Creepshow Review: Gray Matter/The House of the Head (Season 1 Episode 1)

The creeps return with Creepshow Season 1 Episode 1, “Gray Matter/The House of the Head,” both stories showing the horrors lurking at home.

With “Gray Matter” and “The House of the Head,” there is a distinct theme of children growing up before their time as elements beyond their control call them to action. Using similar ideals like this helps Creepshow to solidify out of the gate that it’s not going to hold back from going down some darker paths, while also tying a message to its stories that make them personal.

“Gray Matter” is able to use the story of alcoholism to create an allegory of turning into a monster (here, taken literally), as Timmy only wants to help his father get better. Getting better means feeding him people, in the end, and so it doesn’t turn out so well for anyone.

It’s a simple tale of promises to do better never quite going beyond the words, the cans of beer being a vessel for Timmy’s father’s change. The segment cleverly sets up Timmy’s viewpoint to the point where we won’t know what Doc and Chief are walking into, the careful progression a means of making the full reveal more of an impactful horrific discovery.

But it does come at the risk of being too much set-up for a shorter reward. The segment does get to include genre great Adrienne Barbeau, which is an exciting inclusion, and Timmy’s tale is one that holds a sympathetic tone that makes his plight and need to help his father a recognizable trait. The effects of the beer, and if it is caused by the mentioned mold or more widespread, also comes as a mystery.

Doc and Chief, played by Giancarlo Esposito and Tobin Bell respectively, don’t get to do a whole lot on the episode after their introduction playing cards, but Esposito’s look of absolute dread in the apartment makes up for it a little bit.

“The House of the Head” plays on the familiar haunted house trope that many horror films have used a hundred times over, but condensing it down to occurring in a dollhouse is a neat way to take the idea.

The familiar approach of the situation becoming progressively worse, and outside help being brought in to investigate and purge the evil is a fun comment on the state of the horror genre, playfully using the progression of similar stories to tell the story of Evie slowly losing that innocence of simply playing with her toys and finding her identity, as her mother mentions.

Evie (Cailey Fleming, who also appears on The Walking Dead as Judith Grimes), as an observer, can only watch as the poor family and the help she creates is massacred by the head. Fleming and the direction of the segment, the shots of her confusion and dismay at the events through the small frames of the dollhouse, are really able to convey a sense of tension.

That the evil is passed off to someone else is a fun nod to other horror movies of its kind, where at least the problem is no longer at their doorstep. It would have been interesting to see how far the head outside of the dollhouse would have gone, but at the same time, Evie’s family is rather nice, and so the family walking away unscathed is worth never finding out.

The production on Creepshow is slight but effective, able to do a lot with lighting and shadow to allow the mind to fill in the blanks. With “Gray Matter,” the slow crawl up the stairs to the apartment in particular is a solid moment of atmosphere and tension clashing together.

The comic style that ties together both stories and the show’s overarching threads is a nice nod to the Creepshow roots, the stylistic combination of horror-themed comic imagery and comic book advertisements making for a fun aesthetic to tie the stories together.

The issue with the pilot of Creepshow comes down to a lack of time to establish characters outside of the threats at hand. When each story is twenty-two minutes, this is bound to happen, but it does leave you wanting a little more. At the same time, however, what is here is compelling enough to leave a positive impression.

Creepshow Season 1 Episode 1, “Gray Matter/The House of the Head,” finds a balance through escalating to the scare, and delivering a fun romp with the thrills the series has come to be known for. It’s a good first step forward for the show.

 

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Creepshow airs Thursdays on Shudder.

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