'Creepshow' returns as a 'Survivor Type'

“lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers” -Richard Pine

As a kid I have always wanted to direct a film of Stephen King’s “Survivor Type”. The short story was first published in a book called “Terrors” from 1982. But I got to read “Survivor Type” from the book “Skeleton Crew” (1985), which also features “The Raft“, “Gramma” and “The Mist“. I always felt this was King’s most brutal story because of his examination of the pain threshold that a human being could handle. No. I’m not into sadomasochism. It’s about a surgeon that is shipwrecked on an island and then he starts cutting pieces of himself, to feed himself, to survive. King’s writing made my young imagination explode with barbaric visuals of self-mutilation. I read that short story with my eyes closed, if that’s possible. Since then, “Survivor Type” and the name “Richard Pine” has haunted me. The story has been on my list of adaptations that I wanted to make into a film.

I’m happy and bitter (the director in me) to announce that Shudder is making an adaption of “Survivor Type” for their upcoming TV series, “Creepshow.”

Speaking about “Creepshow”, “The Walking Dead”, Greg Nicotero is set to be executive producer, director and oversee the creative elements of the show.

Creepshow is a project very close to my heart! It is one of those titles that embraces the true spirit of horror… thrills and chills celebrated in one of its truest art forms, the comic book come to life! I’m honored to continue the tradition in the ‘spirit’ which it was created.
– Greg Nicotero

Hopefully, Nicotero will direct the “Survivor Type” as different directors will be directing an episode each. It’s also good to know that both King and his son, Joe Hill, will be joining the series. Stephen King actually made his screenwriting and acting debut on the original “Creepshow” (1982).

“Creepshow” is a 1982 anthology feature film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, that had two sequel films and a spin-off comic. The movie is a homage of the EC and DC horror comics of the 1950s. My favorite short from the anthology is “They’re Creeping Up on You!“, about a businessman with mysophobia, who’s trapped in a room with roaches. I got to see this at the Crossbay theater (now closed) in Queens, New York and it made me terrified of roaches. Hey, I lived in the hood and you turned on those lights in the kitchen, there would be thousands of roaches scattering! Just imaging the trauma of being six-years-old and your evil cousin locking you in the kitchen with the lights off.

There is no set date for the “Creepshow” TV series but the show is slated for 2019. Below you will find the Plot Summary of “Survivor Type” and the Trailers of “Creepshow 1, 2 & 3.”

“Survivor Type” is written as the diary of a disgraced surgeon, Richard Pine (nee Richard Pinzetti), who, while attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin on a cruise ship, is abruptly interrupted when some form of disaster occurs deep within the ship and it rapidly sinks. After barely escaping the sinking ship and a storm that arrives soon after on an otherwise-empty lifeboat, Pine finds himself marooned on a tiny island in the Pacific with very limited supplies and no food. A self-proclaimed “survivor” type, Pine bitterly whiles away the time by using a lifeboat logbook and pencil as a diary, detailing his rise and fall in the medical profession and his determination to survive this ordeal, get even with the people that “screwed him over”, and return to prosperity.

Over time, the diary entries documenting Pine’s day-to-day activities become more and more disjointed and raving, revealing his slow mental decay and eventual insanity caused by starvation, isolation, and drug use. Determined to hold out for rescue, he goes to horrifying lengths to survive. After breaking his ankle while attempting to signal an airplane, he amputates his foot, then realizes he has to eat it to survive. He continues to amputate his own limbs to use as a food source, ingesting the heroin as a crude anesthetic during the operations. Although he initially keeps track of the dates (the entries begin January 26), his increasing mental instability causes him to lose perception of days passed (finally ending his entries with “Febba” and “Fe/40?”). His last few diary entries, barely comprehensible, indicate that he has cut off and eaten everything below his waist, as well as his ears, and drools uncontrollably as he ponders which body part to consume next. The diary entries end when he cuts off his left hand to eat. (“lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers”).”

Creepshow Trailer: