You might remember the segment from Creepshow 2 entitled The Raft. It's got your typical 80's film set-up with party-going college students looking to smoke weed and have sex on a float in the middle of a lake. Unbeknowest to them, the lake has become a home to a predator oil-slick that's hungry for human. Hooray!
I think the most alluring thing about it is the fact that this film caused my fear of water which manifested when this film came out when I was about 7 or 8. That and the fact that it plays on several different types of horror (situational horror, fear of the unknown, and fear of pain and agony).
Feeling nostalgic, I picked up the DVD and watched it at my parents' place this weekend. For some reason, I was even more tense this time when someone bit it. The actors at least did a decent enough job of selling agony, even though the lead in this segment was a horrid actor. Apparently, it really hurts like a bi**h to have some oilish creature attack you.
You know I remembered this from my childhood also. I wasn't scared but I saw it so many times it just stuck out.
I've read the short story in Stephen King's "Skeleton Crew" book and it was by far the best story in there.
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6519/045116861501aa240sclzzzdh2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
I also own Creepshow 2 on DVD and while it's good, it's not nearly as good as the story in the book.
The look of the story in the movie also feels dated, as it was made in the 80's.
The deaths are much more gruesome in the book and the oil slick creature starts out small and then gets bigger with each victim it consumes.
And the final surviving guy doesn't make a break for the shore at the end.
He ultimately realizes his fate and begins to stare at the hypnotic lights the creature uses to lure you in thinking that it would only hurt for a little bit and then...death.
The end.
It really is an ingenious idea for a horror story.
The premise is simple, yet very effective.
The fact that their car is within sight but there's no way to get to it made it really creepy.
I give the story 4 out of 4 stars.
I'll give the movie version 3 out of 4 stars.
The original short story is one of my personal favorites of King but I thought that they royally screwed up the segment in Creepshow 2.
Amorphous blob monsters, along with zombies, have always given me unsettling dreams for some reason. I think it has something to do with the primal, relentless nature of the threat. This was my favorite segment from Creepshow 2 and to this day I cannot look at any small pond or lake without invoking the memory.
Quote from: Ash on March 27, 2007, 01:59:11 PM
I've read the short story in Stephen King's "Skeleton Crew" book and it was by far the best story in there.
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6519/045116861501aa240sclzzzdh2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
I also own Creepshow 2 on DVD and while it's good, it's not nearly as good as the story in the book.
The look of the story in the movie also feels dated, as it was made in the 80's.
The deaths are much more gruesome in the book and the oil slick creature starts out small and then gets bigger with each victim it consumes.
And the final surviving guy doesn't make a break for the shore at the end.
He ultimately realizes his fate and begins to stare at the hypnotic lights the creature uses to lure you in thinking that it would only hurt for a little bit and then...death.
The end.
It really is an ingenious idea for a horror story.
The premise is simple, yet very effective.
The fact that their car is within sight but there's no way to get to it made it really creepy.
I give the story 4 out of 4 stars.
I'll give the movie version 3 out of 4 stars.
If I'm not mistaken, I think they had a similar creature in Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass. Only the one in that was much much bigger (capable of consuming an entire horde of men).
Quote from: Joe the Destroyer on March 28, 2007, 12:07:47 AM
Quote from: Ash on March 27, 2007, 01:59:11 PM
I've read the short story in Stephen King's "Skeleton Crew" book and it was by far the best story in there.
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6519/045116861501aa240sclzzzdh2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
I also own Creepshow 2 on DVD and while it's good, it's not nearly as good as the story in the book.
The look of the story in the movie also feels dated, as it was made in the 80's.
The deaths are much more gruesome in the book and the oil slick creature starts out small and then gets bigger with each victim it consumes.
And the final surviving guy doesn't make a break for the shore at the end.
He ultimately realizes his fate and begins to stare at the hypnotic lights the creature uses to lure you in thinking that it would only hurt for a little bit and then...death.
The end.
It really is an ingenious idea for a horror story.
The premise is simple, yet very effective.
The fact that their car is within sight but there's no way to get to it made it really creepy.
I give the story 4 out of 4 stars.
I'll give the movie version 3 out of 4 stars.
If I'm not mistaken, I think they had a similar creature in Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass. Only the one in that was much much bigger (capable of consuming an entire horde of men).
I'm just about to get to that book, as it happens. It's probably deliberate, considering how so much King stuff links up with the Dark Tower.
Yeah, it's basically meant to encompass most, if not all, of his stories. At least, you can argue that they are all intertwined because of the rules behind the story.