The first story is called 'Old Wood'n Head' and tells the tale of an ageing couple, the Spruces, who run a convenience store in a town that has long since seen prosperity and has become something of a ghost-town (replete with tumbleweed). Outside this store there is a carved wooden life-size statue of an old Indian warrior who is named 'Old Chief Wood'n Head' which Ray Spruce attends to lovingly on a daily basis. The local Indian population are deeply indebted to Ray Spruce who has supported them for many years by providing credit to them. One day a representative of the Indians turns up and presents Ray with the treasures of his people with a promise that if his people do not repay their debt within a specified time, the treasure will be his. But that evening, the nephew of this Indian (who has a fixation with going Hollywood and becoming a star) arrives with two thugs and they brutally murder the Spruces and make off with the Indian treasures. At this point 'Old Chief Wood'n Head' magically becomes animated and exacts revenge upon these murderous young men.

Next up is 'The Raft’, which follows the fortunes of four teens who head to a local lake to do some swimming. In the middle of the lake is a raft, which they swim to. It soon becomes apparent that there is something nasty lurking within the waters and one by one they are messily snared by this thing and dragged to their doom until only one survives. He makes a break for it and reaches the shore and believes he is home free...think again! This final shot is probably the best moment of the film.

And finally is the story of 'The Hitch-Hiker'. A wealthy woman leaves her prostitute lover, having overslept, and races back towards home in her car to try and get there before her husband does for fear of being caught-out. She lights a cigarette but then accidentally drops it in her lap. She frantically tries to locate her smoke and extinguish it. But just as she returns her attention back to the road she accidentally hits a hitch-hiker killing him. Panicked, she speeds off. But things are not as simple as that as the apparition of this hitch-hiker keeps making unwelcome appearances, so she keeps running him over, shooting him and generally smashing him to a bloody pulp until she believes him to be dead. Having convinced herself that her ordeal is over she finally arrives home with her wrecked car, but the hitcher is waiting for her and she soon meets her demise.

There is also a wrap-around story about a young lad called Billy being chased by bullies and he leads them into a trap whereby they are devoured by giant Venus Flytrap plants! These are animated sequences. Creepshow 2 does have highly entertaining moments, but overall it's a pretty shoddy piece of filmmaking. The stories are first-class, but they are not matched in their execution. Director Gornick handles the material badly and with George Romero involved in the project one has to wonder why he wasn't given directorial duties. It's a reasonably entertaining 89 minutes, but I can think of better things to do.

The image quality is pretty much what you'd expect from a lesser title in the Anchor Bay canon. It's not outstanding and nor is it atrociously bad - it falls somewhere in between. But it is 16x9 enhanced. Nothing to get excited about really, but the print used to master from does seem in pretty good shape and shows in the fact of a clean looking transfer. Dolby Digital Mono (1.0). It's not at all bad for a mono soundtrack. It certainly lacks the power of a DD 5.1 mix, but it's serviceable and gets the job done.

Not much here to speak of, there's a trailer and a handful of stills in a gallery. But it has to be said that the animated menus are very good and will certainly amuse any potential viewers. Although it has its moments, overall it's really not a very good film at all. Anchor Bay seem to recognise this and have done a DVD-by-numbers job on this one, providing the bare minimum that is required. I can't really recommend this as there are so many other good films out there to spend your money on. But if you're a fan you'll find the disc acceptable enough. Trivia: The film was originally to have five stories but was cut down to three in pre-production due to time and budget constraints.

Reviewed by CJ