(1987)
Directed by Michael Gornick
Starring George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Lois Chiles, Tom Savini, Holt McCallany, David Holbrook, Frank Salsedo, Daniel Beer, Page Hannah, Tom Wright, and Joel Silver

One of the things that I really love about revisiting films, especially ones from decades ago that I’ve always considered “just okay” then realizing that I am seeing them much differently this time around. It might have something to do with age, becoming more of a seasoned lover of cinema, or just having more of an understanding of what goes into making a movie. I’m not trying to sound like I know everything or am some intellectual film scholar, but I do know that I see and understand film a lot more than I did 38 years ago when this film came out.

Being a huge fan of the original Creepshow (1982), which remains one of my all-time favorites, I was excited when I heard they were making a sequel. Although with Romero just writing the screenplay, based on King’s stories, I was a little cautious. I saw Creepshow 2 in the theater when it came out and liked parts of it but didn’t like other parts. The film only had three segments, unlike the original which had five. The first one was Old Chief Wood’nhead, starring George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Holt McCallany, and even Hal Holbrook’s son, David. It’s a simple tale of revenge, when an old couple who run an old general store in a dying town are senselessly murdered by some young punks. The lead punk is played by McCallany, a young Indian, who is prouder of his long hair than his heritage. The title refers to a life-size wooden Indian statue that stands out in front of the story. It is him that sets out to avenge the old couple.

The next story is The Raft, which is the only one that was actually based on a previously published King story, and was one of my favorites. This might be the reason for my “just okay” thoughts on the entire film. Granted, at the time, I hadn’t exactly understood how hard it was to put everything in a short story when adapting it into a film version. Add that to the fact that I thought the creature in the lake looked basically like a plastic tarp floating around. It deals with four college kids having one last little adventure before school, by swimming out the old “raft” in a secluded lake. But once they get there, they soon discover there is something floating on the lake that is more dangerous than they could imagine. There really isn’t one out of the four characters you care about here, so when it gets bad, you really don’t care. But I say I think the effects look better now than I originally remembered.

The last story is The Hitch-Hiker, which is about a rich bitch of a lady, who while on her way home from a sexual tryst, hits a hitchhiker on the road, then decides to leave him for dead because she can’t let her husband find out where she’s been. But the hitchhiker keeps showing up on her drive home, getting more abused and more insistent on thanking her for the ride! Lois Chiles does an excellent job creating this character that we are going to despise from minute she’s onscreen. But it really is actor/stuntman Tom Wright playing the hitchhiker that does an amazing job. Watching it now, seeing the stunts he’s doing, like being strapped to the front of the car as it barrels through a fence and down an embankment is just incredible work. Not to mention all the work he had to do underneath more and more gooey and gory makeup!

There is a wraparound story, just like the original, but after a quick part where we get to see Tom Savini as the Creep, it changes to animation. There is much more animation in this film than the first, even having really a fourth story, but I thought then, and still feel now that it just doesn’t work. I do admire the old-school style cartoon, but again, I don’t feel it really works.

But here is where things can change. These new special edition releases, especially when they are in a beautiful 4K release, allows you get to not only “see” the movie, but you get to see even more. As they saying goes, you’ll get to look behind the curtain, which means you learn so much more about it, which I guarantee will make you look at it differently. It makes you more aware of what the cast and crew were dealing with, so the end results are more impressive. Again, doesn’t mean the film itself is “better”, but you will have more appreciation for the final product.

Coming off the success of the first film, there was a lot of pressure for the sequel. Michael Gornick had been working with Romero’s Pittsburgh crew since The Crazies (1973), and had some experience directing, including 4 episodes of Tales from the Darkside series. Just hearing from the different cast and crew in some of the behind-the-scenes stuff on this disc, you realize not just how talented the man was, but how much he fought for them. When actor Daniel Beer developed hypothermia during the filming of The Raft sequence, he stepped in and made sure he went to the hospital to get the care he needed, as well as making sure he was okay upon his return. Same goes with the effects. He had trust in Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero, so when Ed French, one of the original makeup guys was fired, he asked Berger and Nicotero to step up and help make this production work. When they realized the creature from The Raft wasn’t working, it was up to them to try something different. Sure, it still looks like a plastic tarp, but I am a little more lenient towards it than I was originally.

This new Arrow release looks amazing in the new 4K restoration from the original negative. Colors are bright and clear, since two thirds of the story take place during the day for the most part. There is an audio commentary by director Gornick, which once again gives us so much more insight into what went into the making of it, as well as the big shoes he had to fill. There are a few interviews, from George Romero, whose only involvement was writing the screenplay, to Tom Savini who was hired at the last minute to play the Creep, who unfortunately only appears briefly before turning into an animated character. We got an interview with Daniel Beer, who was one of the characters in The Raft segment, telling us just how difficult it was filming it. My favorite interview was with actor/stuntman Tom Wright, who plays the hitchhiker. Amazing work that he does that I never realized.

We also get to hear from both Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger and about a lot of the challenges they had to deal with during the shooting. There is also a nice little segment about Berger and what his mentor Rick Baker meant to him. Add plenty of behind-the-scenes footage, and this release is a lot of fun. Arrow has done a really nice job with this release and it’s well worth adding to your library.