Creepshow 2

George Romero contributes the screenplay this time, basing it on some tastefully selected Stephen King morsels.

Tied together with some humdrum animated sequences, three vignettes on offer obviously were produced on the absolute cheap, and are deficient in imagination and scare quotient.

Just as you can't judge a '50s comic book by its lurid cover, so you can't judge a cheapo, three-part film by its sources.

The episodes are marginally interesting, but each is a little too long. And each could be fully explained in a one-sentence synopsis.

Part of the problem is that King's short stories simply work better in print.

1987's Creepshow 2 never matches the heights of its predecessor, but those looking for more of the original's blend of throwback comic book chills and gory shocks should give this loving restoration from 88 Films a look.

In the realm of anthology horror, you could do a lot worse. I'm looking at you "Tales from the Hood."

Aims to recapture the original's seamless pastiche (it's an imitation of an imitation) and fails. But it has an easily digestible, junky sense of humor about it.

The film does at least have a rich visual palette and some well drawn (if distinctly unfunny) animated sequences that play in between each segment. These factors are small compensation for everything else, however.

Whereas Romero's approach to this material is distinctly tongue-in-cheek, Gornick makes the mistake of giving the stories a straightforward treatment that merely heightens their inherent weakness.

A satisfying follow-up that retains the same macabre yet spirited tone.

It's filled out with a shoddy, animated wraparound sequence and it's all dropped in the hands of an inexperienced director, Michael Cornick.