HMTL Recap and Review – Creepshow S1E3
Welcome to Haunted MTL’s ongoing coverage of Shudder’s original series, Creepshow.
“All Hallow’s Eve”
Directed by John Harrison, and written by Bruce Jones, “All Hallow’s Eve” is a nice, classic slice of anthology storytelling. While nothing revolutionary, it delivers a creepy, moralistic revenge story with some interesting flourishes. The cast includes several young actors to play vengeful trick-or-treaters. These actors include Connor Christie, Madison Thompson, Jasun Jabbar, Andrew Eakle, and Michael May.
John Harrison’s attachment to the project is interesting. He was a frequent collaborator with George A. Romero. Alongside Romero, Harrison worked on Knightriders, the original Creepshow, and Day of the Dead. Bruce Jones has a comic-book background having written for Warren Publishing’s Creepy and Eerie. Additionally, Jones also wrote for the USA anthology series The Hitchhiker.
The segment was, for lack of a better word, fine. It’s by no means a bad segment, quite the opposite; the story is creepy and it is an overall effective little slice of horror. The issue lies in how predictable the tale was. The second story of the evening also had a lot of forecasting, but something about “All Hallow’s Eve” delivered no real shocks, or even stakes, for that matter. Once the central conceit is figured out rather early on you know exactly how the story will play out. Visually, the episode was solid, but it felt a lot like a PG13 take on something you’d see on Are You Afraid of the Dark?. Creepshow is a low-budget show, and it is really felt in this segment. Right down to the fire effects during the treehouse scene.
Bottom Line
“All Hallow’s Eve” is standard anthology fare. It’s not the most exciting segment in the season thus far, but it’s not like it is terrible. Anthology series live or die by their weakest segments, and judging by the quality of “All Hallow’s Eve,” Creepshow has nothing to worry about so far. It’s good. It’s not just living up to the highs of previous installments.
(3 / 5)
“The Man in the Suitcase”
Directed by David Bruckner, and written by Christopher Buehlman, “The Man in the Suitcase” is a grimy, one-room play about the power of greed. The segment stars Will Kindrachuk, Madison Bailey, Ravi Naidu, Ian Gregg, and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton.
Bruckner has a few directorial credits including the Netflix original The Ritual. He also directed the “Amateur Night” segment from V/H/S which was later spun off into the film Siren, though Bruckner only produced the latter. Buehlman is a playwright poet, and novelist, known for The Suicide Motor Club and The Lesser Dead.
“The Man in the Suitcase” lays itself out very clearly right away with little glimpses of Djinns and genies. Whereas the hints in “All Hallow’s Eve” felt detrimental to the stakes, being aware of what is to come in “The Man in the Suitcase” amplified the tension. Djinns are capricious spirits and being aware of the presence of a Djinn in the story means you are waiting to see exactly how the story will play out. The whim of a Djinn creates a certain uncertainty and it’s that uncertainty that makes the second tale work compared to the first one.
It helps that there is a certain mean-spiritedness within the segment that lines up with just how I, personally, like my Creepshow. The best stories in the franchise are the most fucked up. “Something to Tide You Over” from the first film, or “The House of the Dead” in the first episode of the series are mean, mean little stories. “The Man in the Suitcase” is one of those sorts of stories. It also has some kickass puppet work, which might be one of my favorite aspects of this first season: the embracing of practical effects.
Bottom Line
“The Man in the Suitcase” is lean, mean, dirty, and right up there with the series high of “The House of the Head.” It is most definitely a Creepshow highlight and is my current second-favorite segment so far.
(4.5 / 5)
The Creep Factor
The comic-book effects were a little toned down this week, we’ll see if it represents a one-off situation, or a course correction compared to previous episodes. The comic transitions are fun, but eat up a lot of screentime in previous episodes. As someone who also tends to like to read everything on the screen, I am a bit annoyed that I am missing some valuable text as the camera moves from panel to panel.
The opening with the Creep hard at work on his pumpkin, before being rudely interrupted has definitely been the best bit by far. That pumpkin made with human bits is a work of art.
We hope that you enjoyed our coverage of the first installment of Shudder’s Creepshow. Creepshow will air on Thursdays around 9 PM EST on Shudder. Haunted MTL will be covering the whole 6 episodes of the first season.
