Creepshow (TV Series)

[bassman]

Erm, I think the six episodes have started officially, is the thing? Not a leak? I’ve been out of the loop for a little while, I was just thinking it would start in October? I dunno, excited to see it either way. The CGI stuff is a mixed bag with TV shows, so I should be fine with that. Usually the bigger stuff sticks out, but there’s also VERY inventive use of CGI that often goes unnoticed. It’s not fair to hate on CGI at this point, it’s become an amazing tool to help with the other crafts.

[JDP]

CGI should only be used as a complement or aid for actual special effects, stunts and make up, not for the main thing, and then again only when it would be impossible to do some things by other means. The only exception are of course movies like Tron, where the artificial and unnatural look and feel of CGI is 100% justified to make up the bulk of the special effects. That's why the special effects, stunts and make-up on the older movies and TV shows look better and more believable. They either did not use CGI at all or its use was minimal. Best and creepiest looking zombies and/or zombie-related gore? The 70s & 80s Ossorio, Romero and Fulci movies, Michael Jackson's Thriller video. Best werewolves and transformations of man-into-werewolf? The first The Howling, An American Werewolf in London. Best and most menacing looking vampires? The old Nosferatu film from 1922 & the 1979 remake with Klaus Kinski, the Salem's Lot TV miniseries, the first Fright Night, The Lost Boys. Best and/or most menacing looking aliens? Star Wars trilogy, John Carpenter's The Thing, the Alien/s and Predator movies. Best and most realistic looking car/truck/motorcycle/vehicle related stunts? Smokey and the Bandit, the 3 Mad Max movies, some of the sequences in The Dukes of Hazzard and The Fall Guy TV shows (others were totally phony-looking, like when they started going "cheapo" and using blue/green-screens and small-scale models instead of real vehicles for the more dangerous stunts), the older James Bond (i.e. with Connery & Moore) movies, the Indiana Jones trilogy. Best looking dragon? Dragonslayer. Best looking demons or demon-possessed humans? The first The Exorcist, the first Night of the Demons. Notice the pattern? No CGI anywhere. Notice also that most of them are from the 70s and 80s. This is when the "art" of special effects, stunts and make up reached its peak.

[MinionZombie]

The CGI was like one or two shots - of the big version of the monster - and while it was evidently limited by budget, they wouldn't have been able to pull off that shot practically and stay on-budget, so you've gotta take the practical rough with the creative smooth from time to time. Although the ending of the second story was a bit weak, if you think about it the little girl is kind of a mega bitch for dumping that bizarre horror on some unsuspecting person.

[MinionZombie]

So - episode two. Again, I enjoyed it, although it seems that in general the dialogue across all stories needs a little bit of finesse. Sometimes it's a-ok, and other times it can be dreadfully on-the-nose or over-the-top, not in a 'deliberately campy' way, but in a 'not written well enough' way. On those occasions I find myself getting pulled out of the fun and then having to readjust. The 'digital' look really crept into this one. I'm not sure if it's down to the camera, or the lighting, or the grading, or the frame rate, or all four, but it can look a bit 'cheap' sometimes, which is a shame. Still, the big splashy effects stuff is always good fun, and "The Finger" captured my attention most of the two - although it was a lot of fun to have Jeffrey Combs in the first story, and that colourful shot with the red vs green foreground/background clash of comic book colours was a nice touch to give it that classic Creepshow feel. I'm also a big fan of the practical puppet 'Creep' (with the combination of an actor's hands in make-up), and the comic book stuff is all good fun as well.

[MinionZombie]

Episode Three - wasn't so keen on the second story, although it had some moments. I preferred the first story, which had a nice Halloween-set story. This one did feel a little more expansive, though, with both stories having multiple locations and slightly broader casts, not as claustrophobic/limited as the last couple of episodes ... but episode three I've enjoyed the least of the three that have aired so far.

