Creepshow 2 (4K UHD Review)

• Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
• Review Date: Oct 27, 2025
• Format: 4K Ultra HD
• 

Director

Michael Gornick

Release Date(s)

1987 (September 30, 2025)

Studio(s)

Laurel Entertainment/New World Pictures (Arrow Video)

• Film/Program Grade: C+
• Video Grade: A
• Audio Grade: B+
• Extras Grade: A-

arrowvideo.com

Review

Stephen King and George A. Romero set out to make the ultimate horror anthology in 1982 with Creepshow, succeeding both financially and aesthetically, creating what’s considered to be one of the finest horror anthology films ever made. It was also George’s only number one film at the box office of his entire career, and due to the nature of the genre, it was clear that there were more stories to be told. George had written up a couple of drafts for Creepshow 2, but he was busy trying to get other Stephen King projects off the ground at the time, including The Stand and Pet Sematary. His traditional cinematographer, Michael Gornick, had sat in the director’s chair for various episodes of the Tales from the Darkside TV series, and he was eventually picked to direct after George’s partner Richard Rubinstein had reportedly went to Tom Savini first and, for whatever reason, he didn’t partake. Instead, Savini would don makeup and portray “The Creep” in Creepshow 2, which was eventually released through Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1987. It has its fan base, but the film didn’t quite measure up to the quality of its predecessor.

As the wraparound story unfolds of the young Billy picking up the latest copy of Creepshow as well as a package from the post office before a group of bullies follow him and give him a hard time, we’re treated to three stories. In Old Chief Wood’nhead, Ray and Martha (George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour) run an old general store that’s kept their local town alive for many years, but has fallen on hard times since the majority of their business has dried up. One evening, a group teenagers, led by Sam Whitemoon (Holt McCallany), rob the store and kill both Ray and Martha, but the cigar store Indian sitting outside the store won’t take this affront standing still. In The Raft, college students Deke (Paul Satterfield), Laverne (Jeremy Green), Randy (Daniel Beer), and Rachel (Page Hannah) arrive at a secluded lake in the mountains, winding up stranded on a wooden raft after what appears to be an oil slick devours one of them. In The Hitchhiker, married businesswoman Annie (Lois Chiles) has an affair with a male prostitute, but after falling asleep and realizing that her husband will be home soon, quickly leaves and drives home. Along her way, she accidentally runs down and kills a hitchhiker (Tom Wright), but talks herself into going on, not wanting to be caught. However, she’s nearly driven mad when the undead spirit of the hitchhiker repeatedly appears with the refrain “Thanks for the ride, lady!”

In many ways, Creepshow 2 is more like the original EC Comics that it draws inspiration from, at least in its presentation. Unlike the first film, it comes with a host, The Creep, who introduces each story and spouts some witty horror banter about each of them. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarities end. The choice to make the wraparound story mostly a cartoon results in very poor animation in which the subjects are overly animated, to the point where they’re always moving, even if they don’t really need to be. It’s a stylistic choice, but it makes the wraparound far less interesting. There’s also a lack of variety as two stories from the second draft of the screenplay, Pinfall and The Cat from Hell, wound up going unused due to budget limitations. The latter would eventually be filmed for Tales from the Darkside: The Movie three years later, but Pinfall fell by the wayside completely. Because there only being three stories compared to the first film which contained five, they feel too long and uneven, especially the first and third.

By far, The Raft is the simplest and most EC of the three stories while Old Chief Wood’nhead and The Hitchhiker feel half-baked. Far be it from me to re-write George Romero’s work, but the events in my draft of Old Chief Wood’nhead would see Sam Whitemoon and his buddies robbing and killing his rich uncle Benjamin outside the store, right in front of the titular wooden Native American. He would still hunt down the three of them and scalp them, but it would subsequently drum up business for Ray and Martha because of the publicity surrounding their deaths, inadvertently receiving the payback from Benjamin’s people by way of his death. Instead, everyone is murdered but Benjamin and the ending just peters out. As for The Hitchhiker, Annie should have wound up as a ghostly hitchhiker of sorts instead of a corpse with a sign on her lap, which thematically would have made a little more sense than what we wound up with. The only real flaw in The Raft story-wise is that it wraps up so quickly, without an additional beat or two.

Matters aren’t helped that the usual George Romero camp of filmmakers had splintered and there wasn’t a tightly-knit group of people putting on a show together anymore. Instead, the film was made by a more disparate group of people, on a more limited budget and a shorter shooting schedule. It’s less creative and hard-hitting than the first film, with the cinematography leaving a lot to be desired. Creepshow intentionally went for splashy colors, off-kilter camera angles, and a comic book come-to-life sensibility. Creepshow 2 is more mundane with only mild flourishes of interesting or creative visuals, while the overall film has a more mean-spirited and less fun tone.

All of that said, there’s still something charming about Creepshow 2 despite its flaws, which are partly due to coming off the heels of such a stellar piece of darkly comedic horror work. One can only ponder what the film could have been if directed by George with the additional stories and a larger budget, but for an inexperienced director like Michael Gornick, you have to give him some credit for what he was able to pull off despite the obstacles he was up against. In 2006, Taurus Entertainment and Creepy Film Productions released a Creepshow 3, but it had nothing to do with the original creators and is roundly considered to be a non-canonical sequel. 1990’s Tales from the Darkside: The Movie has been deemed by the George Romero camp to be the true third Creepshow film, which everybody across the board seems to be in agreement with.

