E. G. Marshall

During his final heist, a master thief catches the U.S. President in an extra-marital affair that leaves a woman dead. Should he run...or stay to fight the White House itself?

The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster. It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing a big family celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's perennial bad luck is aggravated by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon. —Rob Hartill / edited by Hans Delbruck Clark Wilhelm Griswold wants to have a special "Griswold Family Christmas", and after months of careful planning he invites both of his parents, both of his wife, Ellen's parents even his uncle Louis and his senile aunt Bethany. Clark even prepares his house for Christmas with over 20,000 lights and a tree. As Christmas eve comes, Clark will soon realize that a series of unfortunate events will start to unravel for him. Can Clark keep it together and understand the true meaning of Christmas? —John Wiggins After the colossal blunders in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) and National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), well-meaning Clark Griswold wants to have a good old-fashioned Christmas. But it takes more than good intentions to organise the ideal holiday. And this year, Clark will have to work twice as hard to create the perfect illusion. After all, no one can work miracles when unsophisticated relatives crash your party, monumentally defective electronics threaten to blow the house to smithereens, and a cinematic brush with the law jeopardises the celebration. Perhaps one thing can save the day: the Griswolds must work together. But how hard can it be to get into the spirit and host the most memorable Christmas vacation? —Nick Riganas

A stern and tyrannical father named Stan (Tom Atkins) gets angry when he finds his young son Billy (Joe Hill) reading a grisly horror comic book entitled "Creepshow". After arguing with his wife (Iva Jean Saraceni) and slapping Billy, Stan throws the comic in the garbage. A skeletal figure appears outside Billy's window, the Creep, who hosts the stories in the comic book. A wind draws the comic out of the garbage can, and the five stories within come to life, dissolving from illustrated comic frames to live-action frames at the beginning of each story, and vice versa at the end of each story (each story is linked by short, animated interludes). 1st story: "Father's Day" -- The Granthams are a wealthy family with a macabre annual celebration. Sylvia Grantham (Carrie Nye) gathers with her family members Richard (Warner Shook) and Cass (Elizabeth Regan), and the eccentric Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) on Father's Day. While they are waiting for Bedelia to arrive, the family members explain Bedelia's back story to Cass's new husband, Hank (Ed Harris). It seems that Bedelia's father, the now-deceased family patriarch Nathan (Jon Lormer), was pathologically jealous of Bedelia. After Nathan had her lover murdered in what was written off as a "hunting accident", Bedelia went over the edge. While caring for the elderly Nathan, Bedelia snapped and bashed Nathan's head in with a marble ashtray. The family conspired to make it look like an accident, and Nathan's massive wealth was divided among them equally. Ever since the time of the murder, which occurred on Father's Day, Bedelia visits her father's grave at the family estate, then joins the others in the mansion for dinner. This year, as Bedelia sits on Nathan's grave, Nathan's rotting corpse (John Amplas) emerges from the ground and attacks her, strangling her to death. Nathan then exacts revenge on the rest of the family. Hank is squashed with a falling gravestone, the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Nann Mogg) is killed, and Nathan twists Sylvia's head off of her body. In a final gruesome joke, he 'surprises' Cass and Richard with Sylvia's head, decorated to look like a Father's Day cake, complete with burning candles. Story #2: "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" -- Jordy Verrill (Stephen King) is a simpleton who lives alone on his family's rundown farm. A meteor crashes to Earth, landing in his field, and Jordy has aspirations to sell the meteor to the local college for a small fortune -- two hundred dollars. He tries to pick up the meteor but it's too hot, and burns his fingers. Jordy's solution is to pour a bucket of water on it, but that causes it to split in two. A dejected Jordy sees his dream of a two hundred dollar windfall go down the drain. Still, he resolves to try and sell the halves, which are now covered in a greenish liquid. Later that night, the crater where the meteor landed is now covered in weird green plant life, as is everything the meteor came into contact with. Jordy notices his fingers have green wounds on them, presumably from the burns, but later he discovers the alien vegetation, which has now covered the entire farm. Jordy realizes that the alien plant life is now growing on his skin. As the night progresses, Jordy becomes covered in shaggy green weeds, causing him to itch. Jordy's itching skin causes him to run a bath, but before he can get in, the image of his deceased father (Bingo O'Malley) appears to him in the mirror and warns him against getting into the water, since the water