Inferior in every possilbly conceivable way to its predecessor, "Creepshow 2" has neither the writing talents of Stephen King nor the directing ability of George Romero behind it. Based on stories by King and written by Romero, it opens up with incredibly poor animation in a vain attempt to recapture the spirit of the original film. Gone is Tom Savini's cryptkeeper that he created for that movie.
Big stars like E.G. Marshall are missing too. Instead we get "names" like Kennedy and former Bond girl Chiles. Gone are the comic book frames and colorful lighting of the first film. Gone are the campy, over-the-top performances from actors like Ted Danson, Adrienne Barbeau and Leslie Nielsen. And gone are the gory special effects.
Kennedy plays a shopkeeper who accepts a set of mystical Indian stones as collateral for unpaid debts from a local tribe. When a group of thugs robs his store, kills him and steals the stones, a wooden statue of an American native comes to life to exact revenge.
The best story is probably the second which pits a group of teens against a bizarre, oil-like substance in a lake that eats the flesh of anyone who comes in contact with it. They're trapped on a raft. Pretty thrilling, Stephen King-esque stuff.
Worst thing about this movie is the "new" cryptkeeper, who looks radically different than Savini's character in the first film. Ironically, it's Savini wearing the make-up as the cryptkeeper in this movie, although it would have been infinity superior if they had hired him to actually do the make-up.
