Last week’s premiere episode of Shudder’s Creepshow got the series off to a great start, with adaptations from Stephen King (“Gray Matter”) and Josh Malerman (“House of the Head” and writer of Bird Box). This week continued right where that strong start left off, maintaining the look and feel of the classic films.
Our first story this week, “Bad Wolf Down,” tells the story of a group of a group of World War II American soldiers who become trapped in a prison as German Nazi soldiers begin to close in on them. While the Americans are trying to decide their next course of action, one of the prisoners reaches out of the bars of her cell and grabs a particularly jittery young soldier, causing him to whirl around and shoot the woman in the stomach. All of the soldiers, except for one, attempt to help the injured French woman, only to find out that she wants them to leave her in the cell and help her die. Not wanting to waste any more time with the Nazis closing in, the lone holdout soldier locks the others in the cell with the woman and flees the police station.
The men then notice something odd about the woman, particularly when her wound quickly heals itself: She may, in fact, be a werewolf. They soon realize that they can help her out with her request while at the same time using her lycanthropic curse as the answer to their dilemma. As the Nazis enter the prison, led by a vengeful general played superbly over-the-top by Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator), the American soldiers and their newfound werewolf powers unleash hell on the unsuspecting and clearly over-matched SS.
Written and directed by Rob Schrab (Monster House), “Bad Wolf Down” pays homage to the best story of the Creepshow film series, “The Crate,” while also recalling classic werewolf movies An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, Rob Zombie’s faux trailer from Grindhouse, “Werewolf Women of the SS,” with more than a little bit of the John Carpenter classic Assault on Precinct 13 mixed in for good measure. Toss in some old-school, practical werewolf effects and plenty of gore and you’ve got a winner.
The second story of episode 2, “The Finger,” directed by series showrunner Greg Nicotero and written by David J. Schow (The Crow), is the most humorous and light-hearted of the series so far. Similar in tone to “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” from Creepshow (1982), “The Finger” stars D.J. Qualls (Road Trip) as Clark Wilson, a down-on-his-luck recent divorcee who enjoys walking the streets of L.A. and collecting various curios. On one of his walks, Wilson, who constantly breaks the fourth wall, comes upon quite the oddity, a shriveled, non-human finger. After taking it home for closer examination, Wilson accidentally spills his beer (the same toxic brand from the first episode’s “Gray Matter,” also directed by Nicotero) on the finger and immediately notices it has rejuvenating power. He places the finger in a butter container and places it in the fridge, only to find it has escaped the next day. Before long, the finger has grown into a demonic, cat-like creature named “Bob,” eager to exact deadly vengeance on anyone who has wronged, or even just annoyed, his new master.
Although the tone recalled “The Lonesome Death,” this one felt most similar in look and style to some of the stories from Tales From the Darkside: The Movie, the unofficial third film in the Creepshow film series, and if you’ve seen that 1990 anthology, you’ll know that’s not a bad thing.
With a great performance by Qualls and some terrific stop-motion work by the KNB EFX Group, “The Finger” is a ton of fun and highly entertaining. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting your own “Bob” after watching the episode.
What did you think about episode 2 of Shudder’s Creepshow? Let us know in comments below or on social media!
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