The first Creepshow was a treat.  George A. Romero and Stephen King teamed up to create a cute, though creepy, vignette horror movie.  I must admit I haven’t seen the second Creepshow, but it surely can’t be any worse than the third installment.

Fans of the franchise should stay away from this movie.

This, like the others, is a vignette movie.  It does try to go places the first one didn’t.  In a Pulp Fiction-esque style, all of the segments happen in the same universe and pretty much in the same town.  Characters overlap, and it isn’t entirely in chronological order.  Pulp Fiction was very carefully organized to optimize dramatic build and keep the viewer from getting too confused.  Unfortunately for Creepshow 3 it isn’t clever enough to be anywhere near successful at this.  To some extent it doesn’t matter, but anybody actually paying attention will ask the ever burning question, “Huh?” when they see the one scene that takes place out of order.  Creepshow 1 had a through plot tying all the individual stories together about a boy reading Creepshow Comics in which each story appeared in the comics the boy read while not happening in the same continuity.  It was a throwback to EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt, and the Vault of Horror.  Number three was basically a throwback to nothing.  I could make a vomit joke about Creepshow 3 involving the word throwback, but I’ll refrain.

The individual stories aren’t necessarily bad they’re just not good.  It tries to maintain a slightly humorous feel like the first one, but only succeeds at developing a corny insincerity that plagues the whole movie.  Its comedic timing and content is fit only for the majorly stoned.  As for the horror aspects, they’re not much better.  It has a few interesting moments.  It isn’t entirely predictable, but it’s ultimately not surprising.  The best story out of the group is the very last complete story, and even it wasn’t worth waiting the whole movie for.

The acting is amateurish which is forgivable depending on the sum of all the elements.  For example, the acting in Kevin Smith’s Clerks (1994) wasn’t the most astounding, and relied mostly on the raw charisma of Jeff Anderson (Randal Graves).  This is evidence that inexperienced screen actors are no excuse for irritating characters.

The Verdict:  This was an effort not worth undertaking.  Don’t even rent it if you can help it.

-Vince

Tags: Ana Clavell, comedy, Creepshow 3, Horror, James Glenn Dudelson, Movies

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 7:08 am and is filed under Horror, Movies, Vincent, comedy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.