I wasn't intending to post about Creepshow during BLOODvember. I really wasn't! Lawd knows I've talked about it enough around here over the years. I've mentioned my love for it several times on Gaylords of Darkness over the last year. I'm good, I thought. They know. They know how much I love it, how perfect I think it is. I've waxed rhapsodic about Adrienne Barbeau as Billie, I've mooned over the movie's varied approach to zombies. I've praised the music and the visuals and the EC Comics stylings. I've mentioned how funny it is, how scary it is, how it's as just good as the day it was born and how my feelings about it have never faded and it's a forever fave. They definitely know.
But ah! Funny I should mention the day it was born because lo, today is that day! On November 12, 1982, a bouncing baby Creepshow came blastin' outta...somewhere...and it planted itself right in the heartplaces of everyone who knows what's cool. So how could I not mention it today?
What's your favorite segment? As I've mentioned 1000 times, "The Crate"'s Billie is nonpareil. But overall it's not my favorite story! That honor, such as it is, goes to "Father's Day." It's morbidly funny. It's got one of the all-time great zombies. It's got Ed Harris doing that dance. It's got such a...well, such a Palm Springs-faggy vibe, it's absolutely the gayest thing Stephen King has ever written. It is the Dynasty-as-horror-movie of my dreams!
I love the Granthams. Carrie Nye is scathing, icy matriarch perfection. Richard is the quintessential "gay or just a rich Republican?" type. I like the cheeky nod to Rebecca with Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper. Again, Cass and Hank getting down to that disco track is just everything. And, of course, there's dotty old aunt Bedelia, who never even makes it inside the house. She's got a tragic backstory but damn, I bet she was a fun broad to hang out with.
Honestly, if Creepshow consisted solely of "Father's Day" I'd still consider it one of my Top Tens for life and I'd still mention it ad nauseam. And I'd definitely still be celebrating it today. I'm so glad it exists.
I love this movie so much! I actually sought out the full version of that disco track a while back and the number of rhymes they came up with for "don't let go" is simply staggering.
ReplyDeleteI also can't watch this story now without getting warm fuzzies in my heart-place for Bryan Fuller, who named Gillian Anderson's character in 'Hannibal' after Bedelia.
There's nothing as objectively horrifying in this movie as Ed Harris dancing.
ReplyDeleteThe husband put the Creepshow soundtrack on regular rotation this fall and every time "Don't Let Go" comes up, we have to do the Ed Harris dancey hand thing. That said, The Crate is still my favorite. Billie, "etiquette crotch" and Fluffy's possible getaway at the end make it perfect for me.
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