Creepshow 2: My Thoughts on The Raft

Now first of all, this is not really a review but rather a few thoughts that I have on The Raft. I might do a Creepshow 2 review later on down the road. First off, when I was younger I thought this was the best segment by far and I would always be freaked out by the way the tar thing ate people. Hell, we had a campground that had a raft like that out in the lake and I was frightened to go out there because I thought that think would kill me. It kind of rode the coattails of Jaws in making me a little scared of the water. Now, when I see it, it reminds me of those emotions that I felt and like most people who have seen Creepshow 2 this is my favorite segment in the whole movie (second being Old Chief Wooden Head and third being The Hitchhiker).

The story starts off with the kids in the car, smoking weed and laughing about the adventures yet to come. It’s totally 80s and you can really tell by the hair, the clothing and the music blasting on the radio. And once the group finally gets to the raft and one of the guys notices it eating a duck and swimming towards them, that’s where the bad acting and dialogue come in. Oh boy, this is 80s cheese at its best. Of course, with a film like this and given the year it was made in, most people can forgive it for it’s bad acting because the film is a little campy at times.

Now, when we finally do see this tar thing eat people, I was freaked out… when I was younger. You see the tar cover the girl in all its sloppy, slimy glory and you can see it melt the skin off of her body. It was so graphic and yet there was little bloodshed. Back then; I just imagine the burning sensation. As I look at it now and I notice how the monster eats people (by shooting it’s tendrils up the persons leg or arm and grabbing them into it’s soupy body) it reminds me so much of the ’88 version of The Blob. This was pre ’88 Blob too so it was pretty cool to see it. That’s another thing I want to bring up; when you see the tendrils pierce through the people’s leg I could feel my muscles tightening.

Of course the ending is the big slap in the balls when the monster does get the survivor man and we notice the sign that says no swimming. I face-palmed myself when I was younger. I screamed, “C’mon on!! All you had to do was look a little to your side!” My overall impression of the movie, now, is it’s still watchable and for kids it can be pretty scary ‘cause this is the most intense segment in the whole film. I forgot who said this but they also wanted to see it happen for The Crate from the original Creepshow, but they wanted to see a prequel or a feature-length movie of The Raft. I would love to see that too, provided that they don’t use CGI.