Beer (1985)

An enjoyable 90 minutes, but...
...But it fails to live up to the original in just about every aspect. Creepshow 2 continues the "movie made up of short stories" format that we were introduced to in the original, only this time with three half hour segments forming a ninety minute whole. One advantage to doing three longer segements rather than five shorter ones is that the stories have more time to develop. The disadvantage, you only get three shots to come up with something good rather than five, and that's kinda where this sequel runs into a problem. We have two tales that are just alright and on the brink of being not so good, and one really good tale. You do the math, it doesn't average out very good.

Old Chief Wooden Head: The opening segment, and not an extremely amazing one at that. An elderly couple runs the only general store in an economically dead town. In exchange for providing them with goods, a local indian tribe leaves them with their sacred possessions until they can pay for the goods with cash. However, when an arrogant young indian and his Hollywood bound buddies ravage the store and murder the old couple, the storefront wooden indian sets out and claims his revenge on them.

The Raft: I'll have to agree with the majority here and say that this is the best segment of Creepshow 2, and one of the better in the whole series. Two teen couples go swimming out on a lake, but end up struggling to survive on a raft when they discover some type of blood-thirsty blob creature in the water.

The Hitch hiker-The least enjoyable segment of the film in my opinion. A cheating wife plows down a hitch hiker on her way home from a gigolo's house. She flees the crime scene in fear only to find that she can't seem to get rid of the man she hit. The rest is a rather silly and seemingly endless extended chase scene as she tries to kill the hitch hiker once and for all.

Creepshow 2 differs from the original in that it incorporates a lot more gore and nudity. It may add a little spice to the tales, but it creates a different feel than what we had in the first Creepshow, which wasn't too heavy on the gore or the nudes. In between segments is a little story about a boy with a venus flytrap who has a run in with some bullies. It's cute and all, but it's not as cool as the animated segments from the first. It just lacks that nice horror comic feel that was so great and feels more like generic horror.

Overall this wasn't too bad a flick, I've certainly endured far less enjoyable horror movies over the years. It just wasn't as fun as the original Creepshow. Not as fun, not as campy, not as well casted, and not as well put together. If you loved the first one as I did, you will still get some form of enjoyment out of this sequel, just don't expect gold. Thanks for reading!

Not As Good As The First, But Still Holds Its Own
This is the Divimax edition, which claims to run two minutes longer than the previously released version. Ive yet to find out exactly where the extra two minutes are added, and since i dont own both copies, im at a loss for comparison.

If you like anthology horror, eighties gems, Stephen King, George Romero, and enjoy the classic EC comics or the HBO Tales From The Crypt which were inspired and adapted from the EC comics, then youll like or even love this collection. It contains 3 strange tales: classic honor and revenge story featuring an animated cigar store indian that makes everything right in the end(Chief Woodenhead), rebellious teens who pay for their lack of attention and recklessness - complete with stereotypical drug use, a little full frontal nudity, and a monster that could be the grandson of blob (The Raft), and a cheating wife who accidentally runs over a hitchhiker, picking up his revengeful soul in the process and paying for her sins(The Hitchhiker).

If your standards are over the moon, dont bother with this title. Youll find no olive branches or film festival awards on the cover. What you will find is an hour and a half romp through a peculiar slice of american film making.

After all, isnt horror nothing more than cartoons for grown ups?

Not As Good As The First, But Still Holds Its Own
This is the Divimax edition, which claims to run two minutes longer than the previously released version. Ive yet to find out exactly where the extra two minutes are added, and since i dont own both copies, im at a loss for comparison.

If you like anthology horror, eighties gems, Stephen King, George Romero, and enjoy the classic EC comics or the HBO Tales From The Crypt which were inspired and adapted from the EC comics, then youll like or even love this collection. It contains 3 strange tales: classic honor and revenge story featuring an animated cigar store indian that makes everything right in the end(Chief Woodenhead), rebellious teens who pay for their lack of attention and recklessness - complete with stereotypical drug use, a little full frontal nudity, and a monster that could be the grandson of blob (The Raft), and a cheating wife who accidentally runs over a hitchhiker, picking up his revengeful soul in the process and paying for her sins(The Hitchhiker).

If your standards are over the moon, dont bother with this title. Youll find no olive branches or film festival awards on the cover. What you will find is an hour and a half romp through a peculiar slice of american film making.

After all, isnt horror nothing more than cartoons for grown ups?