Stephen Kingis one of the most prolific authors on the planet, thanks to iconic novels like The Green Mile, It, and The Dark Towerseries. Most fans of King’s work also know that his novels tend to be adapted more than any other author, though the success rate is hit or miss. That continues today, with last year seeing King’s dystopian novel The Long Walkturned into a gripping thriller and Carrieset to receive another update courtesy of Mike Flanagan and Prime Video. But an anthology series inspired by King’s work deserves to make a comeback.
That series is Creepshow, which aired on Shudder. Unlike most of King’s work, Creepshow isn’t based on a novel, but a cult horror movie he wrote the screenplay for. The series and the movie both share an anthology format, with a collection of terrifying tales told by the decaying corpse known as the “Creep.” Creepshow ranfor four seasons and two special episodes before it was canceled last year. Despite that cancellation, the series was a hit and paved the way for Creepshow to continue in a different form.
‘Creepshow’ Features a Collection of Talented Actors & Horror Legends
Image via Shudder
The original Creepshow became a cult classic thanks to horror legend George A. Romero’s direction. Romero was best known for his work on zombie movies, including the game-changing Night of the Living Dead, and he used that experience to infuse every frame of Creepshow with dread, especially where the Creep is concerned. For the television version, Shudder tapped a modern horror legend in Greg Nicotero. Nicotero is no stranger to zombie stories, thanks to his work on The Walking Dead, buthe was also a major fan of the original Creepshow and wanted to bring it to life for a new generation.
“‘Creepshow’ is a project very close to my heart! It is one of those titles that embodies the true spirit of horror, celebrating thrills and chills in one of its purest art forms: the comic book brought to life! I’m honored to continue the tradition in the ‘spirit’ in which it was created.”
True to his word, Nicotero delivered a series that kept the chills and humor of the original Creepshow and featured a talented cast. The first episode sets the stage for what’s to come with its segment “Gray Matter”, featuring Saw alum Tobin Bell and Giancarlo Esposito as two men who discover a horrifying secret that lies within an alcoholic man’s house. The cherry on top is that “Gray Matter” is based on a short story written by Stephen King, letting Nicotero pay homage to the man who brought Creepshow to life. Creepshow continued this approach throughout its run, featuring stories inspired by horror writers like King’s son Joe Hill and character actors including Keith David.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
Creepshow was a massive critical success, landing a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes for its final season. It also spawned a franchisethat includes a collection of short stories by horror legends, a mazebased on select segments from Creepshow at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights event, and even a video game. Creepshow’s real legacylies in comic books; George A. Romero and Stephen King had Creep constantly reading a fictional comic book series that contained the stories from the original Creepshow, and Greg Nicotero kept that visual style for the series. Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment produced a line of Creepshow comics that has kept the same mix of macabre humor and imagery that made the series stand out.
In fact, the Creepshow comics might be the perfect way to show there’s still interest in the series. Skybound Entertainment is run by Robert Kirkman, who’s turned comics he co-created into highly successful TV shows. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine him producing a new version of Creepshow, or even reuniting with Nicotero as the two worked together on the early seasons of The Walking Dead. Whatever’s next for Creepshow, it’s clear that the Creep will continue to deliver chills and thrills in various forms.
Release Date
2019 – 2023-00-00
Network
Shudder
Directors
Greg Nicotero, Joe Lynch, P.J. Pesce, Rusty Cundieff, Axelle Carolyn, David Bruckner, Roxanne Benjamin, Justin G. Dyck, Jeffrey F. January, Rob Schrab, Tom Savini, Kailey Spear, Sam Spear, Dave Newberg
Writers
John Esposito, Paul Dini, Stephen Langford, Erik Sandoval, Michael Rousselet, Daniel Kraus, Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, Josh Malerman, Zak White, Todd Spence, Melanie Dale, Dana Gould, David J. Schow, Frank Dietz, John Harrison, John Skipp, William Butler, Charles Spano, Claire Carré, Matt Venne, Paul Seetachitt, Jordana Arkin, Mike Scannell
