Creepshow 2

Creepshow 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Gornick
Produced by	David Ball
Screenplay by	George A. Romero Lucille Fletcher (uncredited)
Based on	Stories by Stephen King
Starring	Lois Chiles George Kennedy Dorothy Lamour Tom Savini
Music by	Les Reed Rick Wakeman
Cinematography	Richard Hart Tom Hurwitz
Editing by	Peter Weatherley
Studio	Laurel Entertainment Inc. Laurel-Show Inc. New World Pictures
Distributed by	New World Pictures
Release date(s)	May 1, 1987 (1987-05-01)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.5 million
Box office	$14 million

Creepshow 2 is an American horror comedy anthology film directed by Michael Gornick, who was George A. Romero's cinematographer on the original Creepshow. Released in 1987, the screenplay for Creepshow 2 was penned by Romero (director of the original film), and once again based upon stories by Stephen King. It is the follow-up to Creepshow, featuring three more "Jolting Tales of Horror": Old Chief Wooden Head, The Raft, and The Hitchhiker.

Creepshow 2 was followed by an unofficial sequel in 2007 (that had no involvement from Stephen King or George A. Romero), titled "Creepshow III". Creepshow make-up artist and Creepshow 2 actor, Tom Savini, has said that Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) is the real Creepshow 3.

The cover of the special edition DVD released by Anchor Bay Entertainment in both the U.S. and UK is an homage to the Tales from the Crypt comic books from EC.

Plot

Prologue

A delivery truck pulls up to a newsstand in a small town where a young boy named Billy (named after and confused with the boy from Creepshow) arrives eagerly waiting for it. The truck's back shutter opens to reveal a sinister figure who drops off a package onto the sidewalk: the latest issue of Creepshow, much to Billy's delight. As the package opens of its own accord, Billy begins to read and the delivery man reveals his true identity as the Creepshow Creep.

Old Chief Wood'nhead

An elderly couple named Ray and Martha Spruce (Kennedy and Lamour) in a small, fictional, southwestern town called Dead River, oversee a general goods store with a cigar store Indian named "Old Chief Wood'nhead" (Dan Kamin) who adorns the front porch and are humbled to see their old, run-down town coming to a bitter end. The Spruces are then visited by a Native American elder named Benjamin Whitemoon from a local tribe who gives them turquoise jewellery, which are his tribe's sacred treasures, as collateral for the debt the tribe has incurred.

Old Chief Wood'nhead (Dan Kamin) with his knife drawn

The elder bids them farewell and returns to his tribe. When the Spruces go back inside their store, the couple are then subject to a vicious robbery led by Benjamin's nephew, Sam (Holt McCallany) armed with a shotgun, and his two friends. After ransacking the store, Sam demands that Ray hand over the turquoise. Ray resists, and as a result, the Spruces are then shot and killed by Sam. The three thugs then leave in their car and begin preparations to run away to Hollywood, California. Old Chief Wood'nhead then comes to life and goes out on a vicious warpath to kill Sam and his friends and avenge the murdered Spruces. After brutally killing Sam's two friends, Old Chief Wood'nhead corners Sam in his home, with Sam being unable to fight back as the shells from his shotgun have no effect on his wooden assailant. Sam attempts to lock himself in his bathroom and escape through a window but Old Chief Wood'n Head breaks through the wall, grabs Sam by his hair, pulls him through the wall and scalps him as he screams in terror. When Benjamin Whitemoon wakes up in the morning he finds the bag containing the turquoise jewellery by his side. He visits the Spruce's general store to find Old Chief Wood'nhead on his pedestal, holding his nephew's hair. Now aware of what has happened, Benjamin wishes the old warrior a peaceful afterlife and drives away.

Interlude 1

After reading Old Chief Wood'nhead, Billy is seen at the town post office, receiving a package from when he sent a product ad from his copy of the Creepshow magazine. Incensed by the skeptical clerk's dismissal of paying $9.99 for a toy from the "funny papers," Billy reveals that the package actually contains the bulb for a carnivorous Venus Flytrap. The clerk doubts the actuality of the package and Billy sets off for home and the Creep presents another tale.

The Raft

Deke meets his brutal demise in "The Raft"...

