Catching up with 'Creepshow'...
My youngest daughter has been self isolating, for the last few days, and is getting a little too used to not having to be at school. She gets her lessons done early and the rest of the day is all about trashing my flat while I'm trying to get work done. Reading time was at a premium already and this development has put a further dent in it, I can't wait for her to go back to school...
So what's a Graeme to do, in
the meantime, when he can barely stir himself to even look at a book after a
hard day's... everything really. Well, last night I thought I'd catch up on a
little TV, specifically 'Creepshow'...
You'll know this already but
I've found this second season to be a little up and down in terms of the
quality. Nothing too major but just enough to have me idly wondering whether I
really want to keep watching if the show can't keep things on an even keel. You
also know what I'm like though ;o) I love my horror anthologies and can't help
giving them a second chance, which leads me to this post. I ended up giving
'Creepshow' a miss, last week so there was a little more to get through last
night and that wouldn't have been a chore except that the quality was up and
down again. I mean, no-one likes everything so you're not going to get
perfect scores every time; a little bit of consistency would help though. Here
goes, Episodes Four and Five...
‘Pipe Screams’ was alright… I guess. This tale, of
something lurking in the pipes in a rundown block of flats, had its moments
with the tension of the hunt paying off with a great bit where Linus (the
plumber) got first hand experience of what was hiding in the pipes. I love it
when ‘Creepshow’ gets a bit playful and these moments were definitely playful
and a lot of fun. What spoiled it for me, just a little bit, was the ending and
how it was signposted. I know the whole point of ‘Creepshow’ is that the bad
guy will always get their comeuppance but I like a little bit of uncertainty
leading up to this. While I liked the fact that, in some ways, the landlady was
far more horrifying than the thing in the pipes (‘Pipe Screams’ handled its
social commentary very well, said what it needed to but didn’t overdo it), it
did mean that it was very clear, very early on, that she was going to get hers
by the end. Which was cool, don’t get me wrong, Barbara Crampton’s landlady is
so over the top that you can’t help but want to see her meet what’s in the
pipes. Did it have to be so clearly signposted though? A little bit more vagueness
around that would have made Linus’ fight with the thing even more interesting
for a start. As it is though, things were a little too obvious to be really
chilling.
‘Within the Walls of Madness’ though… That was great
for all the reasons that ‘Pipe Screams’ didn’t quite hit the mark. I’ve always
got a soft spot for anything Lovecraftian and ‘Within the Walls of Madness’ was
very much that with loads of cosmic horror and ‘things man was not meant to
know’ as well as a couple of bucket loads of blood deployed at just the right
moments. The fact that there’s some point to the plot really makes it tick
though with the twist at the end tying things off nicely and the side plot, with
the crooked lawyer, really lighting the fuse on it all. One of the few episodes,
from this season, that I’d happily watch again.
Episode Five – ‘Night of the Living Late Show’
Only the one story, in this episode, and although it
is the season finale, I’m still struggling
to see why they decided to put the whole run time into one story rather than
splitting it as per usual. There’s a lot to enjoy in ‘Night of the Living Late
Show’, especially how they introduce Simon into the movie worlds that he loves;
these moments are great and you can almost believe it’s happening (although I
found myself wondering how it would really work, would Simon be talking to the
film characters or the actors…?) It’s a great nod to fans of ‘Horror Express’
(never seen it, unfortunately) and ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (yes!) ‘Night of
the Living Late Show’ is just not a forty minute story though, there’s not enough
actual story to tell and it becomes very clear that the moments ‘in movie’ are
just there to pad things out. Simon’s character is also very slim on detail;
did he really build that machine so he could have sex with the Countess?
According to this story, apparently so… There’s nothing else to him. Renee’s
character has more going for her though and it’s interesting to see that
journey play out.
A bit of a weird finale then. Instead of going for two
great stories, we get one okay story instead and we’re left thinking, ‘was
that it…?’
Of course I’m going to watch Season Three of ‘Creepshow’
then, whenever it makes it to Shudder, but I’ve found myself in the position that
I’m not looking forward to it quite so much. I’m not sure what (and why) it is
but this season of ‘Creepshow’ didn’t hit the spot half as much as it did, in
the first season, and that’s a real shame. Oh well, here’s hoping for more
episodes like ‘Within the Walls of Madness’ and ‘Sibling Rivalry’ (and ‘The
Right Snuff’ as well, come to think of it) next time round.
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