is what makes the weeds grow. Jordy gets in anyway, and when morning dawns, Jordy has become a gigantic lumbering mass of alien vegetation. Desperate, he shoots himself in the head with a shotgun, revealing that the deep green weeds have even penetrated his brain. Afterwards, a radio announcer is heard forecasting heavy rainfall, suggesting that the extraterrestrial plant growth will further spread to surrounding areas. Story #3: "Something to Tide You Over" -- Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is awakened by a knock at his door from Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen). It seems that Harry has been having an affair with Richard's wife, Becky (Gaylen Ross), and Richard has come to confront him. Instead of attacking him, Richard plays him a cassette of Becky's terrified voice begging Harry for help. Harry accompanies Richard back to his private beachfront estate, where Richard forces him at gunpoint to climb into a hole in the sand on the beach. Burying Harry up to his neck, Richard then connects a television that displays live footage of Becky, also buried up to her neck in another location on the beach. The tide is already starting to come in and wash over her face. Harry realizes that they will both be dead soon; there is no reasoning with Richard, who seems to take great delight in his revenge. Richard abandons Harry and goes back to his beach house, where he watches the drowning deaths of both Becky and Harry on the video monitors. Before the last wave covers Harry's head, he vows revenge on Richard. Later that night, Richard is alone in the beach house when he seems to hear voices calling him. While he showers, two shuffling figures enter his home, defying the many security cameras and alarms that Richard has in place. When Richard emerges from the shower, he hears somebody in his house and immediately thinks it's Harry, somehow still alive. He is terrified to discover that the invaders in his home are the water-logged corpses of both Becky and Harry, both of them zombies covered in seaweed with green, pruning skin. Richard's gun has no effect; the zombies taunt him the same way he taunted them, and we finally see Richard, now completely insane, buried on the beach in the same way, waiting for the tide to come in. "I can hold my breath a looooooooooong time!" Richard yells crazily. Story #4: "The Crate" -- A janitor at Horlicks University, Mike (Don Keefer), discovers an old dusty crate behind a grate under a basement stairwell. He calls Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver) to investigate with him, drawing him away from a stuffy faculty gathering. At the gathering is Dexter's good friend, Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook). Henry is married to an obnoxious shrew of a woman named Wilma (Adrienne Barbeau). Wilma, who is continually drunk, embarrasses herself and Henry at the party, and it seems as if she is about to ruin the friendship Henry shares with Dex. Henry, who is somewhat meek, fantasizes about ways to murder her. Back at the university, Dex and Mike pull the crate out from under the stairs and realize that it appears to have been under there since the late 1800s. A stamp on the outside of the wooden box indicates that it contains specimens from an arctic expedition. When the two of them open it, they sense movement from inside, and Mike is attacked by something when he puts his arm in the crate. Whatever it is pulls Mike inside, apparently eating him as it goes, and Dex catches a glimpse of a horrible, shaggy beast with huge teeth. Dex runs blindly from the lab and finds the only other person in the hall, a student named Charlie Gereson (Robert Harper). Charlie goes down into the the laboratory and finds it covered in blood, with no sign of the crate or the creature. Charlie and Dex find the crate back under the stairs, and when Charlie attempts to investigate, the creature attacks him and eats him, too. Dex is afraid to go to the police; instead he goes to Henry's house, and he arrives while Wilma is away for the evening. He tells Henry the story about the creature, and Henry knows Dexter has to be telling the truth. Henry hatches a plan. He gives Dex sleeping pills and leaves him locked in his study, asleep. Henry writes Wilma a note, concocting a bogus story designed to lure her to the laboratory. He gets there ahead of her and cleans up the evidence of the blood. Wilma can't resist Henry's trap, and she shows up at the university as planned. Henry lures her under the stairs and her obnoxious ranting draws the creature out of its crate. It eats Wilma before Henry's eyes; Henry then chains it inside the crate and dumps the crate into the deep water of a nearby quarry. When Dexter wakes up the next day, he and Henry vow to keep the secret of what really happened, and let the authorities deal with the disappearances. The final frames show the creature in its watery trap, tearing the crate to pieces and presumably escaping. 