Creepshow appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on these Blu-ray Discs. Given the series’ anthology nature, visuals varied from episode to episode, but in general the shows looked positive.
Sharpness brought the only minor weak link here, as the episodes could occasionally seem a bit less precise than I’d expect. Still, the shows usually presented pretty good delineation, so the softness didn’t turn into a major concern.
No signs of jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to create issues.
Colors varied across the different stories, so don’t expect a consistent palette. The tones looked well-developed for the needs of each show, though, and they looked vivid and well-depicted.
Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows offered good delineation, an important consideration given the often murky nature of the series’ action. I’d like something a bit tighter on a consistent basis, but in general, the shows looked fine.
As for the series’ DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, it added kick to the proceedings. With a fair number of action scenes, the tracks used the five channels in an involving manner.
This meant creepy ambience at times, but more dynamic sequences resulted as well. The five speakers broadened in a natural, engaging manner to bring vivacity to the shows.
Audio quality seemed positive, with speech that came across as concise and clean. Music appeared full and lively as well.
Effects turned into an important consideration, and those displayed nice accuracy and heft, with good low-end when necessary. The audio fleshed out the episodes in a pleasing manner.
All 12 stories include audio commentaries. Here’s who we find on these:
“Gray Matter”: show runner/director Greg Nicotero and writer Philip de Blasi.
“The House of the Head”: director John Harrison and moderator Michael Felsher.
“Bad Wolf Down”: Felsher and writer/director Rob Schrab.
“The Finger”: Nicotero and writer David J. Schow.
“All Hallow’s Eve”: Harrison and Felsher.
“The Man in a Suitcase”: Felsher and director David Bruckner.
“The Companion”: Bruckner and writer Matt Venne.
“Lydia Layne’s Better Half”: Nicotero and director Roxanne Benjamin.
“Night of the Paw” Commentary One: Harrison and Felsher.
“Night of the Paw” Commentary Two: Felsher and Harrison.
“Times Is Tough in Musky Holler” Commentary 1: Felsher and writer John Esposito.
“Times Is Tough in Musky Holler” Commentary 2: Felsher and writer John Skipp.
“Skincrawlers”: Nicotero, Benjamin and actor Dana Gould.
“By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain”: Felsher and director Tom Savini.
Across the commentaries, we learn about stories/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, influences and Easter eggs, music and audio, and connected domains.
Commentaries for TV series tend to be spotty, but these consistently work pretty well. Of course, some fare better than others, but even the weakest offers good notes, so the whole lot deserve a listen.
Additional extras appear on a third disc. Under Series 1 Featurettes, we get seven segments with a total running time of one hour, two minutes, four seconds.
Across these, we hear from Nicotero, Gould, Harrison, Savini, Schrab, Benjamin, Bruckner, Schow, author Joe Hill, director of photography Robert Draper, special makeup effects designer Carey Jones, and actors Adrienne Barbeau, Giancarlo Esposito, Tobin Bell, David Arquette, DJ Qualls, Tricia Helfer, and Jeffrey Combs.
The featurettes examine the original movie and its move toward the series, cast and crew, stories and characters, photography and visual design, and various effects.
Intended for promotional reasons, the first few featurettes seem superficial and not especially informative. However, they improve as they go, so the last three become the ones you want to watch. Those give us good notes about the production, whereas the first four lean toward fluff.
Within the “Series 1 Featurettes” domain, we find an Easter Egg. Click right from “Ripped from the Pages” to find a four-minute, 29-second piece about… Easter eggs.
We hear about some of these in the commentaries, but the featurette points out more of them and also lets us see them. That makes it a valuable addition to the set.
Episode-specific bonus materials come in their own sections, so I’ll look at them based on each show. Under Gray Matter/House of the Head we find five short clips: “House Call” (6:24), “Things In the Corner” (6:28), “Welcome to the Dollhouse” (4:20), “Head Trauma” (9:20), and “Evie” (4:14).
Across these, we hear from Esposito, Bell, propmaster Lucas Godfrey, writer Josh Malerman, and actor Cailey Fleming.
The clips cover cast, characters and performances as well as props and story elements. The actor chats don’t reveal much of interest, but Malerman brings fun notes about his work and Godfrey gives us a nice close-up look at the episode’s dollhouse.
This domain also brings eight minutes, 37 seconds of “Behind the Scenes Footage”. This presents raw footage from the “Gray Matter” and “House of the Head” sets, and it becomes a good view of the production.
We conclude this area with a “Photo Gallery”. It presents a running montage with 43 images from the two episodes. Expect a decent compilation.
As we shift to Bad Wolf Down/The Finger, the following featurettes appear: “Wolf Bait” (3:23) and “The Lonely Man” (5:41). These involve actors Jeffrey Combs and DJ Qualls and offer thoughts about their characters. Neither tells us much of interest, though Qualls produces the more interesting chat of the two.
“Behind the Scenes Footage”(8:33) gives us another nice glimpse of the shoot. “Photo Gallery” produces 43 more stills, and these remain engaging.
With that we head to All Hallow’s Eve/Man In the Suitcase, where only one featurette appears: “Stay Gold”, a nine-minute, four-second reel that includes notes from actors Connor Christie, Andrew Eakle, Jasun Jabbar and Madison Thompson. They offer thoughts about casting and performances in this decent discussion.
More “Behind the Scenes Footage” (4:18) follows the path of prior collections and continues to engage. We also get another 37 stills under “Photo Gallery”.
The Companion/Lydia Layne’s Better Half offers one featurette: “Out of Order”. It goes for six minutes, 40 seconds and provides remarks from actor Tricia Helfer. She chats about her role and aspects of the episode in this superficial reel.
“Behind the Scenes Footage” gives us another 10 minutes, 41 seconds of production material. “Photo Gallery” boasts another 43 images.
Next we go to Night of the Paw/Times Is Tough in Musky Holler, where we locate zero featurettes! We simply discover the usual “Behind the Scenes Footage” (6:26) and “Photo Gallery” (43 stills). Both work fine as always.
Lastly, we end with Skincrawlers/By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, where we get one featurette: “Miracle Cure”. It goes for four minutes, 51 seconds and includes notes from actor Dana Gould. He gives us a few decent thoughts.
“Behind the Scenes Footage” lasts eight minutes, 17 seconds and encompasses the usual material. “Photo Gallery” provides another 43 stills. Why always 43, curious minds must ask.
Like most anthologies, Season One of Creepshow lacks consistency. Nonetheless, it brings a generally good array of horror stories and becomes mostly engaging. The Blu-rays offer positive picture and audio as well as a good roster of bonus materials. Creepshow brings back the franchise in a pleasing way.