Last Stop Before the Preview

Tomorrow begins the 30 day preview of the 2011-12 season, and this has been a long time coming.  Today however, I get to write about a movie.  Creepshow 2 is the follow up to the original Creepshow.  However, this version is not directed by George A. Romero, nor does it feature an all-star cast like the original.  What the sequel does is hold its own with three stories that were Stephen King-inspired (sadly, King does not make an appearance in any of them).  "Ol' Woodhead" is your average cursed inanimate object come to life to avenge its owners' deaths.  The deaths are done quite nicely, but they are also done too quickly for my tastes.  "The Raft" is four teenagers who spend a day at the lake, only to be swallowed by what can best be described as an oil spill come to life.  Nothing outwardly spectacular, but decent enough to be here.  "The Hitcher" was the best of the three, with a woman trying to shake off a hitchhiker that she ran over.  The relentlessness of the hitcher adds a scare element that was sorely missing from "Ol' Woodhead," particularly when you line it up with one of the thieves from the first story trying to shoot the wooden Indian.  The segues are mainly animated, giving it more of a comic book feel, but Billy comes across as a total jerk.