Blog Directory CineVerse: Horror with a generous helping of hilarity

Horror with a generous helping of hilarity

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Menace and mirth may seem like strange bedfellows, but a good horror film often features an ample touch of comedy. It helps relieve the tension viewers feel and can serve to put as at ease right before the filmmaker chooses to terrify us with a jump scare or sudden fright. A worthy example of a scary flick imbued with a wickedly funny sense of humor is "Creepshow." An autopsy of this picture revealed the following observations:

WHAT TOOK YOU BY SURPRISE, GOOD OR BAD, ABOUT THIS FILM?

  • It has a deliciously dark sense of humor that, while it may not buffer the violence, gore or gross-out shocks for those who are sensitive, makes the movie more satisfying and easier to swallow. 
  • It attempts the look, feel and spirit of old-time horror comic books, as evidenced by the animated titles and comic panel transitions between segments, the exaggerated colors, the clever episode titles, the split-screen compositions, the appropriately atmospheric and stylized score, and the choice to retell two tales first shared in the old EC Comics. 
    • Writer Slarek from CineOutsider wrote: “The stories in E.C. Horror Comics had a distinctive style. Usually brief and simple in structure, they were largely morality tales in which the wicked and greedy paid the price for their actions, often at the hands of those they had wronged. And in horror comics, killing someone wouldn't prevent them from coming back from the dead and dishing out an appropriately themed punishment. Sometimes events sent the central character on the road to madness or inadvertently brought about their own death or downfall, and many of the tales concluded with a satisfying sting.” 
  • It feels like it was made with love and care by those who love and care for the original source material. And this is true: the director is George Romero, the screenwriter/actor is Stephen King, and the special effects wizard is Tom Savini, and they’re paying tribute to the notorious EC Comics titles of their youth, such as “Tales From the Crypt” and “The Vault of Horror.” The animated sequences were also drawn by Jack Kamen, one of the original artists for EC Comics. This film wasn’t made by hacks and hired guns—it was crafted with TLC by true fans and legends of the horror genre. 
  • Each tale is distinctive and memorable in its own way, with some more humorous or violent or disgusting than others, and some longer than others. 
  • Like other memorable horror anthology films, this one features a wraparound story that bookends the movie: in this case, the mini-tale of a young boy getting revenge on his disciplinary father. 
  • We are often made to identify and sympathize with the murderers than the ones murdered. Consider how the daughter who murders her father was treated by him, or how henpecked and distracted the professor is made by his harpy-like wife. 
  • Creepshow features a pretty impressive cast for a B-horror movie, including Ed Harris, E.G. Marshall, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook and Ted Danson. 
WHAT THEMES RUN CONCURRENT THROUGH SOME OF ALL OF THESE STORIES IN CREEPSHOW?
  • Poetic justice. As Roger Ebert phrased it: “In an EC horror story, unspeakable things happened to people – but, for the most part, they deserved them.” 
  • A character with an Achilles heel or fatal flaw: For Bedelia, her flaw is loose lips and prideful boasting. For Jordy Verrill, it’s ignorant curiosity. For Richard Veckers, it’s his pretentious cleverness and twisted cruelty. For Upson Pratt, it’s his air of superiority, dictatorial demand for control and cleanliness, and desire to live in a bubble. 
  • Bigotry and segregation—these are the thinly veiled subtexts of the final episode, which features a man who looks down upon other humans as lesser creatures whom he tries to keep locked out of his private and sterile Eden. 
SIMILAR MOVIES THAT CREEPSHOW BRINGS TO MIND:
  • Tales From the Darkside: The Movie 
  • Trick r Treat 
  • Twilight Zone: The Movie 
  • Tales From the Crypt 
OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY GEORGE ROMERO:
  • The Living Dead films, including Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead 
  • The Crazies 
  • Martin 
  • The Dark Half

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