Four college students, Deke, Laverne, Randy, and Rachel decide to go swimming in a desolate lake far away from civilization. As they make their way to a wooden raft in the middle of the lake, they realize that they are being terrorized by floating black blob when it grabs a hold of Rachel and consumes her. The frightened students begin to panic and mourn the loss of Rachel. Deke then contemplates quickly swimming to shore so he can bring back help as he is a fast swimmer. But before he can carry out his plan, the blob seeps through the raft's cracks and pulls Deke through the raft, killing him in the process. Randy and Laverne manage to evade the creature long enough to where it gives up trying to grab them from under the raft as well. Randy and Laverne spend the entire night on the raft, afraid to fall asleep in fear that the creature will attack them while they sleep. They do manage to fall asleep and Randy is the first to wake up in the morning, relieved to find that Laverne and himself made it through the night. With Laverne still sleeping, he begins caressing her body and fondling her breasts. She soon awakes screaming in agony as the creature has seeped through the cracks and has a hold of her face, much to Randy's horror. As the oil-like blob pulls her off the raft and begins consuming her, Randy uses the opportunity to jump off the raft and swim to shore. He ultimately makes it, barely escaping the creature and yells "I beat you!" However, the oil creature rises up from the water like a wave and engulfs Randy. The blob returns to the lake, with no evidence of the four students even visiting the lake other than their car which was left running the whole time. The camera pans out to reveal a "No Swimming" sign barely visible from behind some growth.

Interlude 2

On his way back home from the post office and reading The Raft, Billy is ambushed by a gang of neighborhood bullies, who harass him and take his package from him. The gang's leader Rhino then smashes and opens the package, finding the Venus Flytrap bulb, and throws it on the ground, crushing it with his foot. In retaliation, Billy kicks Rhino in the groin and flees, with Rhino and his gang in hot pursuit. The Creep then appears and presents another tale.

The Hitchhiker

An adulterous businesswoman named Annie Lansing (Chiles) gets up from bed after sleeping with her extramarital lover (who is a gigolo), realizing that she has to get home before her wealthy attorney husband to avoid suspicion. Annie hops into her Mercedes-Benz and makes way for home several miles away. On the way, she accidentally kills an innocent hitchhiker (Wright) as a result of her speeding down the dark road, eager to beat her husband to the house. Seeing that no one witnessed the incident, Annie takes off without much thought. Shortly after Annie takes off, the area of the incident is crowded by passersby, with many reporting the hit-and-run to the police.

Miles away from the scene, Annie stops along the road and begins thinking about what she has done and the consequences involved, but she ultimately concludes that no one has anything on her and thinks everything will be fine. Before she can continue, however, the hitchhiker she killed suddenly appears outside her window and utters "Thanks for the ride, lady." (A line repeated by the hitchhiker throughout the story). The frightened Annie then speeds off in terror, but everywhere she goes, the hitchhiker always reappears and becomes her tormentor throughout the trip as she repeatedly runs him over, hurls off the top of her car, slams his body into trees, etc. as he only gets more and more battered and bloody without dying. Annie eventually loses control of her car in which she drives off the road and down a hill and into a tree, knocking herself out.

She awakes a short while later, not seeing the hitchhiker anywhere in sight, believing it to be a bad dream. She gets back on the road and drives home, succeeding in getting there before her husband. As she begins to step out of her car, the hitchhiker appears from under her car, completely mangled from the trip, still uttering "Thanks for the ride, lady." The hitchhiker begins attacking her as she vainly attempts to fight him off. Later, Annie's husband finally arrives home to find his wife's dead body in her car, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning caused from the still running car, with the hitchhiker's sign showing his targeted destination (reading DOVER).

Epilogue

As the Creep is about to drive away, he spots Billy still being chased by the bullies. Billy leads his pursuers into a vacant lot swarming with out of control plant growth. As he rides into what seems to be a dead end, the bullies move in to pummel him only to learn that the bulb they smashed was not the first one Billy had ordered, as a quintet of Giant Flytraps emerge from the surrounding weeds and devour the thugs one by one. The spectacle is witnessed by the Creep himself, who cackles in glee as he drives off in his delivery truck to deliver the latest issue of Creepshow to another town.

Cast

Prologue

• Domenick John as Billy
• Tom Savini as The Creep
• Joe Silver as The Creep (voice)

Old Chief Wood'nhead

• George Kennedy as Ray Spruce
• Philip Dore as Curly
• Kaltey Napoleon as Indian #1
• Maltby Napoleon as Indian #1
• Tyrone Tonto as Indian #2
• Dorothy Lamour as Martha Spruce
• Frank Salsedo as Ben Whitemoon
• Holt McCallany as Sam Whitemoon
• David Holbrook as Fatso Gribbens
• Don Harvey as Andy Cavanaugh
• Dan Kamin as Old Chief Wood'nhead
• Dean Smith as Mr. Cavanaugh
• Shirley Sonderegger as Mrs. Cavanaugh

The Raft

• Paul Satterfield as Deke
• Jeremy Green as Laverne
• Daniel Beer as Randy
• Page Hannah as Rachel

The Hitchhiker

• Lois Chiles as Annie Lansing
• David Beecroft as Annie's Lover
• Tom Wright as The Hitchhiker
• Richard Parks as George Lansing
• Stephen King as Truck Driver
• Cheré Bryson as Woman at Accident

References

External links

• Creepshow 2 at AllRovi
• Creepshow 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• Creepshow 2 at Rotten Tomatoes