Creepshow - Model Kid

 Joe Aurora (Brock Duncan) loves his monster movies, monster masks, model monster kits, monster comics, monster posters, monster figures, etc. He loves to dress up like Dracula, talk to his mom like Lugosi, put on his old Universal movies through the projector, and get lost in his painting of his hand-sized model figures. He doesn't have a lot of friends, but Joe has a special bond with his mom, June (Tyner Rushing). Unfortunately for Joe, June is dying of cancer, eventually passing while watching an Abbott and Costello film, leaving the boy with his mother's sweet, hard-working sister, Barb (Jana Allen) and bullying, unemployed, crude uncle Kevin (Kevin Dillon, sort of laying it on a bit thick as this wrestling-watching, gut-protruding, course-and-gruff Neanderthal). Of course Barb tries to hide her bruises while working more than one job, while Kevin sees fit to bust in on Joe, complain about his love of horror, and dump a lot of the kid's stuff in the trash outside just because he's an asshole. There is also a neighborhood bully that skateboards down the road giving Joe the finger. Too bad the Frankenstein Monster that lifts up the bully and snaps his neck isn't manifested for real. Uncle Kevin, however, won't be so lucky.

I am all about Joe's room, and it looks like someone raided Tom Savini's warehouse for props and decor. It isn't difficult rooting for Joe since I was also a kid who loved him some classic horror and often felt a bit alone in such passion. Losing his mom is certainly a gutpunch, as well as, being saddled with the foul Kevin, who seems to be the epitome of the layabout grouch looking to make his wife's nephew's life a pain in the ass. But eventually mom appears to him through his projector and a special Creepshow order provides Joe with a figure in the form of Kevin. And that trick with conjuring monster favorites like The Mummy and the Gillman...Joe manages to get that whole manifestation trick to work. If only Joe had gotten even with that damned neighborhood bully! 

In this episode Nicotero makes sure to light certain scenes red or other colorful backgrounds behind the emerging monsters for comic effect. This is obviously inspired by the film, since that was an aesthetic choice/option that popped off the screen. A body torn in half is rather cool, but that really is as grisly as the segment of the episode gets. This was partnered with the episode "Public Television of the Dead".

Joe's transformation into a monster he always found near and dear to his personality shocks Barb as much as finding her husband "not in one piece". I dug this if just for Joe's room and how so much is peppered throughout it for buffs like me to groove to. Yes, I could see this was a reworking of the wraparound of the Creepshow film with Dillon sort of substituting for Atkins, and Joe resembling Stephen King's son. 3.5/5