2020 has given us plenty of scary situations and disasters. Fortunately, the end of the year brings us a fantastic story for horror fans as the folks behind Creepshow give us a campy, bizarre holiday special.
Appearing alongside other gems on the Shudder channel, Creepshow is a wink and a nod series based on a fictional old school comic book. The format is usually two stories per episode, bookended by the ghoulish form of the storyteller. The Creepshow Holiday Special is one standalone story that runs right around 45 minutes.
“Shapeshifters Anonymous” follows a man named Robert Weston (Iron Man 3‘s Adam Pally) who is having blackouts and waking up in strange situations. He believes that he might be a werewolf and finds a secret website and hotline for shapeshifters. As the story opens, he is trying to join one of their meetings without much success.
Robert eventually talks his way in and meets the group, led by the charismatic Irena (True Blood‘s Anna Camp.) As they discuss his situation, he learns that there are all sorts of other were-beings out there. They test him with various herbs and discover that not only is Robert a werewolf, but he is in fact the ripper who has been killing bad people all over town.
It’s at the midway mark that director Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead) leans hard into his long and famous career in horror and effects. As it turns out, the shapeshifters have an enemy, and he is right outside the door.
This episode is as cheesy and gore-riffic as viewers should expect. There is also a lot of love as many of the characters and places are named after horror movie characters from the 1940’s and 50’s. The visuals are shot in the skewed camera/heavy tinted views that give the appearance that viewers are watching a comic book.
The supporting cast is delightfully sold on the premise. Pete Burris (Stranger Things) gets some great dialogue. Actors/Stuntmen Tom Glynn and Derek Russo represent the big boss battle. The prosthetics and FX are amazing and introduce some shapeshifters never before seen in horror.
The Creepshow Holiday Special is a bloody, cheesy mess. It’s everything that fans of the series love and a welcome surprise to close out the year.