Creepshow season 1, episode 5 recap: Night of the Paw/Times is Tough in Musky Holler

Episode 5 of Shudder’s Creepshow offers up a mysterious and mischievous, wish-granting monkey paw and a town exacting revenge on a twisted Mayor.

[NOTE: I don’t intend to give away all the scares or analyze them to death, but just give an idea of what the individual Creepshow story is about.]

After brief moments with The Creeper, this episode of Creepshow kicks with brakes screeching, thunder rumbling and a woman on the run. Her named is Angela (Hannah Barefoot), and she quickly gets seriously injured in a car accident. A man named Avery “Whitey” Whitlock (Bruce Davison) rescues her, giving her medical attention (though he must remove some of her ruined fingers in the process). Angela is highly unappreciative at first, doesn’t trust him and wishes to leave. He notes (probably accurately) that the interstate’s flooded, that she’s not in good health, and that she’ll need her strength “for the journeys ahead.”

He then gives a gift and a story. Whitey’s wife, Marjorie (Susanah Deveroux) had acquired a magical, wish-granting monkey paw from a fakir. It was just in time to address their funeral home’s ensuing bankruptcy. Unfortunately, she got her wish for financial security in an unwanted way, as it involved life insurance. When Whitey wished her alive again, it also proved to not be exactly how he wanted ut. Now, with Angela in the picture, can she help resolve his misery?

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The Monkey’s Paw is sort of an old tale. It goes at least as far back as W. W. Jacobs tale, published in his anthology called The Lady of the Barge. There have been many versions of the tale in books, and also on radio, stage, and screen. This Creepshow segment could be a nice launching off point for a “deep dive” into Monkey’s Paws many iterations. It also features another undead vengeance theme, quite common to horror anthologies of this nature (Tales from the Crypt, for example).

Times is Tough in Musky Holler

In this Creepshow segment, Mayor Lester M. Barclay (Dane Rhodes) and his administration is being held captive. The one seemingly in charge of incarcerating him, Lottie (Tracey Bonner) reveals the extent of his immorality and corruption. Not only did he apparently exploit a crisis to gain power, but he was an unruly usurper at that. There are allegations of murder, and a Sheriff (David Arquette) has apparently raped at least one person. Leslianne Dowd (Karen Strassman) is apparently in hot water for being a gossip.

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After they are strapped into chairs underground, the chairs are elevated so their heads peep out through holes in a stadium’s floor. What ensues is a unique form of punishment, and we learn the kind of crisis Lester utilized to gang up on political rivals. None of his goons can protect him now, despite his claims that he protected the town. However, it’s safe to say not everyone wanted that kind of “protection.” Like many self-appointed power-grabbers, Lester proves only as powerful as circumstances will allow, and now his deeds come back to bite him…and not just with a light nibble.

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