“A Creepshow Holiday Special” Series Episode Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Shudder’s Creepshow series helps horror fans get in the seasonal mood with an hour-long episode dubbed A Creepshow Holiday Special. Showcased is “Shapeshifters Anonymous,” a horror comedy entry written and directed by Creepshow showrunner Greg Nicotero, based on a short story by J.A. Konrath (Last Call).
Robert Weston (Adam Pally) arrives at St. Argento’s Chapel to seek help from a support group. Rather than the meeting being held for substance abusers or the other more common reasons, this one is for Shapeshifters Anonymous. He is greeted by Irena (Anna Camp), school teacher by day and therianththrope — a human who can metamorphose into a different animal — in her off hours, and her similarly gifted fellow group members.
Weston is concerned because he thinks he may be a werewolf. How the group members lead him to discover how he attained his new shape-shifting form is funny stuff indeed, but plenty more laughs are in store for when the alternate history of a certain Christmas icon is revealed, and when that character shows up to the venue, things get really nuts.
The werecreature designs and the holiday-themed invaders who come calling are fun practical effects efforts, though the series’ budgetary limits are sometimes shown at the seams a bit. Gore and grue are played for laughs rather than for stomach-churning effect, but that fits the episode’s theme well.
As might be expected with a Creepshow TV series entry, the acting can be a bit on the arch side, and Camp leads the cast in that department. Pally downplays his character a little, to good effect. The rest of the ensemble cast members all give solid turns, too. Nicotero’s script has some zingers as well as a few flat jokes, but humor is subjective, so viewer mileage may vary in that department.
Horror comedy fans should find plenty to enjoy with A Creepshow Holiday Special. For fans of the series, it is a solid entry, and for those new to the series, it is an amusing introduction. Either way, it’s an entertaining holiday horror romp.
A Creepshow Holiday Special will premiere exclusively on Shudder in all its territories, as well as via the Shudder offering within the AMC+ bundle, beginning Friday, December 18 shortly after 12:01 am ET/9:01 pm PT.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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