Creepshow 2 (1987) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 1, 1987

Considering that Creepshow 2 was made by the same creatives that were grinding out weekly episodes of Tales from the Darkside, it comes as no surprise that this film feels more like a collection of Darkside episodes spliced together than it does a sequel to Romero's visually kinetic Creepshow.

While not an altogether bad film, it does lack the narrative and visual zest of the first film. Old Chief Wood'nhead, the opening tale, is the weakest of the three live-action segments. The Raft is my favorite segment, and even scared me the first time I saw it, because it is a faithful-to-decent adaptation of one of my all time favorite Stephen King short stories.

But the best segment of the film is its final live-action tale, The Hitch-hiker. You might be muttering, or wanting to say, "Thanks for the ride, lady," well after the film has ended. According to an article, or interview, I read in Fangoria, King had written The Hitch-hiker for Creepshow as a possible replacement for the "They're Creeping Up on You!" segment, should it be considered too difficult to film. This might explain why this segment seems to have a tad more energy to it than the segments that preceded it.

The wraparound, like the first film, is animated. But this time there is an actual story being told. One featuring Venus Fly Traps. "They eat meat." Heh.