Beautiful, moving film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

First of all there's obviously a big quality drop with "Creepshow 2" first Romero didn't direct this one instead both he and Stephen King just returned as writers. This one was instead given to cinematographer Michael Gornick who had worked with Romero on the original "Creepshow" and "Day of the Dead" and this was the only real film he ever did other then directing TV episodes. Overall, he does a nice job, but, every time I re-visit "Creepshow 2" I'm left wanting more. There's only three tales this time around being ""Old Chief Wood'nhead", "The Raft", and "The Hitchhiker". My personal favorite being "The Raft", Apparently there were suppose to be two more tales, but, they were dropped because of budget reasons, which is highly disappointing. However, the film is still a fun ride and keeps the homages to the classic EC comics intact, there's also some clever animation in here as well, and Tom Savini returned to do effects.

In a perfect world, Creepshow 2 would be even better than the original. But sadly, the world is not perfect and we often have to make due with what we have. Directed by Michael Gornick, who was the cinematographer for Romero's Martin, Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders, Day of the Dead and the original Creepshow, this follow-up is based once again on King stories (but screenwritten by Romero).Creepshow 2 was originally going to be five stories (Pinfall and Cat from Hell went unfilmed, although Cat does appear in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie), but a lower budget forced the film to only include three tales.PInfall was to be about the rivalry between two bowling teams with one coming back from the dead to kill the other. It reminds me a lot of the story in Haunt of Fear #19, Foul Play!Instead of what wasn't filmed, let's get into what was: In Dexter, Maine, a delivery truck pulls up and drops off the latest issue of Creepshow, with the driver being the Creep himself!In Old Chief Wood'nhead, an elderly couple named Ray and Martha Spruce (George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour in her last role) live in an old town on its last legs. No one in town has money and soon, the store they own - and their lives - will fade away, too. Chief Whitemoon comes to visit and gives them sacred jewelry to pay back his debt. It's not money, but the thought is what counts.As the wise old man leaves, the wooden Indian that stands guard in the store nods to him, which frightens him. It foreshadows what happens next, as that night, the chief's nephew Sam and his gang rob the store and kill the kindly old couple. Their blood splashes all over the old wooden chief as they depart with the stolen sacred jewels.The gang plans to go to Hollywood, where Sam thinks his long hair will make him a star. But he and his entire gang are killed, with their scalps and the jewelry left for the old chief.In The Raft, four teens (one of them is Page Hannah, the sister of Daryl and all of the characters share the surname of the actor playing them) try to go swimming but have to contend with a black blob that wants to kill them all. Again - this is an incredibly simple tale told well. I'd say it's the highlight of the film, but the more I write about these, the more I remember how much I truly enjoy this movie.Finally, The Hitchhiker concerns a businesswoman who is trying to get home from a tryst with her lover before her husband notices. Along the way, she hits a man who keeps coming back. And coming back. And coming back. Again, simple idea, but told really well. Ironically, the hitchhiker is played by Tom Wright, who played the civil rights activist who comes back from the head in Tales from the Hood. It's an amazingly similar role! Even stranger is that Barbara Eden was to play the woman before her mother's illness caused her to drop out.Ed French was the original effects guy for this, but got upset when director Gornick asked Howard Berger for advice, as he wasn't happy with the look of the creature in The Raft. Greg Nicotero and Berger ended up finishing the movie and they enlisted Tom Savini to play The Creep.Creepshow 2 doesn't have the gloss of the original. That doesn't make it a horrible movie. But the original sets a bar that's incredibly high.

