Why Stephen King Didn't Write Creepshow 2

In 1982, horror legends Stephen King and George A. Romero joined forces to bring audiences the ultimate experience in being scared. The result was "Creepshow," a gross, funny, spooky horror anthology film inspired by the old EC horror comics that Stephen King grew up reading. With a cast of familiar faces, "Creepshow" told several stories about ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and bugs. It was an all-around fun time at the movies. It was also made fairly cheaply (the budget was $8 million), which helped it turn a profit. When something like that happens, a sequel can't be far behind. Sure enough, by 1987, "Creepshow 2" had arrived. 

But this sequel was a little different from the original film. For one thing, it wasn't as good (don't get me wrong — it has its moments, but it pales in comparison to the first film). For another, while Romero and King were involved with the sequel, their contributions were different from the first film. Romero directed the original "Creepshow," but this sequel was helmed by Michael Gornick, who served as director of photography on Romero's movies "Martin," "Knightriders" (which featured a Stephen King cameo), "Dawn of the Dead," "Day of the Dead," and the original "Creepshow." And while King wrote the script for the original movie, he is not the credited writer on the sequel — Romero is. So what happened? Why didn't the scream team of Romero and King reunite for "Creepshow 2"?

Speaking with Starburst magazine (via the book "Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide" by Stephen Jones), King revealed that Richard Rubinstein, who produced the first "Creepshow," asked King to pen the script for the sequel. However, King had reservations because Romero had no intention of helming the film. King felt that he and Romero were a team, and he didn't want to write the script if Romero wasn't directing. However, Romero and King remained involved with the project. As King put it, "What we finally decided on was that I would do a scenario, which I did, this time for three stories plus a much more complex wraparound story than the one that was in the first film, that George would do the screenplay, and then we would have a mutual consultation on directors."

However, the original "Creepshow 2" script actually had five stories, not three. The two additional stories not used in the film were "Cat From Hell," about a hitman hired to murder a cat, and "Pinfall," which, according to "Creepshows," was about a "zombie bowling team" (can I get a "hell yeah"?). However, when Warner Bros., who distributed the first "Creepshow," passed on the sequel, the budget was cut, and these two stories were cut along with it. 

"Cat From Hell" would end up in "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie," which Romero co-wrote. But the zombie bowling team story has never been adapted anywhere — which is a bummer, because according to Romero, it was a good one. "I wrote it from a couple of pages that Steve had sketched out," Romero told Cinefantastique (via "Creepshows"). "It was my total favorite."