Shudder's 'Creepshow' is the perfect antidote to your 'elevated horror' fatigue

Several people in the cast and crew of "Creepshow," Shudder's series adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King-written horror movie, claim to have been personally affected by the film. But writer Joe Hill is in rare company, having actually contributed to both.

"I was a child actor in the first film," said Hill, the son of the prolific horror author and an accomplished genre writer in his own right. "I played a little boy named Billy, who uses a voodoo doll to get even with his abusive father for stealing his horror comics."

While shooting the original, George Romero-directed "Creepshow," Hill spent a week in the care of legendary special effects artist Tom Savini, who served as a mentor of sorts to the young actor.

"Tom Savini is like the godfather of gore. He's the original master of gross-out special makeup effects," said Hill. "He was like my first rock star: He had this badass leather jacket and biker boots and eyebrows kind of like Spock from 'Star Trek.' I spent