The classic anthology horror films CREEPSHOW and CREEPSHOW 2 were both based entirely on stories conceived by author Stephen King. King wrote the screenplay for the first movie himself, then CREEPSHOW director George A. Romero wrote adaptations of King stories for CREEPSHOW 2 (which was directed by Michael Gornick) – so that can certainly lead one to believe that if it's not King and Romero, it's not Creepshow.
I am open to giving the Shudder streaming service's upcoming Creepshow series a chance, especially since it's being shepherded to the screen by Romero protégé Greg Nicotero, but the idea of Creepshow stories not being King stories does make me feel a little uncomfortable. After all, the King and Romero-less CREEPSHOW 3 was such an awful disaster that I try to forget it even exists.
While appearing on the Shudder panel at the New York Comic Con, Nicotero calmed my fears a bit by telling those in attendance that some episodes of Creepshow will be based on King stories. King isn't the only literary source of inspiration here, either. Other novelists whose stories will become Creepshow episodes include HORNS author Joe Hill (King's son, who was in the first CREEPSHOW) and BUBBA HO-TEP author Joe Lansdale.
The first season of Creepshow will consist of six episodes, and Nicotero said
the tone of the series would shift from story-to-story, with some taking a lighthearted comedic approach (ala King’s own”The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” segment from 1982) and others taking a much more frightening path. He also stated that each story would be “As long as they need to be” and that he did not feel any pressure to fit the stories into segments of equal length.
Shudder subscribers will also have access to digital comics based on each episode.
I really hope that this series turns out to be awesome. I want something that will live up to the first two movies in some way, not something I'll need to ignore like the third one. If a third one did exist.