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Horror Anthology Film Creepshow Getting TV Series Adaptation
The classic 1982 horror anthology film Creepshow is set to be adapted into a streaming TV series, with Walking Dead's Greg Nicotero producing. More than any other genre of fiction, horror seems well-suited to the short story format. After all, it doesn't need to take more than a few minutes to deliver a good scare to those looking to get a quick fright fix. That's just as true when it comes to horror tales told via movies or TV, which is likely why horror is far and away the genre with the most anthology films or shows, with sci-fi its only real rival in that regard.
While anthology horror has come back into vogue during the current decade, the arguable peak of audiences love for short but sweet tales of terror was the 1980s. Anthology TV series such as Tales from the Darkside, Tales from the Crypt, Monsters, and the often-creepy 80s revival of The Twilight Zone dotted broadcast schedules, while films like Cat's Eye, Nightmares, and Twilight Zone: The Movie screened in multiplexes. Perhaps the biggest horror anthology hit of the decade was Creepshow, which presented five stories about varying ghastly topics - zombies, an otherworldly apocalypse, monsters, murder and revenge, a bug phobia taken to the extreme - all written by prolific author Stephen King and directed by legendary genre figure George Romero.
Thanks to the current resurgence in love for horror anthologies, perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising that a Creepshow TV series is on the way. The series won't air on conventional TV, instead being exclusive to the growing horror-focused streaming service Shudder, which is owned by AMC Networks. Guiding things creatively will be Greg Nicotero - a genre icon in his own right thanks to his years creating amazing gore effects as part of the company KNB - who currently serves as a producer on AMC's The Walking Dead. In addition to executive producing the Creepshow series, Nicotero will also direct the first episode, and KNB will handle all the make-up and creature effects.
Shudder's Creepshow series - set to debut in 2019 - will tell a different story in each episode, and every installment will also be helmed by a different director. This is similar to the approach taken by the short-lived but creative Showtime series Masters of Horror, which saw various horror luminaries like John Carpenter (Halloween), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Joe Dante (The Howling), Dario Argento (Suspiria), and Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) all direct episodes. One wonders if Creepshow the TV series will also call on names of that caliber to participate, as Nicotero already has existing relationships with a who's who of the horror community.
Hopefully, Shudder's series will finally give Creepshow fans a truly worthy follow-up to King and Romero's original movie. Creepshow previously received two movie sequels, and while the uneven Romero-penned/King-based Creepshow 2 has its fans - mostly thanks to the delightfully gruesome effects work found in the story The Raft - Creepshow 3 was a micro-budget effort that's typically seen as downright abysmal. Nicotero calls Creepshow a film very close to his heart, so here's hoping he'll take the steps necessary to deliver a satisfying final product.