Creepshow 2 was shot by directors of photography Richard Hart and Tom Hurwitz on 35mm film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Arrow Video debuts the film on Ultra HD with a new 4K restoration of the original camera negative, which has been graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, QC’d by Aidan Doyle of Finlay Fox, and encoded to a triple-layered BD-100 disc. While Arrow has notably corrected some of the framing issues present on their 2016 Blu-ray release, this is quite a jump in detail as it’s the first time the OCN has been accessed for a release. The bitrate sits between 80 and 100Mbps most of the time, though grain can be heavy in spots, even having a breathing quality during sections of The Hitchhiker, which could just be down to element issues. Even with a lack of creative visuals, the HDR still manages to wring out much more color in the palette, especially during the first two segments and the animated wraparounds in particular, which appear natural with every flaw in the animation left intact. Blacks are deep with perfect contrast and the overall appearance is stable and clean. It’s not a great-looking film, at least to me, but it’s represented well on 4K Ultra HD.

Audio options include English mono and 2.0 LPCM, and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, all with optional subtitles in English SDH. These are the same tracks as the 2016 Blu-ray release. It’s nice to have so many options, but in truth, there’s not a vast difference between them in terms of fidelity, spacing, and low frequency activity. The 5.1 and 2.0 tracks rarely if ever get aggressive, mostly sticking to the front and center speakers. Dialogue is clear across all tracks, while the score is a tad thin. Ambient moments don’t stand out much, but some of the sound effects have occasional punch to them. The mono track, while not perfect itself, is still the best way to go.

Arrow Video’s 4K Ultra HD release of Creepshow 2 sits in a black Amaray case alongside a double-sided insert featuring their previous purple variant artwork by Mike Saputo on the front and the original theatrical poster artwork on the reverse; and a 20-page insert booklet featuring cast and crew information, an introduction by The Creep, the essays Deadtime Stories by Michael Blyth, presentation information, production credits, and special thanks. Also included is a 60-page comic book adaptation by Jason Mayoh of the unused story Pinfall. Everything is housed in sturdy cardboard packaging with the previous red variant Mike Saputo artwork. The following extras are included on the disc:

• Audio Commentary with Michael Gornick and Perry Martin
• Screenplay for a Sequel with George A. Romero (HD – 10:46)
• Tales from the Creep with Tom Savini (HD – 7:54)
• Poncho’s Last Ride with Daniel Beer (HD – 14:45)
• The Road to Dover with Tom Wright (HD – 13:51)
• Nightmares in Foam Rubber (Upscaled SD – 32:04)
• My Friend Rick (Upscaled SD – 2:44)
• Behind the Scenes (Upscaled SD – 5:51)
• Trailers & TV Spot:
  • Theatrical Trailer #1 (Upscaled SD – 1:39)
  • Theatrical Trailer #2 (Upscaled SD – 1:13)
  • TV Spot (Upscaled SD – :35)
• Image Galleries:
  • Image Gallery (HD – 38 in all – 3:35)
  • Screenplay (Second Draft, 1984) (HD – 113 pages)
  • Screenplay (Final Draft Draft, 1986) (HD – 102 pages)

The same great bonus materials, mostly produced by Michael Felsher’s Red Shirt Pictures, are carried over from Arrow’s previous 2016 Blu-ray release. The 2004 DVD audio commentary with director Michael Gornick and moderator Perry Martin is quite good as Martin keeps the commentary on track and the two have a lovely back and forth, with Gornick sharing his memories of the production. Screenplay for a Sequel features George Romero discussing his early involvement with Creepshow 2 and what he contributed to it, lamenting that it didn’t have the same creative spark as the original, and that it could have become a successful series of anthology films. In Tales from the Creep, Tom Savini recalls his memories of working on the film, highlighting his time at New World Pictures, working with Michael Gornick and the special effects team. In Poncho’s Last Ride, actor Daniel Beer talks about what it was like being a young actor, suffering from hypothermia during filming, and the response to the film many years later by fans. The Road to Dover features actor Tom Wright about his role as the hitchhiker, expressing his appreciation for the part and how much fun he had doing it. Nightmares in Foam Rubber and My Friend Rick feature interviews with make-up effects technicians and supervisors Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger from 2004, which were originally included with the Anchor Bay Divimax Special Edition DVD release. The former spends an extended period of time detailing the trials and tribulations of the shoot in regards to the make-up and effects crew, while the latter is a humorous recollection of Berger meeting and befriending Rick Baker, which was originally an Easter egg on the DVD. Next is a brief set of Behind the Scenes footage provided by Tom Savini, two trailers and a TV spot, and three Image Galleries: the first featuring 38 stills of behind-the-scenes photos, the second featuring the 113-page second draft of the script, and the third featuring the 102-page final draft. Not carried over from the Anchor Bay DVD is a different set of behind the scenes and storyboard art galleries. It’s also worth noting that Red Shirt Pictures is currently in production on a full-form documentary about the making of the film called Second Helpings, due to be released in 2026 on its own label.

To be honest, I’ve grown to like Creepshow 2 a little less over time, which is why my grade for it has dropped since the previous Blu-ray release in 2016. I see more flaws in it now than I used to, but I still appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to pull off under such constraints. It’s uneven, but still very watchable, even enjoyable in some spots. Arrow Video’s UHD upgrade addresses the issues with their previous Blu-ray release while also providing the best presentation of the film on home video. If you’re a long-time fan, you’ll be pleased with this 4K upgrade, which is highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons

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