Episode two of Wheel of Time felt like the beginning of a long journey. Stories are unfolding, lives are changing, and blood is spilling.
Let’s discuss.
The story
We begin this episode in the past with Elayne’s mother, Queen Morgase. It turns out her rise to the throne was a bit, shall we say, cutthroat. So when she shows up at the White Tower, Siuan is concerned.
She might have reason to be, too.
Meanwhile, Rand, Egwene, Moiraine, Lan and Aviendha are in the Spine of The World. As they travel through some of the most breathtaking lands I have ever seen on a TV show, Egwene is plagued with nightmares. We think at first that’s just her trauma working itself through her system. But we soon find out that it might not be that straightforward.
Finally, Perrin returns home to heal after his hand is almost cut in half. But when he gets there he finds the town has been infested by Children of The Light. And they’re looking for him.
What worked
There was something heartwarming in this episode about political espionage and choking religious persecution. And that is Elayne’s relationship with her family.
I have consumed a lot of fantasy content with royal families. And I have never once heard a princess call her mother ‘Mum’. I’ve never seen royal siblings get along. And I have sure as hell never seen a princess have a good relationship with her step-parent.
This was refreshing. Even though Queen Morgase is kind of a horrible person she seems like a good mother. And that’s an unexpected delight.
Of course, this is just one storyline among many. And while this can sometimes be overwhelming, in this case it wasn’t.
I’ll be honest, some of these storylines are going to drag for me. I know this because I’ve read some of the Wheel of Time books and I have an idea that not all the characters exactly pique my interest.
No one likes all the characters. No one likes all the storylines. While I am here for the political espionage between Queen Morgase and Siuan, not everyone likes it. While others might be fascinated with Selene trying to win Rand back, I couldn’t care less.
Having multiple storylines keeps everyone’s attention better. So long as things don’t get out of hand. Things can easily get out of hand. But this seems to be managed well.
So far.
What didn’t work
As I mentioned above, I’m not thrilled with Rand’s story at this point. And while it’s fine to not like a storyline when there are this many to choose from, it’s not fantastic that the one I like the least is the one involving our two main characters. And anytime we were with the team at the Spine of The World, the only thing that brought me joy was Moirain’s hat. It reminded me of Stockard Channing’s hat in Practical Magic.
The problem is that Rand is Charlie Brown with controversial magical powers. He is boring, serious, and pessimistic.
And yes, I understand that he has a heavy emotional burden and he’s the Dragon Reborn and that’s quite taxing and all. But let’s be fair, there isn’t a single person in this show that doesn’t have a heavy burden. And most of them manage to be fun occasionally.
All that being said, this episode of Wheel of Time did exactly what it needed to do. It set up conflicts at each of the three locations. It established emotional ties between the characters and the events. And it established goals for everyone.
This was, in short, a solid episode. Not groundbreaking, not mind-blowing or life changing. It was simply good. It was entertaining and moved the plot forward.
Well done.
(3.5 / 5)
Wheel of Time is back for season three. There are mixed feelings regarding this. Last season, there were some serious pacing issues. And some serious sticking to the book’s storyline issues. But we’re two seasons in, and we don’t give up so easily. So let’s dive into episode one, To Race the Shadow.
By the way, I highly recommend watching this episode with the subtitles on. You’ll see why.
The story
We begin this episode with Liandrin facing a trial of sorts for her rampant betrayal. She does her best to gaslight her Aes Sedai sisters into thinking that Siuan Sanche is the real traitor.
When that doesn’t work, she reveals how many Black Aes Sedai have actually infiltrated the tower.
Spoiler, it’s a lot.
In the aftermath, our whole team gathers to drink and enjoy one night of relaxation before they head out to the Tear to form an army for Rand. All is going well until they’re attacked by myriad creatures and a sentient axe.
What worked
This episode was long. It had a run time of an hour and eleven minutes. And a lot of that run time was spent in heavy dialog scenes.
Fortunately, these were well-done scenes.
If you’re going to have a lot of talking scenes, there are good ways and bad ways to do it. Last season, we saw lots of examples of the bad way to do it. But this episode did it well. For one thing, other things were going on while conversations were taking place. The characters are drinking, playing games, walking through an interesting city. And the scenes themselves didn’t stretch out. They weren’t repetitive. We heard what the character had to say, then we moved on.
