Cody watches a Creepshow episode about ghosts and werewolves.
The Shudder horror anthology series that serves as a continuation of the Creepshow franchise that George A. Romero and Stephen King started with the classic 1982 film Creepshow and its 1987 sequel Creepshow 2 usually only has six episodes per season, and that was the case with season 4 – so as of this episode, we’ve already reached the midway point of the season. At least Creepshow episodes tend to be split into two separate stories, so we still get twelve stories out of most groups of six episodes (although, sometimes that pattern has been shaken up in the past).
Season 4, episode 3 is indeed split into two separate stories, and the first one – The Parent Deathtrap – came from a writing duo with Creepshow history: Erik Sandoval and Michael Rousselet previously wrote the season 2 story Dead and Breakfast and season 3 story Queen Bee. So they know how to work in this world. The segment does make the Creepshow debut of the director, P.J. Pesce – and I was glad to see Pesce join the franchise, as he has some fun horror work on his filmography, including From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter and episodes of Tremors, Supernatural, and the Stephen King-inspired Under the Dome.
The story Sandoval and Rousselet gave Pesce to work with centers on an unpopular rich kid named Lyle VelJohnson (Dylan Sloane), whose parents Archibald (Shaughnessy Redden) and Gloria (Loretta Walsh) attempt to set him up with the most popular girl in school, Violet Meyers (Chloe Babcock), on prom night. But they never make it to the prom together. Violet stands Lyle up, which should have been expected. Then, tired of being berated by his parents, Lyle grabs a decorative sword off the wall and uses it to murder his mom and dad. This doesn’t give him much of a break, because soon after he dumps their bodies in a lake, their ghosts show up to keep giving him grief.
Lyle shares the VelJohnson mansion with the ghosts of his parents for four years, telling the authorities – when they come snooping around – that his parents are on vacation out of the country. Then Violet comes back into his life, and it seems like she’s a better person than she used to be, having grown up while enduring some tough times. So now she’s willing to actually give Lyle a chance.
Of course, Lyle isn’t heading for a straightforward happily ever after. A Creepshow story isn’t just going to be about a guy finding love while sharing a house with his parents’ ghosts. There are going to be obstacles to overcome and/or a twist – and The Parent Deathtrap plays out in a fun way. Sandoval and Rousselet wrote a solid Creepshow story, and Pesce brought it to screen with a fun tone and some classic Creepshow visuals, proving he was a good fit for this show.
The second story in the episode, To Grandmother's House We Go, was directed by another Creepshow newbie, Justin G. Dyck... who has a lot of credits to his name, but most of those were on romantic TV movies, many of them set on Christmas, so I can’t say I’m very familiar with his work. Looking over his credits, it’s clear that Creepshow was a major change of pace for Dyck, but the writer of To Grandmother's House We Go has decades of horror cred. This one was written by William Butler, who got started out working as an actor (and in the FX department), earning credits on films like Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Ghoulies II, Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, and the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. Then he shifted into writing and directing, making movies like Demonic Toys 2, the Baby Oopsie movies, Demonic Toys: Jack Attack, and Gingerdead Man movies.
It was cool to see William Butler writing for Creepshow, and also cool to see Final Destination 2’s Keegan Connor Tracy take the lead role of Marcia, a grifter who married an elderly man expecting to inherit his riches... but when he died, she learned that his ex-wife is the executor of his Will and won’t give her any of his money. She just makes her take care of his young granddaughter Ruby (Emma Oliver). She becomes the kid’s stepmother, and time passes while she waits for the good news that she’s going to get access to the money her late husband left for her. When the old woman is stricken with cancer, she requests that Marcia bring Ruby to visit her. That’s how we get the title of the story – which, of course, brings to mind the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, so it’s no surprise that we get some werewolf action by the end of it.
I’m of the opinion that there aren’t nearly enough werewolf movies (or TV show segments) out there, and especially not enough good ones, so I’m always glad to see a horror story enter werewolf territory. I felt that To Grandmother's House We Go could have been a bit better and more interesting, there’s not much to it once the werewolf enters the picture and it kind of just sputters out in the end, but it was decent enough. It benefits from being paired with The Parent Deathtrap, which is strong enough that the episode as a whole is already a winner by the time we get into the second story.
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