Now that 2018 has come to a close I thought it would be a good time to share my favorite physical releases of the year. I am a big supporter of physical media and will continue to support it. I like owning my movies that I can hold, not in some cloud somewhere. I love box art. This year was a great year for exclusive Steelbooks at Best Buy. Some of them will make my list. In deciding the number I fell on the most obvious one, 18.
Number 6 is the Scream Factory Collector’s Edition of the horror anthology, Creepshow!
George A. Romero and Stephen King teamed up in 1982 to bring the movie going public five macabre tales of horror that were inspired by the old E.C. Comics. Each tale is really fun and has a cool comic book feel to each tale with impressive lighting and striking backgrounds.
In Father’s Day a woman named Bedelia returns to her father’s estate and after a family squabble she sits at her father’s grave. Her father returns from the grave to settle his scores. “Where’s my cake Bedelia?!”
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill: Stephen King stars as simple hillbilly who finds a meteor in his backyard. After splitting the meteor with water, Jordy gets some green goo on him and he soon discovers green plants are growing on him!
Something to Tide You Over: Funny man Leslie Nielsen stars as Richard Vickers, who learns his wife is having an affair with a dashing young Sam Malone (Ted Danson, there’s a Cheers joke for ya!). He plans to get his revenge but his revenge has it some troubled water.
The Crate: Dreaming of ways to kill his disrespectful wife, a professor learns of a vicious creature that lives in a crate under the stairs of the university.
They’re Creeping Up On You: Suffering from the fear of bugs a millionaire soon learns that having his apartment infested with cockroaches is a bigger problem than he first believed.
There is also a wraparound story as well about a boy’s father who won’t let him read scary comic books.
George A. Romero strikes gold with Creepshow. From some really great performances by the stars and some awesome make-up effects by Tom Savini, Creepshow is one of the best horror anthologies around. Romero really has fun with this film and you will too.
The video on Creepshow is stunning. With a new 4K scan for this release, the new transfer really showcases the wonderful work of the Director of Photography Michael Gornick. Blood, colors, details all pop and gush in this spectacular transfer.
The audio has been remixed as well and it sounds great. The music and screams sound as if the movie was released in the 2010’s. No popping, crystal clear dialogue highlight the soundtrack.
Holy cow is Creepshow packed with great extras. First, its housed in a sturdy cardboard package with newly commissioned artwork and a 36 page booklet packed with photos. There is an older commentary by George Romero and Tom Savini, which you should listen to. It has two new audio commentaries with the Director of Photography and the other with First Assistant Director John Harrison and Construction Coordinator Ed Fountain.
Some archival interviews with several crew memebers.
As far as the new interviews there are over an hour and forty minutes of them to dissect, I really likes the roundtable with several key players from Creepshow, including Tom Atkins and Tom Savini. The other interviews cover all aspects of the film, from costume design to the restoration of Creepshow.
There is 15 minutes of deleted scenes, Tom Savini’s Behind the Scenes Footage, lobby card and movie poster galleries, trailers and more.
The extras make this a must buy alone.
Creepshow finally gets a release it deserves. It fits nicely with Arrow’s release of Creepshow 2. This blu-ray is a must buy.
Film: A
Video: A+
Audio: A-
Extras: A+
Overall: A