On June 2nd, the inaugural season of Shudder’s Creepshow is coming home to Digital HD, DVD, and Blu-ray, right in the middle of its six-week airing on AMC. The six-episode season based on George A. Romero’s beloved 1982 anthology movie assembled a Murderers’ Row of talent both in front of and behind the camera to deliver twelve tales of terror that ran the gamut in style and tone. All relayed by the Creep, of course.
When reflecting on season one, showrunner Greg Nicotero revealed to Bloody-Disgusting in an interview that the hardest creature effect to pull off was none other than fan-favorite monster Bob from “The Finger.” “The Finger” starred DJ Qualls as Clark, a divorcee who discovers a strangely preserved finger on the side of the road, which grows into an adorably bloodthirsty pet.
Of Bob’s creation, Nicotero shares, “We had to create this whole rod puppet creature that had to have character and personality. And it was all practical; he was there, so DJ had an opportunity to act with the puppet. The only visual effect was removing rods and things like that. Ultimately, we used stop-motion to do the wide shots because I thought that played more into the Creepshow aesthetic.”
Bob won the hearts of viewers but was surprisingly absent in the announcement of Creepshow’s Funko Pop! toy lineup, so we had to ask about any plans for Bob merchandise. Nicotero loved the idea. “I would love there to be some Bob stuff, because he was so adorable,” Nicotero told us, adding that he keeps the stop-motion model on his desk. We followed up with Shudder directly, and a spokesperson for Shudder confirmed that there is indeed much more Creepshow merch on the way, including Bob-related merch! Of course, feel free to let Shudder know just how much you’d love a Bob toy or plushie in the interim.
While season one of the series is arriving home, planning is already well underway for season two. Nicotero recently teased a monstrous-sized, articulated spider puppet for an upcoming segment on his Instagram. The showrunner teased to us, “We developed an episode that’s an exterminator story, where the exterminator maybe gets a little bit of a comeuppance with some of the vermin that he would have killed. That particular episode has more than just a spider in it. It’s got a bit of a Food of the Gods vibe to it.” As for the rest of the episodes, Nicotero adheres to the blueprint laid out in season one. “We did what we did in season one, where there’s a mix of published stories and some stories that were pitched to us.”
As for directors, Nicotero wouldn’t divulge who’s been tapped to helm the segments for the upcoming season, but he did tease, “There’s a couple returning directors, and there’s also some directors I worked with on The Walking Dead. Then there were a couple of directors I was keen to work with that have done some other horror material.” All of the original crew immediately signed up to be apart of the second season. “Everybody came back for season two, which is unheard of, especially knowing that we have a limited budget and limited time. But everybody believed in the project and my vision for the show and were down for season two immediately. I was really proud of that – that everybody wanted to come back.”
Because the crew is returning, we can expect more clever Easter eggs on the way, “Most of these people are fans, and they have an opportunity to geek out in their own way. On Creepshow, the way you get to geek out is by not only paying tribute to every horror movie ever made. I’ve been doing it on The Walking Dead for ten years, doing my tribute zombies and that kind of stuff. So, it gives everyone an opportunity to have some fun and take some ownership. I love collaborating with my team, and I feel like Creepshow is probably one of the most collaborative experiences that I’ve had in a long time,” Nicotero shares. It’s clear he harbors tremendous respect for his crew and the legacy behind the Creepshow brand.
“I’ll be honest; I felt the weight of the Romero legacy. This was my first opportunity to be a showrunner, to step out of The Walking Dead world for a minute. Being able to do something that was fully my own. But it also gave me my own sense of creative freedom. To create non-zombie related material, developing the scripts, and working with the writers and directors. I’m really excited about the stories we’ve come up with for season two, and I think I took everything I learned from season one and applied it into season two in terms of making sure that our scripts are refined but still have all the emotion, all the scares, and all the fun that they need to have.”
In the meantime, you can grab Season One on Blu-ray this week.