TV Recap & Review: ‘Creepshow’ S2, Ep. 2 – “Dead and Breakfast” | “Pesticide”

April 9, 2021

creepshow season 2 shudder april 2021 — Creepshow Original Series | Shudder

Following the extremely strong and memorable premiere, Shudder’s Creepshow releases episode two with some iconic horror star power behind it. The first segment, “Dead and Breakfast,” is directed by Axelle Carolyn (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Tales of Halloween), written by Michael Rousselet and Erik Sandoval, and stars Ali Larter (Final Destination), C. Thomas Howell (The Hitcher) and Iman Benson (#BlackAF). The second segment, “Pesticide,” is directed by Greg Nicotero, written by Frank Dietz, and stars Josh McDermitt (The Walking Dead), Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser) and Keith David (The Thing, They Live). As always, SPOILERS AHEAD, so read on…if you dare!

“Dead and Breakfast”
Directed by Axelle Carolyn
Written by Michael Rousselet & Erik Sandoval

Sister and brother innkeepers, Pam and Sam Spinster (Ali Larter and C. Thomas Howell), are trying to stay relevant and keep their bed and breakfast business afloat in a world that’s obsessed with true crime and murder. Pam believes their great grandmother was possibly the first woman serial killer in America but has no idea how to cash in on the stories she was told as a child, and compete with famous serial killer locations, like Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment, or John Wayne Gacy’s party tent. Sam decides to bring in social media influencer and true crime fanatic Morgue (Iman Benson) for a stay at the inn, trying to convince her to share the building’s dark past with her followers.

Morgue arrives skeptical and continues to debunk Pam’s story as she tells it, causing Pam to become increasingly defensive and unhinged. Morgue offers to dig deeper into the inn’s infrastructure in order to find credence to Pam’s story, but ultimately finds evidence that Pam’s great grandmother was just an old drunk and plans to tell her followers to steer clear of the Spinster house. Sam thinks Pam’s reaction heated is a little much, and continues to try and calm her, to no avail.

With frustration boiling over, Pam decides to turn the inn into an actual murder site, by killing Morgue, regardless of her livestreaming the entire thing. After a lengthy chase of cat-and-mouse, Pam brings down the axe on Morgue, ending her life on her live feed. Noticing the reservations peaking on the website and a chance at financial redemption, Sam puts Morgue’s phone aside and uses a noose to suffocate Pam to death, cashing in on a new “murder-suicide” story for the inn. The deaths of Morgue and Sam prove to be quite profitable for Sam, and new visitors arrive soon. The good times end quickly though, as he’s putting his wads of cash in his great grandmother’s vault, and is mysteriously dropped through a trap door, revealing the hiding spot of his grandmother’s victims. By some spooky circumstances, the vault door closes, sealing Sam in for good.

I really enjoyed this segment. The story felt like a fresh take on a classic tale, interweaving the relevant themes of people watching horrible things go down on social media, only to use that experience in planning their next vacation. All three of the actors were believable and had great chemistry with one another. Ali Larter’s quick descent to pure madness was a perfect counter to Iman Benson’s smug, know-it-all influencer attitude. I did find Sam’s heel turn at the end a little out of character for what we’d been introduced to but knowing the family history and seeing how fast Pam changed, it wasn’t too distracting.

There weren’t many special effects in this episode, but the setting was wonderful, and I’m always a sucker for neat spooky house sets with trap doors, secret rooms, and body chutes. The episode also featured some classic Creepshow lighting, camera effects amazing transitions between comic strips and live action. This segment was just as strong as the two segments in episode one.

“Pesticide”
Directed by Greg Nicotero
Written by Frank Dietz

Unlikeable and rude exterminator Harlan King (Josh McDermitt) is good at one thing, and that’s killing bugs. After being called to a job at psychologist Brenda (Ashley Laurence)’s home, King feels slighted by her response to his rudeness, and after completing his job, releases roaches into her home so that “she’ll have to call him back.” King gets back on the road, and a huge opportunity presents itself, as real estate tycoon Murdoch (Keith David) offers him the job of a lifetime, an exterminator contract to his future real estate properties if King does one thing…exterminates the homeless population living on Murdoch’s property.

King reluctantly agrees for a briefcase full of cash and concocts a mixture of poisons to take out the homeless people. King succeeds at the job, poisoning the people’s soup pot, but not without botching the job, and murdering a man that attacks him. Later that night, Murdoch appears in King’s room, tells him he failed, takes his money back, and sprays King with pesticide. King wakes up, hallucinating of giant-sized pests attacking him, including rats, mosquitos, and spiders. King returns to Murdoch’s building for answers but leaves as police and ambulances cart off bodies. King decides to return to Brenda’s house for her help as a psychologist. After more hallucinations, King finds himself bug-sized, and his life comes to an end as Brenda smashes him, thinking he’s a roach. As he dies, a laughing Murdoch arrives to take care of her pest problem.

My first reaction to this segment was that it felt like a bit of a convoluted attempt at psychological horror, which we often get from films that depict nightmares within one another. The Faustian deal has been done a million times in film at this point, which is fine, but at first, I didn’t really understand why. Was Keith David the devil? Was he actually a real estate magnate? Did he just hate exterminators? We get zero information for what this was really about. Then the social commentary of the episode hit me. Here we had a poor person, looked down on by the rich, being offered money to take out other poor people with a drug. After he succeeds (even though botched), the rich person takes away the money promised, and sprays him with his own drugs. Then, the poor person goes to the rich for help, and is squashed like the unimportant bug he is. At the end, the rich people laugh about the poor person’s fate (death).

It’s clear the commentary here is symbolic of classism and the need for the rich to keep the poor fighting amongst themselves and addicted to drugs for mere scraps of what the rich can provide. King even states he has a “the right drug for the right bug” when deciding on how to kill the homeless. I wish this message was a little clearer, and could have really been hit home by Keith David in the end. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love everything about Keith David, and every moment with him on screen is a gift. I think he’s a fantastic and underutilized actor, I just think his talents could have really stood out in a nice on-the-nose moment.

Josh McDermitt played an unlikeable and pathetic guy well, and for those familiar with his role in The Walking Dead, we knew he could do this role from the start. He did give off some John Goodman from Arachnophobia vibes, and the inclusion of roaches and creepy crawlies were nice references to the original Creepshow film. The effects were a real mixed bag for me. I remember seeing screenshots of the giant practical spider for this segment months ago and being pumped. I wasn’t disappointed as it looked fantastic on film and I wanted to see more of it. I would have been totally fine if the only hallucination was just this bad ass looking giant spider. Some of the other animatronics and puppets weren’t nearly as strong, especially the giant rat, which sometimes felt like seeing a basketball team mascot. This goes for the gore effects as well. Some of the gore makeup was rad, and then some of the practical effects looked worse than the previous segment’s purposely fake gore effects. I thought there were a lot of great moments in this segment, and it really hit on a relevant topic yet to be done by this series. It didn’t especially feel in place for Creepshow, but it still mostly worked.

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