Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (December 19, 2022)
1982’s theatrical release Creepshow brought a horror homage to the EC Comics of the 1950s. A TV series based on these themes hit screens in 2019, and 2022 delivered a third collection of episodes.
Season Three includes six episodes, all of which present two stories apiece. The plot synopses come straight from the set’s liner notes.
Mums: “Jack’s (Brayden Benson) life is upended when his mother (Erin Beute) is taken from him. However, her garden leaves him more to remember her by than first thought.”
Because his dad (Ethan Embry) and pals fall into the MAGA mode, “Mums” attempts some modern political juice. However, the main narrative seems predictable and dull, so “Mums” launches Season Three on a weak note.
Queen Bee: “Trenice (Olivia Hawthorne) and her friends are obsessed with pop star Regina (Kaelynn Harris). When they hear she has been admitted to a local hospital, they take the chance to try to meet Regina in person – but she’s even more larger than life than they anticipated.”
After the limp “Mums”, “Bee” manages to allow S3 to bounce back some. While it never quite excels, it manages some decent twists and offers a creepy enough experience to become something fairly engaging.
Skeletons in the Closet: “Lampini (Victor Rivera) loves movies more than anything and can’t wait to show off his prop collection to the world. When a rival collector (James Remar) arrives, the chainsaws and machetes could become more than just props.”
Expect “Closet” to go “inside baseball, as it goes into semi-self-referential mode. It also comes with some lackluster acting from Rivera and Valeria LeBlanc as his girlfriend. Some fun moments still emerge, but the flaws drag down the episode.
Familiar: “A drunken visit to a psychic (Keith Arthur Bolden) leaves Jackson (Andrew Bachelor) on edge. As time goes on, he realizes he is being followed by a dark force. Will the psychic’s advice help or leave him worse off?”
While not mind-blowing, “Familiar” does at least manage an effectively creepy vibe. Some of the acting lets it down – Bachelor seems oddly flat – but the eerie feel of impending doom adds spark.
The Last Tsuburaya: “Art collector Wade Cruise (Brandon Quinn) purchases the last painting from an artist (Joseph Steven Yang) famous for creating terrifying works. He never anticipated the ways the painting would change his life.”
Given what a dbag Cruise is, we realize quickly he will come to an unpleasant end. However, the episode takes an interesting enough path to get him to his ignominious fate, so this turns into a largely effective episode.
Okay I’ll Bite: “Life in prison is tough, and Elmer’s (Nicholas Massouh) pet spiders make him an easy target on the cell block. Luckily, when Elmer reaches a breaking point, he knows at least his eight-legged friends will have his back.”
“Bite” suffers from two problems: a predictable arc and weak acting. Granted, as implied with the last segment, many episodes of Creepshow go down paths we can anticipate, but this one feels less clever than many. Throw in clumsy performances and “Bite” fizzles.
Stranger Sings: “Barry (Chris Mayers) can’t believe his luck when a cute girl (Suehyla El-Attar Young) invites him to her place for a drink. He quickly learns that he was duped by a siren and he’s in for way more than he bargained for.”
Sirens stories are nothing new, but “Sings” offers a clever take on the subject. The story sputters a little as it goes, but the concept works well enough to make this a largely positive episode.
Meter Reader: “When a demonic pandemic strikes, a teenager (Abigail Dolan) fights to keep her family safe. But when she realizes they might have been infected, can she find the strength to fight the devil’s plague?”
Despite the demonic domain, “Reader” really opts for a form of Western. Actually, it blends the two genres – with some COVID-era themes - to become a fairly satisfying and involving story.
Time Out: “Tim (Matthew Barnes) finds the answer to always wishing there were more hours in the day. But the success he can now achieve might not be worth the cost.”
“Time” gives off something of a Twilight Zone vibe, as it casts a cautionary tale. It leaves some plot holes but nonetheless turns into a pretty involving piece.
The Things in Oakwood's Past: “The town of Oakwood has a storied past, and the opening of a time capsule is an exciting moment of remembrance. Can a local librarian (Danielle Harris) keep a darker part of the town’s history from repeating itself?”
As a change of pace, “Past” offers an animated episode – pretty terrible animation, unfortunately. At least we get a good cast via Harris, Mark Hamill, Ron Livingston and others, and the story itself helps compensate for the lousy visuals – though this would probably work better as live-action.
Drug Traffic: “A young girl (Sarah Job) and her mother (Mai Delapa) must cross the border to access lifesaving medication. When they get detained and can’t access her medicine, the symptoms are much more distressing than the guards thought they’d be.”
Other episodes of S3 give us the occasional reflection of modern politics, but “Drug” offers a twist. One assumes it’ll show folks who come north to enter the US, but instead, it covers Americans who go to Canada for cheaper medications.
That brings an unexpected curveball, but otherwise “Drug” lacks a lot of bite. It takes too long to get where it needs to go and never turns into a particularly satisfying journey.
A Dead Girl Named Sue: ‘When the dead rise from their graves, it’s every man for himself. The local townsfolk have some justice they’d like to serve.”
S3 concludes with a zombie tale, and it fails to find a novel way to explore that overdone genre. It gives us a self-conscious nod to Night of the Living Dead but lacks much creativity otherwise, so it turns into a disappointing end to the season.
