Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday! It’s no surprise that Creepshow is one of my all-time favorite horror films, I’ve talked about it quite a bit on my blog. Now, I’ve finally been able to give it the BTSS treatment! So, leave the crate alone, don’t forget the Father’s Day cake, and enjoy these fun behind the scenes pictures and trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com, IMDb.com, and facebook.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• Although his character Richard is a serious and psychotic person, Leslie Nielsen kept things fun on set. He kept a fart machine in his pocket, and right before the film’s director, George A. Romero yelled, “Action!” He’d set the machine off to intentionally make his co-star, Ted Danson (Harry) and the rest of the crew laugh.
• For the corpse of Nathan Grantham (Jon Lormer), the maggots in his eyes were a mixture of Rice Krispies and real maggots.
• There was an alternate ending to the segment Something To Tide You Over. In a panicked state, Richard called the police claiming his murder victims, Harry and Becky (Gaylen Ross) invaded his home. The two police officers investigating obviously laughed at his story, and Richard tried to show them taped evidence of the two corpses. Instead, Richard accidentally played the tape where he was down at the beach with Harry discussing his plan to kill Harry and Becky. No surprise, Richard was arrested and put on Death Row. The segment ended with Richard in the gas chamber laughing hysterically and shouting, “I can hold my breath for a long time!”

• The marble ashtray, the murder weapon used against Nathan Grantham in Father’s Day, actually makes an appearance in every segment. In The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill (Stephen King), it’s next to the cash box at The Department Of Meteors. In Something To Tide You Over, it’s on Richard’s nightstand next to his bed. In The Crate, it’s on Henry’s (Hal Holbrook) writing desk and we can see it when he’s writing to his wife, Wilma (Adrienne Barbeau). In They’re Creeping Up On You, it’s used as Upson Pratt’s (E.G. Marshall) soap dish. Finally, in the film’s wrap-around story, it’s on Billy’s (Joe Hill) desk when he starts stabbing his voodoo doll.
• When it came to his character’s expressions, Stephen King was advised to play Jordy Verrill as if he was Wile E. Coyote going over a cliff.
• Makeup Master, Tom Savini’s first fully animatronic creature he ever created was the creature from The Crate, who George Romero named Fluffy. He ended up getting help from Rob Bottin, who did the effects on The Thing, The Howling, and Total Recall.

• During filming, Stephen King took his son Joe Hill to McDonalds while they were on a break. Joe was covered in makeup that made him look beaten and cut as a joke. The woman at the drive-thru window ended up calling the police once she saw Joe.
• Speaking of Stephen King, he ended up having an allergic reaction to the makeup he had to wear for the film. He had to take shots and medication just so he could work.
• The couple at the University in The Crate are named Tabitha (Christine Forrest) and Richard (Chuck Aber) Raymond. Tabitha was named after Stephen King’s wife, Tabitha King, and Richard was named after Richard Bachman, King’s ghostwriting name.

• Stephen King and George Romero were good friends long before filming together. They always wanted to do a project together so when they had the opportunity to do this film, they immediately took it.
• For good luck, Stephen King kept an action figure of Greedo from Star Wars with him on set.
• In addition to Fluffy getting a name, the skeleton that stood at Billy’s window also got a name – Raoul.

• Viveca Lindfors (Aunt Bedelia) wanted to improvise her scene at her character’s father’s grave. She asked George Romero if she could and was granted. For the purpose of her performance, she thought about her relationship with her own father and her anger towards her ex-husband, George Tabori.
• During the first scene where Billy’s father (Tom Atkins) slaps him, Stephen King was on set and was reportedly very concerned for his son. I personally haven’t confirmed this but it’s been said that if you slow down the film, you can see that Joe actually slaps himself with his own hand.
• There was a rumor that Max von Sydow of The Exorcist was originally supposed to play Upson Pratt.

• According to George Romero, the most expensive part of making the film were the cockroaches used in They’re Creeping Up On You. Though they cost fifty cents apiece, the filmmakers bought 250,000 of them, so the total for JUST the cockroaches came to $125,000.
• While filming in his rotted seaweed zombie makeup, Ted Danson stated that his daughter was on set one day and he didn’t want to traumatize her, so he avoided her at all costs. Though he tried his best, his daughter still found him, but she wasn’t scared. She just said, “Oh, hi, Dad.”
• Tom Savini stated that when Fluffy broke out of his crate in the water, the remains of Wilma were supposed to float to the top. For unknown reasons, this little detail was deleted.