Creepshow III

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Creepshow III is, (like "Day of the Dead 2: Contagium"), unofficial, and is marketed as a sequel to Stephen King and George A. Romero's 1982 horror anthology classic, "Creepshow". The film was made in 2006, although was released to the public in early 2007. No one from the production of either Creepshow or Creepshow 2 (namely Stephen King and George A. Romero) were involved in the production of this film. It is interesting to note that many fans, and Tom Savini (make-up artist on the original Creepshow and make-up consultant on Creepshow 2), consider John Harrison's 1990 anthology "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" to be the official "Creepshow 3". Harrison did, in fact, compose the musical score to the original Creepshow.

The film, like the original, consists of five new tales of light-hearted horror (note that unlike the stories in the original two films, none of the stories for "Creepshow III" were written by, or based on stories, by either Stephen King or George A. Romero): "Alice", "The Radio", "Call Girl", "The Professor's Wife" & "Haunted Dog", although the E.C. comics angle is excised this time around.

[edit] Critical reception

Reviews have been decidedly negative. Horror genre magazines Fangoria and Rue Morgue gave damning critiques. The film currently holds a place on the lower end of IMDb's Bottom 100 list).

The original promotional poster for Creepshow III. Although this early poster suggests four stories, the film itself actually features five, like the original Creepshow.

[edit] The Wraparound Story

Whereas the wraparound element linking the stories for the first two Creepshow installments was a horror comic very similar in style to the old 50s horror comics (complete with ghoulish 'host' and story narrator, "The Creepshow Creep"), "Creepshow III" takes a different approach very similar to Quentin Tarantino's 1994 crime epic, "Pulp Fiction", in which characters from each story collide with one-another throughout the film.

[edit] Story #1: "Alice"

Alice (Stephanie Pettee) is a stuck-up, snotty teenager who comes home to find her father meddling with some kind of universal remote. Whenever he presses one of the buttons on the device, the whole family besides Alice changes ethnicity (ie. the "Color and Hue Settings" button makes her family turn African-American, and the "Subtitles" button makes her family turn Hispanic). During this, Alice gradually mutates into what is supposedly her "true form".

Just when Alice thinks everything is back to normal, her father presses another button, revealing Alice's true form. Her family is absolutely horrified at the sight of Alice, and the story ends with Professor Dayton, the mad scientist from down the street, using another remote control to turn Alice into a white rabbit. Notable in this story is the obvious link to Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Victor, the vampire, makes an appearance in this story.

[edit] Story #2: "The Radio"

Jerry (A. J. Bowen) is a part-time security guard who buys a radio from a homeless street vendor to replace his old one which has stopped working; however, this mysterious new radio is far from ordinary... It can have a conversation with Jerry, and very soon Jerry is stealing money and murdering people, all at the whim of his new radio.

Alice's father (Detective Jacobs) also appears in this story, investigating the various murders and strange goings-on taking place. Call girl, Rachael also makes an appearance in this story, as well as the pimp, and the two boys from The Professor's Wife.

[edit] Story #3: "Call Girl"

Rachael, a murderous call girl, receives a request from a shy man named Victor, her newest client. Rachael thinks he will be just another easy victim, and proceeds to stab him in the chest, then have a quick shower. Victor turns out to be a vampire, however, and he kills Rachel.

[edit] Story #4: "The Professor's Wife"

Two former students come to visit Professor Dayton and meet his wife to be, Kathy. Having been victims of his practical jokes in the past, they suspect that Kathy is actually a robot, which the professor has supposedly spent the last 20 years working on in his laboratory. She also behaves like a robot and does not eat or drink, which further indicates that she is probably mechanical. When the professor is out of bounds, they decide to dismantle Kathy to see what she looks like on the inside.

To their utter horror, they learn that Kathy really was a human being after all. The professor later buys an 'advanced' voodoo kit from the homeless street vendor to put Kathy back together in time for the wedding.

Rachael, the killer call girl makes a brief appearance in this story.

[edit] Story #5: "Haunted Dog"

A cruel, miserly doctor, Dr. Farwell, works a 30 day court-ordered sentence at a free clinic, where he is very insolent and rude towards his patients, even going as far as to show no sympathy towards a young girl with a brain tumour, and mocking an elderly woman who is going blind. One day he buys a hot dog, which was poisoned and intended for him.

Dr. Farwell accidentally drops it on the ground. Out of kindness (or perhaps not) he decides to give it to a homeless man who has been bothering him for some spare change. The homeless man dies after taking one bite, and he returns to haunt the cruel doctor. The story ends with the doctor having a heart attack from having had too many encounters with his ghostly stalker...

Victor from third story, "Call Girl", also appears in this segment, and seems to be in cahoots with Dr. Farwell. The homeless man can be heard muttering "Thanks for the good dog" to Dr. Farwell throughout the segment, which is no doubt a reference to the somewhat similar "Thanks for the ride, lady!" line from Creepshow 2's final story, "The Hitch-Hiker". Vampire Victor and the hispanic woman from Alice as make an appearance in this story.

[edit] Release

The film was released May 15, 2007 in the United States by HBO through their parent company Warner Home Video - however, the UK release of the film is still unconfirmed.

Creepshow III was backed by the Taurus Entertainment Company and directed by James Glenn Dudelson (director of Day of the Dead 2: Contagium) and, Ana Clavell. The films special make-up effects were created by Greg McDougall, who has also worked on the remake of "War of the Worlds" in the special effects department.

James Glenn Dudelson, who directed "Creepshow III", is currently attached as an executive producer on the upcoming Warner Bros. 'remake', "Creepshow 2008", but it is understood that he will have no creative input.

[edit] Creepshow IV

Taurus Entertainment had announced another sequel, titled "Creepshow IV", but the project has now been abandoned.

[edit] External links

• Creepshow III at Rotten Tomatoes
• Taurus Entertainment: The Official Website