What makes a good franchise or how I learned to hate Creepshow 3

Franchises; let’s discuss, Shall we? Throughout horror’s illustrious life in Hollywood there has been many a franchise. You may be asking “Robin, what defines a franchise?” Well I’ll tell you. A franchise, in my opinion, is a series with three or more parts. Now that we got that out of the way I want to talk to you about good franchises and bad ones.

A good franchise is one that stands the test of time. That has, for the most part, all good sequels. Friday the Thirteenth and A Nightmare on Elm Street are the two most people think of. Both of which have had the good sequels and the really lame ones. Then there are bad franchises. The one that springs to mind instantly is Leprechaun. They really should have stopped at the first one. Really, come on, Leprechaun in da Hood? Yeah, umm no thank you.

Then there are those franchises that never should have been. I am speaking of Creepshow 3. Directed by Ana Clavell and James Glenn Dudelson, this was concocted to be the third part of the franchise. Most fans of the first two consider Tales from the Darkside : the Movie to be part three since the television show it was based on was originally pitched to be a Creepshow series, and the movie its self was helmed by many of the same people who worked on the first two Creepshows. The one that I watch tonight should not have been made.

This pitiful attempt at cashing in on George A. Romero & Stephen King’s classic falls horribly short. The first flaw is the fact it didn’t follow the formula of the first two. There was no wrap around story. There was no comic book feel. It was kind of cool how all five stories were intertwined within each other. That was not enough however to make up all the disappointment you feel when you pick up a movie and see a trusted franchise name on it and they basically kick you in the nuts. The second and most noticeable flaw was the horrible acting. Filled with all unknowns, you have to hold your breath when you go into a movie like this. There was one bright light in this dull cast, Emmett McGuire who plays Dr.Drayton. He was hilarious! The gore wasn’t bad. The effects were fairly decent and not a whole lot of computer generated stuff. The dismemberment scene in “the Professor’s Wife” was pretty damn sweet. Nice prosthetics and really good blood, and everybody loves a nice head in the oven gag.

So, as I hit the bottom of my box of popcorn these are my findings on Creepshow 3. If the acting was better, the directing more put together and it didn’t try to piggyback on a classic like Creepshow it may have been a buyer. Alas, I can only recommend you download this one; only if you’re curious and only if you have nothing else to do.

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