Creepshow 2 *** (1987, George Kennedy, Lois Chiles, Domenick John) – Classic Movie Review 8383

Director Michael Gornick’s 1987 horror anthology sequel Creepshow 2 has three more Stephen King EC Comics-inspired stories adapted in the screenplay by George A Romero, the director of the first Creepshow (1982), and this time goes for even tackier, more gruesome scares.

George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour play old-timers in a dying desert town with a vengeful wooden Native American; a lake vacation becomes a nightmare for four teenage friends Deke (Paul Satterfield), Randy (Daniel Beer), Laverne (Jeremy Green) and Rachel (Page Hannah) thanks to a monstrous blob; and Lois Chiles plays a hit-and-run driver facing a vengeful hitchhiker who will not die. Stephen King has a walk-on this time as a trucker, one of 15 such cameos he has made. More animation links the tales, as in Creepshow.

The tales of terror are: Old Chief Wood’nhead (with Kennedy and Lamour), The Raft, (with Page Hannah, David Holbrook, Domenick John, Paul Satterfield and Holt McCallany) The Hitchhiker (with Chiles).

It was profitable again. On a budget of $3,500,000, it grossed $14,000,000 in the US, whereas the original cost $8,000,000, and grossed $19,733,000 in the US.

With just three stories instead of the original five, Creepshow 2 runs just 92 minutes (or 85 minutes on UK video).

King says: ‘What twists you when you’re young lasts for ever.’

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8383

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