“Creepshow” is back, and the only downside is it’s only available through the subscription service SHUDDER, which saw varying success from its last original series, “Critters: A New Binge”. The latest revamp on their hit list follows on from the 2006 bastard child that was “Creepshow III”, from directors, producers, co-writers Ana Clavell and James Dudelson, who are no strangers to in-name-only sequel rip-offs. Does anyone remember or care to remember “Day of the Dead 2: Contagium”? The latest “Creepshow” SHUDDER reboot was brought back from the dead by Greg Nicotero (“The Walking Dead”), who doubles up as the creator and the show runner. The new anthology series is made up of six episodes, and episode one premiered Thursday September 26th on the AMC-owned streaming service.

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Once again the hooded figure The Creep returns along with his fictional “Creepshow” comic. The fictional comic of the same name provides the narrative framework for the series segments as it opens up each story from the illustrated panels in a style reminiscent of my friend Kevin S. Tenney’s “Night of The Demons” opening credits. Each episode features two 20-minute chapters, some written exclusively for the show, others being adaptations of existing short stories by Stephen King. King’s “Gray Matter” kicks off episode one’s first half and follows an alcoholic father’s slow decent into madness as he gradually mutates into something otherworldly. The second half is titled “The House of the Head” by Josh Malerman (“Bird Box”), which focuses on a little girl who discovers something unusual unfolding inside her dollhouse, a murder mystery with a killer head thrown in for good measure, or bad, depending how you look at it.

 

The show’s bonus points go to its masterful littering of Easter eggs to King’s works, which will no doubt be completely satisfying for Stephen King fans, who will get the fuzzy warm feeling of nostalgia when they are given their gory over-the-top quarter pounder to fill their lust for guts, but for non-King fans the crux of the matter is that the fries are cold, the beef dry, and the topping and the bun long past their sell-by date. Both segments troop out the same typical horror trappings that we have seen time and time again, and the complete absence of anything resembling frights makes the preceding feel amateurish. “The House of the Head” is the worst offender; it trundles along with no urgency for its running time while it tries to figure out when to be scary, when to be funny and when to be both.