Its beginning to feel a little like I have never left the ranch here at FRR. This will be my third review in as many weeks but never fear, it is set to me slowing down until Xmas and the end of my run.

CREEPSHOW has so far, spawn two movies and a few TV series. This Shudder produced series, is the latest incarnation of the idea and over three seasons, sees to create a new outlet for that comic book kind of thrills and spills (usually of blood).  Over the course of the 3 seasons (6 DVDs on three sets) we are treated to works from Stephen King, Joe King & Joe Hill. When I say based on, they are from stories or screenplays that they didn’t gain traction elsewhere from. They star a wealth of horror and film talent, Tobin Bell, DJ Qualls, Tricia Helfer and David Arquette in season 1. Kevin Dillon, Ali Larter, Ryan Kwanten and Molly Ringwald in season 2. Then Mark Hamill, Michael Rooker, Danielle Harris and Ron Livingston in season 3. The specials feature voice work by Keifer Sutherland no less as well! There are zombies, werewolves, evil beings, mobsters, surgeons, strange goings on and the whole gambit of dubious folks up to dubious things. So you get that this is CREEPSHOW and it will take you on a path that will sometimes meander from the safety that you might cling to?

First the good news, the best episodes are sprinkled throughout the seasons and discs. Season 1 has three high points, episode two being a real high point ‘Bad Wolf Down’/’The Finger’ both are clever and cruel in equal measure. They explore history, werewolves, legends and the oddity that surrounds some who love horror films. Season two has five episodes with ‘Model Kid’/’Public Television of the Dead’ being a superb double header for horor heads who know their way around the work of former creator George A Romero. Season three really finds its feet. The episodes I really liked was the ‘Drug Traffic’/’A Dead Girl Named Sue’ double header. Stinging and swift. But with all good comes bad news.

CREEPSHOW feels in places like a submerged, antiquated dream. It works for people like me, but for younger or less ‘schooled’ horror fans, it feels pastiche and done already. I could imagine my nieces and their friends, schooled on THE LAST OF US or STRANGER THINGS, feeling like they are watching a time capsule that is aging in front of their eyes. It is no slight to the work but the new school of film people want something that is different, less obvious, more transgressive, less brokered to a factory setting. I enjoyed it immensely, so if you know what I like, and like it, you will like this. But it might lose fans for being the safe set of hands in a time when you need risks…