If you're a big horror fan, especially of the film movement that flooded the US in the 1980s with blood spilt by zombies, machete-wielding maniacs, and tiny Yeti-like creatures, then this might be right up your alley. We've come across some rare behind the scenes footage from the set of George A. Romero's Creepshow, as well as the rare 1st draft of the screenplay, which was written by Stephen King. With nearly 2 hours of Creepshow's special effects, makeup, and direction, not to mention 142 pages of Stephen King goodness, I'd say you're set for the rest of the day (or maybe that's just me.)
With yet another great catch by Cinephilia and Beyond and TheSheik1976, we have some excellent (and rare) material to study and enjoy from a gem of a horror flick. Creepshow, which was released in 1982, found incredible success at the box office for being an anthology film. Though horror anthologies were extremely popular at this time, most were TV shows, like Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Darkside. However, the film was written by King and directed by Romero, who was still riding on the success of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead.
Because the film pays homage to 1950s E.C. and DC horror comic books, it was created to be highly stylized to give it a similar aesthetic. If you've never seen Creepshow before, first of all -- how dare you. Second, here's the trailer so you can get an idea of what you've been missing out on your whole life.
There are a lot of great stories that have been circulating about the film, like the hissing cockroaches that had to be imported from Guatemala and were kept in a van with high levels of carbon dioxide to keep them quiet. In fact, in the final scene of "They're Creeping Up on You," where the room is taken over by cockroaches, Romero used nuts and raisins to make it look like there were more bugs than there actually were.
I wish I could say there is some kind of semblance of order when it comes to the behind the scenes footage, but there isn't really. But, here's somewhat of a breakdown of what you can expect to see in each of the 9 videos:
- Videos 1-2: Special effects, masks, costumes -- be sure to check out the re-animated hand in the first video (10:43.)
- Video 3: Stephen King gets his arm casted;
- Video 5: Romero on-set
- Video 6: Romero directs a skeleton guy coming up out of the ground.
- Video 8: BTS of the crate monster ("Yeti"?)
- Video 9: At 4:03 you can see the crate monster slashing a guys face (a lot of oozy effects here.)
What do you think? What is your favorite horror film from the 1980s?
[via Cinephilia and Beyond & TheSheik1976]
