Creepshow 2 4K UHD Review

Arrow Video

4K UHD Release: September 30, 2025

Video: 1.85:1/2160p (HDR10/Dolby Vision)/Color

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English LPCM 2.0 Mono and 2.0 Stereo

Subtitles: English SDH

Run Time: 89:28

Director: George A. Romero

Note: This update replaces my older review of Arrow’s original Blu-ray. All sections have been rewritten and reedited.

After just over a decade of redefining the horror genre for the New Hollywood era, George A. Romero had his first brush with mainstream, studio distribution profitability with 1982’s Creepshow, which he made in collaboration with white-hot novelist Stephen King. Unfortunately, his refusal to compromise with studio mandates made it difficult to redeem the industry caché he’d earned. First, plans for the third film in his Dead series, Day of the Dead (1985), were dialed back to accommodate a smaller budget (he had rejected producers’ demands to secure an R-rating). 

Issues with independence and budget constraints then spread to Creepshow 2 (1987), which was reduced from five shorts to only three. Romero himself wrote the screenplay with uncredited help from Lucille Fletcher, based on King’s stories (King himself wrote the first film’s script), and then handed off directing duties to Creepshow’s cinematographer, Michael Gornick. The results are respectable, given its limitations. It’s a step down from the original film, but Creepshow is the best of its kind and a difficult legacy to live up to. After a couple of decades of regular play on home video and television, Creepshow 2 has finally earned its own cult reputation.

In the first chapter, Old Chief Wood'nhead, a local Native elder gives valuable tribal heirlooms to a small town hardware store owner as a token of appreciation for lending them money over the years (considering it representational collateral). Soon after, ne'er-do-wells rob the store, kill the owner and his wife, and steal the heirlooms, prompting the store’s wooden Indian mascot to spring to life and seek bloody revenge. Here, the film’s greatest strengths and weaknesses constantly overlap. Gornick gets a lot of mileage out of juxtaposing folksy charm and comic book aesthetics, bolstered by George Kennedy & Dorothy Lamour’s adorably sappy performances and cinematographers Richard Hart & Tom Hurwitz’ soap opera-esque photography. At the same time, what should have been an even shorter episode is stretched quite thin with awkward and tedious character beats. Better to get straight to the bloody retribution.

In the second chapter, The Raft, promiscuous, drug-abusing college students take a trip to an isolated lake where they’re marooned on a raft by a slimy, man-eating blob. It is an improvement in pacing and entertainment value, despite or perhaps even due to its derivative, undercooked basic concept. The simplicity of a monster eating nearly naked co-eds fits the anthology format nicely, even without the benefit of the typical EC Comics irony. The creature/gore effects are also appropriately gruesome, setting the stage for Chuck Russell’s 1988 Blob remake.

The anthology ends on a high note with The Hitch-hiker. A woman rushing home from an overnight affair (...shades of Psycho?) strikes a roadside hitcher and leaves the scene of the crime. Unfortunately for her, the poor sap she hit doesn’t stay dead. The Hitch-hiker feels the most like something Romero himself might’ve directed, unlike the first two episodes, which are pretty detached from the stylish black comedy of the first Creepshow. It has a perfectly punchy tempo, fulfills the EC brand of morality tale storytelling, and features some nasty, yet playfully cartoonish gore effects. The boisterous, Starsky and Hutch-like chase music is the icing on the cake.

Video

Romero & Richard P. Rubinstein’s Laurel Entertainment produced both Creepshow and Creepshow 2, though the second film was distributed by New World Pictures. As a result, Warner Bros. maintained video distribution for the first film stateside, while Creepshow 2 has bounced around a bit. Anchor Bay first released it on DVD in 2001, then recycled their transfer for a Divimax special edition and various other barebones re-issues. For the film’s Blu-ray debut, Arrow Video scanned the original 35mm interpositive in 2K and restored/remastered the material (again at Pinewood Studios). The company has now updated that release with a new 4K restoration of the original negative. The images on this page are taken from the 2K Blu-ray and here for editorial purposes.

Creepshow 2’s smaller budget means it doesn’t have the special effects or production values of its predecessor, but it is directed by a cinematographer who helped develop Creepshow’s comic book-inspired palette, so it’s still quite slick and almost as colorful as Romero’s movie. Some of the daylight sequences, especially those of Old Chief Wood'nhead, are particularly diffused and soft, seemingly to create a sheen of idealism. The fogginess is intended and the extra grain expected. Darker sequences get more out of the remaster, drawing out sharper details and making better use of the UHD’s HDR upgrades. Contrast levels are a bit more evenhanded than the Blu-ray and the print quality is cleaner, overall.

Audio

Just like the Blu-ray, Arrow has included the original mono and a stereo remix, both in uncompressed LPCM, as well as the old DVD’s 5.1 remix in DTS-HD Master Audio. I’m a bit confused on what the original track is in this case, because, while IMDb.com lists the original mix as mono, I’ve also read reports that it was presented theatrically in stereo in some theaters, so, either this is the original stereo mix or it is a mixdown of the 5.1 remix.

I’m only guessing, but, to my ear, the 2.0 track is the best in terms of balance, clarity, and consistent volume. Its tones are almost identical to the single-channel track, but the two-channel spread serves the musical soundtrack much better. The score, which is credited to Les Reed and Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, also sounds nice on the 5.1 track, but the centered dialogue/incidental effects seem muffled and some of the updated surround effects don’t really work.

Extras

• Commentary with director Michael Gornick – This track, moderated by Perry Martin, was originally recorded for Anchor Bay’s US/UK special edition DVDs. Gornick has a velvety radio-friendly voice and fills the track with facts and figures from start to finish. Martin helps him on his way with pertinent questions, but doesn’t have to do much to keep the director focused. 

• Screenplay for a Sequel (10:45, HD) – A new interview with Romero, who discusses the legacy of EC Comics, the original Creepshow, Creepshow 2’s production woes, Gornick’s work as director, and the series’ legacy.

• Tales from the Creep (7:59, HD) – The next Arrow exclusive interview is with make-up artist Tom Savini, who appeared as the physical manifestation of The Creep in Creepshow 2. He talks about his passive role on the production as an actor only. He also mentions his ‘pay or play’ contract with New World, which means he was paid for directing the movie, even though he didn’t.

• Poncho’s Last Ride (14:44, HD) – Actor Daniel Beer (Randy during the Raft segment) recalls a series of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, including the time he almost died of hypothermia from swimming in the freezing lake water.

• The Road to Dover (13:31, HD) – The last new extra is an interview with actor Tom Wright (the Hitch-hiker), who runs down his earlier career and the process of creating a character using his skills as an actor and stuntman.

• Anchor Bay DVD featurettes:

  • Nightmares in Foam Rubber (32:02, SD) – A substantial interview featurette with special make-up effects artists Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero

  • My Friend Rick (2:43, SD) – Berger recalls hunting down and, later, working with make-up legend Rick Baker.

  • Behind-the-scenes footage (5:50, SD)

• Image gallery

• Two trailers and a TV spots

The images on this page are taken from Arrow’s older 2K restoration Blu-ray – NOT the newly remastered 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by right/cmd-clicking each side of the sliders. Note that there will be some JPG compression.