It was also nice that the point of these scenes wasn’t just info dumps. We had character development. We had romantic interactions. We had plot development and foreshadowing.
Overall, this episode felt like what it was. A moment of calm before a storm.
Taking a step back, I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the fight scene at the start of the episode. Because it was epic.
The magic looked amazing. The martial arts that went along with it looked fantastic. The costumes were beautiful. It was just incredibly fun to watch.
More than that, it was emotional. We lost some characters in that fight that were important. And it was clearly emotionally shattering for many of our characters, who found themselves betrayed by people they trusted.
So many of them.
It was a great way to open the season.
What didn’t work
Despite that, this episode wasn’t without its flaws.
First off, there were a lot of dialog scenes. And they were good scenes, as I’ve already discussed. But it was one after another after another. And when your episode is, again, an hour and eleven minutes, it’s maybe a little much to have so much chit-chat. Couldn’t some of these conversations, important as they were, have been moved to maybe another episode?
Finally, I want to talk about Egwene’s travel through the arches.
I feel like maybe there were some deleted scenes here. Because there must have been more to that visit than what we saw, right?
We could have seen Egwene battle Rand. That would have been badass and emotionally devastating. We could have seen her with a quiet life with Rand back home at the Two Rivers. We could have seen anything except for the quick clip of Rand in a bloody river, followed by Egwene being shoved back out in a bloody shift.
Bad job. But at least it wasn’t an extended scene of Moiraine collecting bathwater, and then taking a bath while looking sad. If we’d started this season with another scene like that, it might have broken my brain.
Amazon dropped the first three episodes at once. So we’ll be back soon to talk about episode two. See you then.
(4 / 5)
Early 2000s is a special era for the industry. It accepts the cheesiness and corniness of movie making, in turn producing some gems in their own right. Eight Legged Freaks starring David Arquette and young Scarlet Johanson is a horror comedy about giant spiders who overtake a small town. As crazy as that premise sounds, the movie surprisingly has a ton of heart and is super entertaining. Let’s review, shall we?
Plot
We start Eight Legged Freaks with a shot of toxic waste spilling into the water supply of Joshua, a spider farm owner. He is friends with Mike, one of our protagonists, who is a science geek and a spider enthusiast. Mike notices something quite right upon visiting Joshua, but no one takes him seriously. We are then introduced to the rest of the crew. Mike’s mother Samantha, the town sheriff, is too busy chasing Ashley, his sister, who is dating the town mayor’s son Bret (something Samantha does not approve of). We also have Chris, who returns to the town to save his father’s legacy in the town mines. He has opposition from Wade, Bret’s father, who wants to use the mines for his business ventures. Lots of drama going on that will only get juicier once the spiders get loose.
The creepy crawlies quickly dispose of Joshua and make their grand appearance after Ashley rejects Bret’s advances, abandoning him in the middle of a desert. A glorious chase sequence ensues as the spiders make their way towards the town, wreaking havoc on its residents. In a true horror fashion (which the movie acknowledges), it takes some convincing from Mike and then from Samantha for the town to take the threat seriously. The tongue-in-cheek style of narrative adds the comedy aspect to a movie that would otherwise burn out fairly quickly.
The remaining characters hide out in a shopping mall as it’s the only somewhat sturdy building in the area. This doesn’t last long as the spiders break in, forcing them to run through the mines. Their resources to fight the creepy crawlies off are limited as the methane gas doesn’t allow them to use firearms. Such conditions require resourceful thinking from Chris, who uses perfume to fend off the leader of the spider group and save himself during the climax of the movie.
Character dynamics are not forgotten once the action kicks in. We have Chris confessing his long-term feelings for Samantha which she knew all along, which provided some comedic relief. Bret also reunites with Ashley and apologises for being an asshole. Mike finally gets the appreciation he deserves as his knowledge saves the townsfolk more than once during the whole ordeal.
We end the movie with the town’s radio show person telling the story as an urban legend during his segment. This brings it into question – how much of it happened the way he said it did? We can only guess…
Overall thoughts
Eight Legged Freaks is a fun creature feature with some self-aware commentary on genre tropes that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The acting is good, the pacing fitting and the characters are likeable enough for you to want them to make it through. Definitely a must watch, if you don’t suffer from arachnophobia, that is.
(5 / 5)