July 20, 2016

For those of you that may own the bare bones DVD or Blu-Ray release of CREEPSHOW, there is hope and it comes courtesy of Synapse Films in the form of this new Blu-Ray release of JUST DESSERTS: THE MAKING OF CREEPSHOW.

To bring you up to speed, nearly a decade ago, Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures (who has produced more behind-the-scenes documentaries and bonus features for all of your favorite horror movies than you can count!) had pitched the idea of doing a feature length doc on the making of CREEPSHOW; cataloging and dissecting the first collaboration between legends George A. Romero and Stephen King. While the fine fiends at Warner’s weren’t interested here in the States, the company putting out the UK DVD was, and so Felsher produced this feature length love letter to CREEPSHOW, which up until now has only been available on import DVD copies of CREEPSHOW.

With the rising popularity of franchise related documentaries like NEVER SLEEP AGAIN, CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES and THE PSYCHO LEGACY getting solo home video releases outside of buying the individual movies, the time has finally come for JUST DESSERTS to get it’s due. And this disc delivers that, and then some! Here’s 5 reasons why as a horror fan you owe it to yourself to add this to your collection!

The Documentary Itself! In High Def!

The doc itself is absolutely terrific. It basically covers the entire creation of CREEPSHOW starting from Romero and King’s first meetings together to discuss a potential adaptation of his novel SALEM’S LOT. The conversation turned to possibly adapting THE STAND, before the two got into a lengthy discussion about their mutual love of EC Comics. From there, the concept of CREEPSHOW as a film was born, but we get to hear from all the principles involved, both in front of and behind the camera, including producer Richard Rubinstein, Ed Harris, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, John Harrison, famed FX legend Tom Savini, who provides incredible behind-the-scenes making-of VHS footage from the shoot and more! Even better, because Felsher had originally shot all the material in HD, he was able to up-convert the previous standard def DVD version of the doc as it appeared on the UK CREEPSHOW and present here in the first time in high def. The results are spectacular, colorful and vibrant. This is by far one of the best docs on the making of any movie.

New Horror’s Hallowed Grounds!

Once again, Sean Clark travels to the original shooting locations from CREEPSHOW to offer a unique “this was then, this is now” look at the spots where the movie took place. I always have fun with these regardless, but this one is pretty special in that a character from the movie pops up to co-host and join Sean on his journey, and it’s none other than the great Tom Atkins! Super fun, informative and great to see Tom deliver his CREEPSHOW lines here again.

Scream Greats Volume One!

This is almost worth the price of admission alone! Here we get the complete “SCREAM GREATS VOLUME ONE” special, an hour long documentary that goes in depth with FX master Tom Savini at a point in his career when he could do no wrong. I hadn’t seen this since the VHS days and it was such a treat going down memory lane and celebrating some of Tom’s best special effects, and fun philosophies to the work from back then. Also, it’s just fun to put faces to some names we’ve heard about over the years. Savini has often mentioned his buddy Taso Stavrakis in behind the scenes stories. FANGORIA’s Bob Martin and David Everitt are here, and even a very young Greg Nicotero! Savini also did a new commentary track for this special. A lot of people have varied experiences when it comes to encountering Tom at conventions, myself included, but man did I love, respect and worship this man and his craft at the time period this came out, because it inspired a horror loving little kid to continue following his dreams and do things within the horror genre. For that I’ll always be grateful. I miss this Tom Savini!

Behind The Screams Vintage Video!

Pretty much all the FX artists of the 80’s would often shoot tons of behind the scenes footage on an old VHS recorder of their onset work and shenanigans. Here on the disc, we get a 26 minute clip reel of Savini’s footage on CREEPSHOW. It’s edited with title cards so there’s context. It’s not random footage put together. And I just love this sort of thing, especially when it primarily focuses on the FX side of things, which… let’s face it, is movie magic. Especially for horror films!

More Special Features Than You Can Handle!

The feature length doc for JUST DESSERTS would’ve been enough. Hell, even SCREAM GREATS on it’s own would be worth the price of the Blu. But the entire gang from Red Shirt and Synapse have packed this disc with everything you could possibly want revolving around CREEPSHOW, including new interviews with director of photography Michael Gornick, extended interviews, a vintage 1982 Evening Magazine segment, a photo gallery reel and much more. Really, if you love CREEPSHOW, you need this.

Side-note, that little kid in CREEPSHOW is actually Stephen King’s son Joe King. Better known these days as best selling author Joe Hill!