Shudder's Streaming 'Creepshow' TV Series Will Air On AMC Next Month
If you're a horror fan, you really should subscribe to the Shudder streaming service. But you don't need to be a subscriber to check out their latest headlining original show. Creepshow, the series revival of the classic George Romero and Stephen King horror anthology film from 1982, will soon air on the AMC network. And by soon, I mean next month.
Creepshow has proven to be a major success for Shudder and AMC wants a piece of that action. The network, which owns Shudder and has a close working relationship with Creepshow showrunner Greg Nicotero (he's an executive producer on the Walking Dead franchise) will air all six episodes of the show next month, starting on Monday, May 4 at 9:00 P.M. ET. Two episodes will air back-to-back each week each week, with the final two arriving on May 18. And since each episode consists of two 20-minute horror stories, that's a whole lot of Creepshow.
Says Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks' Entertainment Group and AMC Studios:
"Creepshow was a phenomenal success in its first season on Shudder. As we continue to experiment with show sharing across our portfolio of defining brands at AMC Networks, it felt like a no brainer to give fans of Greg Nicotero's masterful zombie work on The Walking Dead Universe a chance to see this, his passion project. Greg's Creepshow is a brilliant homage to the original classic horror film and we couldn't happier to air it on AMC, or more grateful to our colleagues at Shudder."
Like any horror anthology series, Creepshow can be hit-and-miss. But the hits are straight-up home runs, with an eclectic collection of filmmakers and actors working wonders in a low-budget playground where practical effects are king and gore is allowed to lubricate just about every single set (something I was able to witness firsthand). I do wonder if traditional television will the do the series a disservice, as one of the benefits of streaming is that you can immediately follow up one of the weaker segments with a much stronger follow-up. But I'm also happy to see a gory throwback like this getting prime real estate on a major cable network.
What's left unsaid here is whether or not this move is part of a plan on AMC's part to fill their schedule as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on film and television production. The Walking Dead will not be able to conclude its current season and even season 2 of Creepshow has been shut down. Still, if this gets more eyeballs on Shudder, a service I have literally been talking about for years...well, that's a minor silver lining.