5th and final story: "They're Creeping Up on You!" -- Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a neurotic business tycoon who lives in a sterile, white penthouse apartment atop a skyscraper in a major city. He communicates with the outside world via the telephone, treating his employees and subordinates in a cutthroat, heartless manner. One phone caller informs him that an employee, Norman Castonmeyer, has committed suicide because Pratt fired him. Pratt seems delighted rather than upset. Pratt is obsessed with cleanliness and has a huge phobia of bugs. Unfortunately, he keeps finding cockroaches in his apartment, which sets him on a rampage to correct the situation. He places telephone calls to the building superintendent (David Early) and makes thinly veiled racial slurs in an attempt to intimidate the man. As Pratt finds more bugs in his apartment, someone gets through on his private line. Norman Castonmeyer's widow, Lenore (voiced by Gwen Verdon {credits say "Ann Muffly (voice) (uncredited)"}), calls Pratt to curse him for her husband's death. Pratt is amused by her melodramatic sadness, until the cockroaches multiply. He finds them in his food processor, bits of them surfacing in the grain cereal he eats. An electrical blackout occurs, and the roaches attack, swarming by the thousands everywhere in Pratt's apartment. Pratt retreats to his "safe room", a climate-controlled sleep chamber, just as the phone rings. Lenore Castonmeyer's voice curses him over and over "I hope you die! I hope you die!", and Pratt discovers his bed swarming with roaches. The roaches quickly cover him and Pratt suffers a heart attack. The power returns, the lights come back on, and the roaches are nowhere to be seen. Pratt's body lies inside the glass sleep chamber. The superintendent knocks at Pratt's door and laughs when Pratt doesn't answer, asking "Bugs got your tongue?" Suddenly, swarms of roaches burst from Pratt's body, so many that they nearly fill the glass chamber. The wraparound story with Billy concludes the next morning, when two garbage men (Marty Schiff and Tom Savini) discover the comic book next to the trash can in front of Billy's house. They leaf through it reverently and discover that someone has clipped a mail-in coupon for a genuine Haitian voodoo doll. Inside the house, Billy's father, Stan suddenly suffers neck pain, while up in his bedroom, Billy stabs a voodoo doll in his form of his cruel father repeatedly with a pin as payback for Stan tossing out his favorite comic book. Like each story in the comic book, this live action scene of Billy stabbing the voodoo doll becomes an illustrated comic book picture, and as the camera pulls back, we see that the comic's macabre "host", "The Creep", is holding the second issue of the "Creepshow" comic book in his boney hands, with Billy and his voodoo doll adorning the cover. The Creep titters, and a nearby candle flame goes out, plunging the scene into darkness. Credits begin to roll... (At the end of the credits, we once again hear The Creep's laughter).

As the Allied armies close in, the Germans decide to blow up the last Rhine bridge, trapping their own men on the wrong side. But will it happen? In the last days of World War II, the Allies look for a bridge still left standing across the Rhine, in order to launch an assault on the centre of Germany. The last bridge which meets both sides' criteria's at Remagen, and both sides race to reach it first, but for very different purposes. —Anthony Hughes <husnock31@hotmail.com> March, 1945. The allies are closing in on Nazi Germany. The problem for the Americans and British on the Western Front is crossing the Rhine River, a natural obstacle to the invasion of Germany. The Germans have blown all of the bridges on the Rhine, except one - the bridge at Remagen. US forces are headed for it, spearheaded by a platoon lead by war-weary Lt Hartman. The Germans have sent a top-notch infantry officer, Major Kreuger, to take over the defense of the bridge and blow it up. The confrontation between the two could hasten the end of the war, or result in tens of thousands more casualties. —grantss

The citizens of a small Texas town become worried and panicked when a local bad boy escapes prison and heads for his hometown. Most everyone in town thinks that Sheriff Calder is merely a puppet of rich oil-man Val Rogers. When it is learned that local baddie Bubber Reeves has escaped prison, Rogers' son is concerned because he is having an affair with Reeves' wife. It seems many others in town feel they may have reasons to fear Reeves. Calder's aim is to bring Reeves in alive, unharmed. Calder will have to oppose the powerful Rogers on one hand and mob violence on the other, in his quest for justice. —Buxx Banner <bux572@aol.com> When the troublemaker Charlie "Bubber" Reeves breaks the prison with a dangerous inmate, his partner kills a driver on the road and Bubber takes the blame. The tycoon Val Rogers rules his small hometown, but Sheriff Calder keeps his independence from the powerful man. Jason 'Jake' Rogers, who is the son of Val Rogers and Bubber's friend, has a love affair with Bubber's wife Anna Reeves and he is concerned with the reaction of his former friend. While the local vigilantes organize a manhunt, Calder believes in Bubber's innocence and asks Anna to meet Bubber with Jake and convince her husband to surrender to him. