Stephen King and George A. Romero, two juggernauts of the horror genre came together in 1982 to create Creepshow. A loving homage to the spooky E.C. horror comics from their childhood filled with bright gory colors and macabre humor, it was a big enough hit to spawn 2 sequels but nothing ever quite captured that first lightning in a bottle. Now Shudder has announced it will bring Creepshow back as an anthology series for their strictly horror streaming service. Greg Nicotero of the Walking Dead fame among other horror franchises including, Romero’s own Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, will be producing as well as providing the creature and make-up effects that he’s famous for. Here’s what Nicotero had to say about the project:
“Creepshow is a project very close to my heart! It is one of those titles that embraces the true spirit of horror… thrills and chills celebrated in one of its truest art forms, the comic book come to life! I’m honored to continue the tradition in the ‘spirit’ which it was created.”
He summed it all up. Creepshow was one my first true r-rated horror movies and it introduced me to the genre of “fun horror.” Fun enough to not scar me for life, but scary enough to have me jumping off my couch and hiding under the covers. If they can adapted more of King’s short stories, the hard part of writing these episodes is half way done. My theory is that’ll have a director for each episode. Hopefully they could get some of the great genre directors/writers such as Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead reboot, Don’t Breathe), Jason Esiener (Hobo with a Shotgun, V/H/S 2), Simon Barrett (The Guest, You’re Next), Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow series), etc.
As for Shudder, this is a huge move for them. Just last week they had The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs marathon that was so popular, it was glitching up on several streamers. With this kind of programming, horror fans are getting exactly what they want out of a streaming service.