[Moon Knight]

Really disappointed in this series. Just ain't doing to for me. No classic music or sound effects? The original composer even directed two episodes so far! C'mon, man, give us that original soundscape! Even the removal of animation in favor of CG for the intro irked me. TWD's Judith in "The House of the Head" was pretty enjoyable, though.

[MinionZombie]

Really disappointed in this series. Just ain't doing to for me. No classic music or sound effects? The original composer even directed two episodes so far! C'mon, man, give us that original soundscape! Even the removal of animation in favor of CG for the intro irked me. TWD's Judith in "The House of the Head" was pretty enjoyable, though. I will say that the 'comic book look' to the general show when we're in the stories is certainly lacking. Now, the Jordy Verill segment in the first movie was quite full-on visually, but I was expecting more of that look ... this TV show version is feeling too televisual, a bit too 'plain' too often. We need far more in the way of lurid colours, dutch angles, low angles, lurching figures and faces. The 'style' of the show is lacking, unfortunately.

[Moon Knight]

I will say that the 'comic book look' to the general show when we're in the stories is certainly lacking. Now, the Jordy Verill segment in the first movie was quite full-on visually, but I was expecting more of that look ... this TV show version is feeling too televisual, a bit too 'plain' too often. We need far more in the way of lurid colours, dutch angles, low angles, lurching figures and faces. The 'style' of the show is lacking, unfortunately. Spot on. No dutch angles!!?? Looks too much and sounds like everything else.

[EvilNed]

So - episode two. Again, I enjoyed it, although it seems that in general the dialogue across all stories needs a little bit of finesse. Sometimes it's a-ok, and other times it can be dreadfully on-the-nose or over-the-top, not in a 'deliberately campy' way, but in a 'not written well enough' way. On those occasions I find myself getting pulled out of the fun and then having to readjust. This is a shame since the original film was written really well. Romero and King knows how to deliver good dialogue seperately, but together it was really good.

[shootemindehead]

I will say that the 'comic book look' to the general show when we're in the stories is certainly lacking. Now, the Jordy Verill segment in the first movie was quite full-on visually, but I was expecting more of that look ... this TV show version is feeling too televisual, a bit too 'plain' too often. We need far more in the way of lurid colours, dutch angles, low angles, lurching figures and faces. The 'style' of the show is lacking, unfortunately. The stories aren't much to write home about either though, unfortunately. I'll be surprised if we'll be seeing an S02.

[MinionZombie]

After last week's episode being rather 'meh', I wasn't in a rush to watch this week's, but I'm glad I did - the first story in particular ("The Companion") was exactly the sort of thing I want this show to be. All the style was there and properly deployed, and it was well written. It felt like the right mix of tone and also had a really cool monster at the heart of it. The second story was weaker by comparison, but was pretty solid and creepy with some nice bits of gore.

[Moon Knight]

I would say the last four stories were pretty good and the show ended S1 on a high note; the last story being directed by Tom Savini. Already renewed for S2 and I'm pretty happy with that.

[MinionZombie]

I would say the last four stories were pretty good and the show ended S1 on a high note; the last story being directed by Tom Savini. Already renewed for S2 and I'm pretty happy with that. I've not been able to see episode six yet *ahem*, but I did find that episodes 4 and 5 really ramped the quality back up, especially in terms of the style of the show - they felt much more like what a Creepshow TV show should be and needs to be. The Monkey's Paw story from last week was a bit like flogging an old trope that's been done so many times before, but I guess it introduces it to any younger audience members who might not be aware of the tale, and it's always a pleasure to have Bruce Davison on screen.

[Neil]

TWD's Judith in "The House of the Head" was pretty enjoyable, though. I thought that story was very well done... I'm only on my second episode so far!

[shootemindehead]

Over all, I thought this show was kind of poor. Too many stories that were just bad or mediocre. There are a couple of stand out stories in there too, with their version of 'The Monkey's Paw' probably being the best it had to offer. They'll really need to up their game in next series.