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A native of Tarl, Texas, Bubber Reeves is one of two that has just escaped from prison together, for Bubber two years into his almost completed sentence. While not a model citizen, Bubber was in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Many that know Bubber, including Tarl County Sheriff Calder and most residents of town, believe Bubber will head back to Tarl as his wife, Anna Reeves, still lives there. Calder, a farmer at heart who is biding his time in the job, which he hates, until he can afford to go back to being a farmer, was appointed on the pull of Val Rogers, the wealthiest and most powerful man in town. As such, Calder is caught in the middle, as most believe he is in Val's back pocket in doing what Val asks of him. Val is arguably the only person in town that doesn't know that his son, Jake Rogers, who has not been able to live up to family expectations, is having an affair with Anna, the two and Bubber friends since childhood, and Jake and Anna who had dated before she married Bubber. In that vein, Anna does truly love both in different ways. As the people in town await Bubber's return, including his parents, his mother in particular who loves him but blames herself for the way he turned out, the moral decay of the town in general is highlighted, many who have their own view of what should happen to Bubber and how to achieve it to their satisfaction against what they perceive will happen in part on their view of Calder. That moral decay is only heightened as many mistakenly believe Bubber the perpetrator in the murder of a traveling salesman. —Huggo

During the War of 1812, Louisiana buccaneer Jean Lafitte assists the Americans in defending New Orleans against the attacking British war fleet. During the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes--and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> World-renowned pirate Jean Lafitte is drawn in to the defense of New Orleans during the War of 1812 by his love for the daughter of then-Governor of Louisiana Claiborne. He is betrayed by the Americans and must deal with the stubborn General Andrew Jackson to get his crew released from jail. The two strike a bargain and Lafitte comes to Jackson's rescue in the defense of Louisiana, only to be outcast again. —R.B.

Caught in a snowstorm, a Calcutta-to-Paris flight crashes in the Swiss Alps. When the aircraft is spotted by an observation plane atop Bald Mountain, the airline organizes a rescue party to search for survivors. The townspeople of the local village advise Rivial, an airline official, to seek the counsel of Zachary Teller, a retired mountain guide who now tends sheep and takes care of his troubled younger brother Chris. Zachary warns Solange, the head of the rescue expedition, that the sheer south side of the mountain is the only possible way to the top of Bald Mountain in winter, though it is a much longer climb than the northern route. Zachary is then asked to lead the rescue party, but declines, as his last expedition up the mountain ended in an English tourist's death. The next day, Zachary's close friend Servoz is killed trying to guide the expedition up the north face. Learning that the airline has abandoned the rescue mission, Chris asks Zachary to lead him up the mountain in order to recover the money, gold and other valuables of the dead passengers. When his older brother refuses, Chris threatens to attempt the dangerous trek alone, so Zachary relents. The next morning, the two brothers begin their assent of Bald Mountain. They soon reach a sheer section of the mountain, the same location where the English tourist was killed. Despite Zachary's trepidation, the two successfully scale the difficult section, but the inexperienced and exhausted Chris later falls while attempting to climb a cliff. Securely held by his rope, Chris is pulled to safety by Zachary. The younger Teller then insists that they quit the climb, but Zachay assures him that the worst is over, as they should reach the mountain's peak by noon. Though Chris still dreams of the riches that await them, Zachary now proudly sees the climb as an accomplishment, for no one has ever successfully ascended Bald Mountain in winter. Reaching the crash site, however, Zachary's pride quickly turns to shame, as Chris gleefully strips the dead of their valuables. Inside the wrecked plane, the brothers find a young Hindu girl, the sole survivor of the crash. While Chris shows little interest in the girl, other than her diamond nose ring, Zachary nurses her throughout the night. Chris insists that they leave the girl behind, so that no one will know the origins of their newfound riches, but Zachary builds a sled in which to take the young Hindu down the mountain. Insane with greed, Chris attempts to strangle the girl, only to be fought off by his older brother. The next morning, Zachary and the Hindu girl head down the mountain, with Chris, weighed down by his ill-gotten booty, struggling behind them. Despite his brother's warnings, Chris attempts to cross an insecure snow bridge and plummets thousands of feet to his death. At his village, a bereaved Zachary claims that it was his idea to rob the plane, stating that he forced Chris to go along with him and that Chris really saved the Hindu girl. Though no one believes him, Zachary insists that Solange write down his version in his report to the airline. As Zachary heads home with Marie, a widow who has proposed to him on numerous occasions, Solange tears up his report. Father Belacchi, the village priest, tells the old mountaineer that he had never heard him lie before and insists that Zachary attend the upcoming Sunday Mass in order to be forgiven for that sin.

