fears. It is not the product of cartoons and captions. But the comics are a handy, obvious, uncomplicated scapegoat. If the adults who crusade against them would only get as steamed up over such basic causes of delinquency as parental ignorance, indifference, and cruelty, they might discover that comic books are no more a menace than Treasure Island or Jack the Giant Killer". Colliers magazine 1949
[edit] Cast
- Prologue
- Domenick John as Billy
- Tom Savini as The Creep
- Joe Silver as The Creep (voice)
- Old Chief Wood'nhead
- George Kennedy as Ray Spruce
- Philip Dore as Curly
- Kaltey Napoleon as Indian #1
- Maltby Napoleon as Indian #1
- Tyrone Tonto as Indian #2
- Dorothy Lamour as Martha Spruce
- Frank Salsedo as Ben Whitemoon
- Holt McCallany as Sam Whitemoon
- David Holbrook as Fatso Gribbens
- Don Harvey as Andy Cavanaugh
- Dan Kamin as Old Chief Wood'nhead
- Dean Smith as Mr. Cavanaugh
- Shirley Sonderegger as Mrs. Cavanaugh
- The Raft
- Paul Satterfield as Deke
- Jeremy Green as Laverne
- Daniel Beer as Randy
- Page Hannah as Rachel
- The Hitchhiker
- Lois Chiles as Annie Lansing
- David Beecroft as Annie's Lover
- Tom Wright as The Hitchhiker
- Richard Parks as George Lansing
- Stephen King as Truck Driver
- Cheré Bryson as Woman at Accident
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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