Hello horror fans! Slick Dungeon here and I’m back to review another of Stephen King’s anthology films. He’s back with his second film to emulate EC horror comic vibes with Creepshow 2. There will be spoilers in this review so if that bothers you, hop in your car, head out to the abandoned lake, skip getting on the raft, go back home instead, watch the movie and come on back here to read the review!

Creepshow 2 Background

Originally, Creepshow 2 was going to feature five different stories but due to budget, two had to be cut. The film was directed by Michael Gornick who had been the cinematographer on the first film. Legendary horror icon George A. Romero who directed the first film wrote the screenplay for this one. While this film did make a respectable $14 million at the box office, critics did not take to it and it currently sits with only a 29% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

With the horror icon power of this movie, one would think this would become a King classic. I’ll admit I am one of the few that enjoys this film but I will also admit I think there is only one story here that is actually scary. Why didn’t this work? Let’s take a look at the stories and find out.

Old Chief Wood’nhead

Ray and Martha Spruce are an elderly couple who own the general store in Dead River. Dead River is a small town all of the locals frequent. There is a local Native American tribe in town and the elder of the tribe, Benjamin Whitemoon, owes the couple a debt. To make good on what is owed, Benjamin asks Ray to keep his tribe’s most sacred treasure until they can come up with the money. Ray and Benjamin have clear respect for one another and are both important community leaders.

Outside of this little store is a wooden carving of a Native American warrior named, “Old Chief Wood’nhead.”

Late at night, the nephew of Benjamin Whitemoon and two of his thuggish friends break into the store and steal the turquoise jewelry that makes up the tribe’s sacred treasure from Ray and Martha. In the scuffle, both Martha and Ray are shot to death. Old Chief Wood’nhead comes to life and relentlessly pursues the killers. In the morning, Benjamin finds the treasure by his bed and the wooden carving holding his nephew’s scalp.

This one has a decent setup but it certainly feels outdated. And it goes on for far too long. I doubt this would be made again today. Also, there are not any good scares here as it looks pretty fake. It might have worked at the time of release but just doesn’t play well now.

The RAft

This is the scary one. The raft is a simple story of four friends who decide to go out on a lake in the middle of October. They’re just four college kids looking for a good time, not trying to hurt anyone. There is a raft in the middle of the lake and they decide to swim out to it. But, on the way, one of them notices a strange black sludge in the middle of the water.

A feeling of dread overwhelms one of them and he encourages those still in the water to hurry up and get on the raft. But, the sludge gets closer. One of the girls reaches her hand over the side and the sludge grabs her and drags her down to the water. And it consumes her and melts her skin in the process. One by one, the remaining three are inevitably destroyed by this strange black sludge.

I’m not sure what it is about this one but it terrifies me. I’m a decent swimmer but if I’m ever invited out to swim to a raft in the middle of a lake when there is black sludge in the water? I’ll take a hard pass on that.

The Hitch-Hiker

This one is pretty standard campfire story stuff. A woman hits a hitch-hiker with her car because she didn’t see him when she was running late. She was especially anxious to get back home because she was having an affair. And if she was late, she had not good excuse. So her husband would know she was cheating on him. As you can guess, the hitch-hiker comes back.

There are a couple of good gory moments in this one but no genuine scares. It feels rather uninspired. And it’s overly predictable.

Creepshow 2 in Conclusion

In addition to the stories I mentioned above there is a prologue and epilogue story. But it’s the same basic premise as the first movie’s prologue/epilogue. It’s nearly as good this time. I do find entertainment value in the whole movie but I’d be fine just watching The Raft and skipping the rest of the movie too. Creepshow, the original movie is much more original and fun. I recommend that one over this one any day.

All in all it’s not a bad watch, it’s just not a great one either.

Want More?

Want to see some of my other King reviews? Take a look here!

Looking for a good King read? Check out this one!

Do you think this one is as good as the original? Let me know in the comments!

Creepily yours,

Slick Dungeon