Callow, rich Ensign Willis Seward "Willie" Keith (Robert Francis) reports for duty aboard the Caine, his first assignment. Homeported in Pearl Harbor, he is disappointed to find the Caine to be a small, battle-scarred destroyer-minesweeper. Its gruff captain, Lieutenant Commander William H. DeVriess (Tom Tully), has almost completely discarded discipline, and the crew has become slovenly and superficially undisciplined - although their performance is excellent. Keith has already met the executive officer, Lieutenant Stephen Maryk (Van Johnson), and is introduced to the communications officer, Lieutenant Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray), a novelist in civilian life. Keith has an opportunity to transfer off the ship for a more glamorous command, but decides to stay aboard. However, Keith remains frustrated with the ship's lack of discipline, despite his own shortcomings. The captain is soon replaced by Lieutenant Commander Phillip Queeg (Humphrey Bogart), a no-nonsense career veteran and graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He quickly attempts to re-instill discipline into the crew but soon displays erratic behavior. He regularly clicks a pair of steel ball bearings in his hands. At first, Keith is elated to have a strict commander. The next day, the Caine is assigned to tow a target for gunnery practice. Queeg is distracted berating Keith and Keefer over a crewman's appearance after giving an order to turn, and he cuts off the helmsman's attempt to warn him that they are turning back on their own towline. After the Caine continues in a circle and cuts the towline, Queeg tries to cover up his responsibility for the incident. Other incidents serve to undermine Queeg's authority. When strawberries go missing from the officers' mess, the captain-once again clicking the bearings-goes to absurd lengths to hunt down the culprit. Despite being told by one of his officers that the mess staff had eaten the fruit, Queeg insists on believing otherwise. He relates a story to Maryk and Keefer of when he, as an ensign, was commended for unmasking a cheese thief. Under enemy fire, Queeg abandons escorting a group of landing craft during an amphibious assault long before they reach the fiercely defended shore, instead dropping a yellow dye marker in the water and leaving the landing craft to fend for themselves, much to the crew's disgust. Afterward, Queeg speaks to his officers, not explicitly apologizing, but bending enough to ask for their support. His disgruntled subordinates do not respond. Keefer begins trying to convince Maryk that he should relieve Queeg on the basis of mental illness under Article 184 of Navy Regulations. At first Maryk displays loyalty to Queeg, even threatening Keefer with a charge of insubordination. Maryk begins keeping a journal, documenting Queeg's behavior. Keefer convinces Maryk and Keith to join him in presenting the case to Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.. While aboard Halsey's flagship, Keefer realizes that Queeg's documented actions could be interpreted as reasonable attempts to instill discipline, leaving the officers open to a charge of conspiring to mutiny. When Halsey's aide tells the Caine officers that Halsey will see them, Keefer talks Maryk and Keith out of making the complaint. Matters come to a head during a violent typhoon. Maryk urgently recommends that they steer into the waves and take on ballast, but Queeg refuses to deviate from the fleet-ordered heading and declines Maryk's request for ballast. He fears that it would foul the fuel lines with salt water. When Queeg appears to become paralyzed in action, Maryk relieves him, with Keith's support. Upon returning to port, Maryk and Keith face a court-martial for mutiny. After questioning them and Keefer, Lieutenant Barney Greenwald (José Ferrer) reluctantly accepts the job of Maryk's defense counsel, which a number of other lawyers have already turned down. The proceedings do not go well, as Keefer has carefully covered himself and denies any complicity. Navy psychiatrist Dr. Dixon (Whit Bissell) testifies that Queeg is not mentally ill, but when Queeg is called to testify, he exhibits paranoid behavior and begins to click the ball bearings together in his hand under Greenwald's tough cross-examination. Maryk is acquitted, and Keith is spared any charges. The Caine officers celebrate the trial's results at a hotel. Keefer shows up, telling Maryk privately he did not have the guts not to. Greenwald appears and clears his "guilty conscience". Apparently drunk, he berates the officers for not appreciating the years of danger and hardship endured by Queeg, a career navy man. He lambastes Maryk, Keith, and finally Keefer, for not supporting their captain when he most needed it. Under his attack, Maryk and Keith admit that if they had given Queeg the support he had asked for, he might not have "frozen" during the typhoon. Greenwald turns to Keefer, denouncing him as the real "author" of the mutiny, who "hated the Navy" and manipulated the others while keeping his own hands officially clean. The lawyer exposes Keefer's double-dealing to the other officers, throws a glassful of champagne in his face and tells Keefer that if he wishes to do anything about the drink in the face, the two could fight outside. Keefer does not respond to the challenge and the other officers depart, leaving him alone in the room. A few days later, Keith has received his promotion to Lieutenant, junior grade and reports to his new ship. He is surprised to find he is serving again under DeVriess, who has been promoted to Commander. DeVriess lets Keith know that he will start with a clean slate.