“Creepshow” Season 4 Episode 3 Review – A Pair of Tales All About Spoiled People Getting Their Just Desserts

Jason McKinnon as Benny, Keegan Connor Tracy as Marcia in “To Grandmother’s House We Go” – Photo Credit: Michael Courtney/Shudder

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

It’s the third week of Creepshow‘s fourth season, and this week’s stories share a common theme – spoiled rotten people getting exactly what they deserve. In the first story, a spoiled rotten teenager is haunted by the consequences of his actions in an absurd, darkly comedic tale. And in the second, a stepmother must overcome her selfish tendencies to save her stepdaughter from a beast of fairy tale proportions. Both stories are fun enough for what they are, but they also feel a bit underbaked. Excellent ideas plagued by slightly messy execution.

“Parent Death Trap”

Written by Erik Sandoval and Michael Rousselet and directed by P.J. Pesce, “Parent Death Trap” tells a classic story of a spoiled rotten kid getting exactly what he deserves. When Lyle’s (Dylan Sloane) over-controlling parents push him a bit too far, he finally snaps in the most violent of ways. Even in death, though, Lyle can’t escape his parents’ obsessive need to control his life. But when a familiar face from Lyle’s past reenters his life, his house of lies threatens to come crashing down around him. As far as Creepshow stories go, “Parent Death Trap” falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. For what it is, it’s fun enough. But it’s neither horrific enough in its karmic retribution nor absurd enough in its comedy to be anything extraordinary.

The highlight of the story is easily Loretta Walson and Shaughnessy Reddens’ performances as Lyle’s parents, Gloria and Archibald. Both of them are so over-the-top, clearly luxuriating in the absurdity of their characters, that it’s easy to go along with whatever nonsense comes out of their mouth. Sloane, on the other hand, doesn’t quite reach the same levels of absurdity. He’s given a hard task, though: he needs to somehow make Lyle seem both relatable and deeply annoying. In that respect, Sloane does an admirable job. Where “Parent Death Trap” falls apart is just in its length. It’s a bit too lackadaisically paced to have any real punch, with some of the comedy quickly overstaying its welcome. Still, Sandoval and Rousselet’s script is punchy enough, and the story isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just a bit forgettable.

“To Grandmother’s House We Go”

Written by William Butler and directed by Justin Dyck, “To Grandmother’s House We Go” offers a new take on a familiar story. While taking her stepdaughter, Ruby (Emma Oliver), to her grandmother’s house, Marcia (Keegan Connor Tracy) encounters a beast who’s out for blood. But can Marcia, who never wanted to be a mother in the first place, tap into her maternal reserves and save her stepdaughter? Or is the Big Bad Wolf finally going to get Little Red Riding Hood after all? Like the previous story, “To Grandmother’s House We Go” delivers a bit of a mixed bag. Its visuals are cool, but the story itself lacks that special something. It’s a bit too short to fully make use of its premise, and its final sequence comes so far out of left field that it undercuts the emotional weight of the rest of the story.

Still, there’s a lot here to like. Keegan Connor Tracy gives Marcia this perfect aura of likable unlikability in the most impressive of ways. Marcia’s one of those characters who’s just so full of herself, so distinctly unaware of the ways her actions impact others. And it’s always a delight to see characters like that forced to grapple with their own terrible decisions. It’s just a bit unfortunate that Butler’s script speedruns the emotional reality of Marcia’s reckoning. The story’s other highlight is easily the creature design. The werewolf (Jay Bell) is delightfully fake-looking, very Old Hollywood in a way, while also being utterly horrifying. Again, the episode never uses the werewolf to its full potential. But when it’s on screen, it’s a lot of fun.

And that’s the best way to look at “To Grandmother’s House We Go”. It’s a story that never reaches its full potential but also never fails to be enjoyable.

Final Thoughts

While this week’s Creepshow never reaches the heights of last week’s, it still offers a fun watch from start to finish. Even with its lackadaisical pacing, “Parent Death Trap” easily takes the crown for the episode’s most enjoyable story. There’s just something so compelling about Walson and Reddens’ performances that it’s easy to look past the story’s other flaws. As for “To Grandmother’s House We Go”, Tracy deftly carries the story’s emotional weight on her shoulders. But the script never delves deep enough into its ideas to coalesce into anything innovative.

Part of Creepshow‘s appeal lies in the way any story can wow or disappoint at any time. And this week’s episode certainly straddles that line between awe and disappointment. But at its best, it never fails to be superbly enjoyable. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

Season four of Creepshow is available now on Shudder and AMC+. New episodes air on Fridays at 10 p.m. on AMC.