Creepshow

Five horror stories and a wraparound holding them together: a boy whose father throws his comic book in the trash. George A. Romero directed and Stephen King wrote the screenplay, his first. Some segments are original, two are adapted from his own stories, Weeds and The Crate. King also acts in it, playing the lead in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill. His son Joe plays Billy in the wraparound. The whole thing is designed as an homage to the EC horror comics of the fifties. Romero hired effects man Tom Savini specifically to replicate comic-like effects; scenes break into panels and the transitions work like turning a page. The most-repeated detail concerns the roaches. For They're Creeping Up on You the production obtained 20,000 real insects. According to Savini, in the final scene many of the things on screen were not insects at all but nuts and raisins. It opened in November 1982 and took around 21 million dollars domestically, the highest-grossing horror film for Warner Bros. that year. Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four. Who it is for: viewers who like anthology horror and the bright, joking dread of the eighties. Who it is not for: anyone expecting every segment to land. Two of the five are noticeably weaker.