Main cast: Ethan Embry (Hank), Brayden Benson (Jack), Erin Beute (Bloom), Malone Thomas (Beth), Lowrey Brown (Conner), Kaelynn Harris (Regina), Hannah Kepple (Debra), Olivia Hawthorne (Trenice), Nico Gomez (Carlos), Monica Louwerens (Mom), and Bruce Anthony Shepperson (The Security Guard)
Directors: Rusty Cundieff and Greg Nicotero
Oh dear, a new season has started already? I wasn’t particularly impressed with the previous two seasons and the various one-shots, but it looks like a commitment is a commitment. Shessh, I am getting flashbacks to having to write recaps of increasingly reprehensible seasons of reality shows, and eventually I had to shove them off to the proverbial permanent hiatus to retain my sanity. Let’s see if having to watch and recap shows like Creepshow will lead to the same unfortunate ending.
Keeping to its two shorter segments in one episode format, this one kicks off with Mums. This one was clearly written by Greg Nicotero and friend in the throes of Orange Man Derangement Syndrome, because this episode has everything pampered wealthy people living in gated communities believe folks in the scary Republican-loving rural areas to be.
Hank is a physically abusive husband that is also a Nazi and plotting with his fellow Confederate-Nazis to get Kansas to secede from the rest of the country—wait, if these people were to be Orange Man supporters, why would they want to secede? Oh my god, are these people supposed to be Democrats? No, that’s overthinking things, likely. A simpler reason would be that Mr Nicotero and friends have room temperature IQ.
His wife Bloom plans to take their son Jack with her as she flees to her hippie commune parents up north, but Hank catches them before they can even leave the door. Later that evening, Hank has Bloom killed and buried in her garden, sorry, his garden, and predictably enough she turns into some plant-woman monster and plots with Jack to take revenge on all the Orange Man Fan Club members that have wounded Mr Nicotero—see here and there and here and there on the doll—so let’s go Brandon… wait, wrong song.
This one may be predictable and unimaginative, but the gore and body horror are pretty nifty. Sure, they look pretty fake, but the production value seems to have gone up since the previous season, so there’s that.
Next up is Queen Bee. Three teenagers Trenice, Debra, and Carlos have this bright idea to sneak into a hospital and watch as their pop idol Regina finally give birth like the biggest fans ever that they are, only to discover that they have stumbled upon a body horror hour. This one has even less of a plot or answers compared to the previous segment, but quaintly enough, it ends up being the far better segment because it cuts straight to the fun stuff.
Sure, the green eyes and the plastic-looking nest all look pretty fake and even awful, but the monster is simply awesome to behold, and imaginatively gruesome too. No, really, I want an action figure of that thing! I also love how this episode doesn’t give a hoot about final girls and other tropes. No, baby, it’s all about appeasing the viewer’s need for blood, guts, and glory.
All in all, this is a pretty solid season-opener and, if the production value kept up, the season may offer some pretty intriguing things to come. In many ways, the effects in this movie feel rather cheap and kiddie-like, like this is Baby’s First Body Horror, but it still manages to meet the entertainment threshold and hence may be worth a look indeed.
