Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow
Director: Michael Felsher
Stars: George A. Romero, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Savini
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons

I love horror movies. I love documentaries. I love docs on horror movies. And I love the movie Creepshow from 1982. So this movie, a documentary on Creepshow, should be a perfect match for me, right? Well grab your roach repellent, your mail order voodoo doll, and your favorite comic of horror crap, and let’s find out.

At a feature length 90 minutes, Just Desserts does a very good job of covering all the behind-the-scenes bits of Creepshow, including the history of horror comics, what led up to George Romero getting together with Stephen King to make this movie, all the special effects highlights with Tom Savini, various actors commenting on their own experiences, how the movie was received by fans and critics alike, and the aftermath. Like a good doc, this movie is informative, even to a huge horror fan and Creepshow lover like me that thought he knew it all about this movie, but it is also often humorous and always entertaining. Perhaps the one and only misstep this documentary makes is the lack of Stephen King in it. Now I am sure they tried – getting King in this would have been a great get and they had to have known that – and as one half of the creative team behind this movie, his absence here is keenly felt. I can only assume the fault for this lies with Stephen King, and so shame on him for not having a few hours to give to this movie about one of his most beloved creations. I get it, he could have been busy, he could have had more important stuff going on, but I think the filmmakers would have bent over backwards to accommodate his inclusion in this and really, how long would that have taken? That one glaring omission aside, this is an amazing documentary.

Now just in case an hour and a half long documentary wasn’t enough for you, Synapse Films has included a whole bunch of extras on this new Blu-ray release. There is an eight minute interview with cinematographer Michael Gornick who played a big part in the signature look of Creepshow. There is a 26 minute featurette, “Tom Savini: Behind the Screams,” all about the make-up wizard’s wonderful work on this film. There are 23 extra minutes of extended interviews with many of the people in this documentary, and a Horror’s Hallowed Grounds segment on the locations from the movie that runs 15 minutes. There is a seven minute segment of vintage news coverage on the film from 1982, and a collection of behind-the-scenes photos. Still not enough extras for you? Well how about this: back in the 80’s, there was an awesome documentary brought out by Fangoria called Scream Greats, Vol 1: Tom Savini, Master of Horror Effects. As a kid I loved that movie (I still have the old, beat up VHS around here somewhere), but that doc never made the jump to DVD or Blu-ray…until now. Yes, that entire documentary is an extra on this already impressive and overstuffed with goodness release. That, right there, is worth the price of admission all by itself.

Just Desserts is a must-have documentary that every movie maven, horror lover or not, should have. Not only is it a good film, but the extras that Synapse has included are amazing. For every Blu-ray release that disappoints with a lackluster effort, it’s nice to see some companies still get it. Get this Blu-ray when it comes out July 12th.