While, 'Creepshow 2' directed by Michael Gornick is not the scariest movie out there, based upon the short stories by author Stephen King. I do have to say, this American live-action/animated horror taken from tales from King's 1985's collection book, 'Skeleton Crew' ,can still give you, goosebumps, while watching it. Without spoiling, too much of the scares, like the original horror movie, 'Creepshow 2', was supposed to have, five short stories adapted from author Stephen King, being told, during the course of the film. However, due to budgetary reasons, two of the stories, 'Pinfall' & "Cat from Hell', were scrapped; with the latter, being filmed for 1990's 'Tales from the Darkside: The Movie'. Instead, the movie went with three stories structure with "Old Chief Wooden Head' on the helm, 'The Raft' as the meat of the story, and 'The Hitchhiker' being the climax. While, this story structure might sound right to some critics, since the first tale is most developed of all the three stories, had the longest sequence in the film and on the surface level, the most controversial story facade of the three, since it deals with Native Americans. I still believe, there is still a problem with having it, display in the forefront. First off, the story about a wooden Indian decor, taking revenge on some unlikeable robbers for killing his cigar store, owner, Mr. Ray Spruce (George Kennedy) was pretty bland and somewhat boring. It's no 1980 'Shining'. It's just another simple minded revenge story. Nothing really smart or scary about it. I was really hoping for a Golem like, complexity feel to the story, but it just felt safe & disappointing with the sequence being not really gory with most of the kills being off-screen, and the visuals, not being challenging. Still, I do have to say, the acting throughout it, was good, and the story does leave the audience with a feel good moment, even if the action is somewhat cheesy and silly. However, it wasn't nothing worth, putting as the first sequence in the film. I thought, the story would makes more sense for it to be the climax, as it allows the audience to leave, with a somewhat cheering moment, seeing how the other two stories have, very obnoxious protagonists. Since the movie didn't do that, the rest of the film really leaves a sour taste in the audience mouth. That brings us to 'the Raft', a story about a group of very unlikeable teenagers, getting trapped on a floating raft, when they discover a carnivorous mysterious blob that looks like an oil slick in the lake, surrounding them. Unlike the first story, I kinda dig this concept. It reminds me of the isolation horrors genre films like 2016's 'the Shallows' mixed with the style of 1990's 'Tremors'. Just wish, it expanded the story, not by exposing the origins of the creature, but showing the madness of the characters slowly developing, while being trapped on the raft, like the source material. It really could been, a strong environmental & psychological message if it wanted to. Still, it not, a big deal. The only problem with this sequence story, I really had, against it, was how dumb-down & awful, the characters, were. Why would one of the character accept to grope, another character, during a tense moment, while being trapped on the raft!? It makes no sense. Another problem with this sequence is the acting. Daniel Beer as Randy AKA Poncho is one of the worst actors, I have, ever witness in a horror movie. He really does destroy, the tone of this sequence. I can't help, laughing, how bad, his reactions were. Yet, unlike 'Old Chief Wooden Head', I was not disappointing with the visuals here. While, the creature look like, a rain-out, trash bag. It still look somewhat scary. Also, the oily deaths were very gruesome and the suspense was equally, worth the punch. Even the ending was somewhat clever with the sign and the creature being able to go onto land was a lot better, than the generic and clichés story ending, we got, with 'the Hitchhiker'. This story was, by far, the most, bland of all of the three, with the protagonist, Annie Lansing (Lois Chiles), accidentally kills a hitchhiker with her car, only to be haunted later, by him, on her way home. It was hardly scary. The only scary part of the sequence, was seeing Stephen King cameo as a truck driver. It's very surreal to see, seeing him, here, seeing how he would end up, get run over, in 1999 in similar fashion. It almost seem like he wrote his own prophecy of attempted demise with stories such as this, and other novels like 1987's 'misery' & 1983's 'Christine'. Sadly it was ruin, by how silly & unrealistic, the driving scenes were, and how cheesy, the one liners, was being spoken. Sadly, this sequence was lot more cartoony, than the animation sequences, featuring a kid fighting off, bullies with giant Venus flytraps that were intermixed as prologue, interlude, & epilogue. Despite that, at least, the animation sequences were well-drawn. I just wish, the post-credit scene wasn't there, as it kinda ruins the illusion of the comic book movie with its preachy, safe message about not blaming comic books for juvenile delinquency. I guess, this was added, after parents complain about the first movie, being too violent and gory. It just didn't fit. Nevertheless, 'Creepshow 2' just didn't performed as well, as the first movie. There were far too little thrills, and even fewer appeal to intelligence to be a great film. At least, it was better than the unofficial sequel, 'Creepshow 3' in 2006, which had no involvement from Stephen King or producer, George Romero. That film was horrible. In the end, while, this movie might be below average. I still think it's worth checking out, at least, once. After all, there is no business, like show business.

Three stories are featured this time, two down from the original which might have been one too long. A cheap animated wraparound surrounds the stories and is a far cry from the original. 'Old Chief Wood'nhead' has an elderly couple (Kennedy & Dorothy Lamour) running a small town grocery store that is nearly bankrupt like the town. Outside the store is a life-size wooden Indian statue that comes to life to seek revenge on a gang of idiots who kill the old couple. The second story is 'The Raft' that tells of four teenagers who swim out to a barge in the middle of a lake and get trapped on it because of a black ooze floating in the water. The ooze graphically swallows and devours the group one by one. The final story is 'The Hitchhiker' which features cheating wife Anne Lansing (Chiles) returning home one night where she runs over a derelict (Wright) in the road killing him. She panics and leaves the scene battling with her conscience. Soon the dead hitchhiker begins appearing on the road and then everywhere she looks. This terror filled ride home has the hitchhiker attempting revenge on Anne until the very end. The stories are from Stephen King again and George A. Romero wrote the screenplays but directing chores went to Michael Gornick Romero's cinematographer on the original and other Romero films. Gornick does a decent job but the stories just aren't as good this time around. Where the original could have lost a story, this one could have added one. The three stories seem one shy of a full load. The cheap wraparound animation and simple sets make you wonder if there were budget issues because the production is surly lacking a big feel. The gore is decent and the stories are certainly watchable if not entirely compelling. As an anthology movie, Creepshow 2 can hold its own, but compared to the original it is a bit of a letdown.