Family Reunion
The Perry family had previously been attacked by some kind of creature during a trip to Ireland. Ever since that day, the father, Robert (Stephen McHattie), has been keeping his son Bobby (Daniel Terrance Kelly) chained up and locked away from the world until a cure for the "illness" he contracted from the creature can be found. Meanwhile, Bobby's mother Janice (Patricia Tallman), desperate to be reunited with her son, enlists the help of Trudy (Marilyn Rockafellow), a social worker, to regain custody of Bobby by any means necessary. It's ultimately later revealed that there's more to Bobby's "illness" than meets the eye, and that Janice had a very good reason for why she wanted her son back.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: Between Bobby's bratty attitude and his mother's tearful manipulation, the pair of them are monsters on every conceivable level. Admittedly, though, the ending indicates that their relationship is genuinely affectionate, in its own way.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Werewolves are inherently monstrous on every physical and mental level, as Bobby takes pride in being both a brat and a killer while Janice has no problems lying to the government worker she meets with about her husband's intentions.
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Janice's attacks actually kill Robert and Trudy? Or were they merely knocked unconscious?
- Antagonistic Offspring: Bobby grows to loathe his father as his werewolf nature overrides his mind and soul with pure evil.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Janice gets Bobby back at the end of the episode, after killing her ex-husband and the social worker she manipulated to help her. The episode ends as mother and child lovingly embrace as they howl at the moon.
- Big Damn Reunion: Janice and Bobby reuniting at the very end of the episode, played entirely in slow motion to emphasize how wondrous it is for them.
- Big Eater: Robert brings Bobby some lunch when he awakens from his nightmare. As part of his canine nature, he takes a ravenously huge bite out of his hamburger and laps up his soda like a dog.
- Bittersweet Ending: On the bitter end, the Perrys' situation is in the air, concerning how Robert, Bobby, and Janice will manage being made up of a human and two killer werewolves (if Janice's cold cock didn't outright kill him). On the sweet side, Bobby and Janice lovingly reunite after months apart, and they share a joyful howl to mark the occasion.
- Blatant Lies: The yarns that Janice spins to Trudy to gain her sympathy for Bobby's imprisonment.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Bobby has a negative character arc that leads him to become one of these. He starts out rather compliant and peaceful, but as the episode goes on, he becomes disrespectful towards his father and has no regard for the people he slaughters, only caring about them to prove his wolf-hood.
- Bullet Time: The final minutes of the episode play out in slow motion, as Janice gets Robert and Trudy out of the way and reunites with Bobby.
- Catapult Nightmare: Bobby has a nightmare of a monstrous face in the darkness calling his name, prompting his father to give him some food for comfort.
- Chiaroscuro: Bobby's transformation at the end of the episode has him alternating between lit up and shrouded in darkness.
- Crocodile Tears: Janice sheds them to Trudy as she begs her to help get Bobby back.
- Decoy Damsel: Janice turns on the theatrics to get Trudy to help her find Bobby, killing her at the end of the episode when she learns the truth and refuses to let her see the kid.
- Establishing Character Moment: Before Bobby transforms in the opening act, Robert gently strokes his head as the wolf within takes hold of the boy, driving home that despite Janice's claims to Trudy, her husband is not the heartless and abusive ogre she paints him as.
- Evil Feels Good: Janice and Bobby feel this way after becoming werewolves, barely batting an eye over killing people, even their own loved ones.
- Femme Fatale: Janice plays the role of one to Trudy as a side effect of the inherent evilness that being a werewolf provides.
- Fiery Redhead: Janice, the werewolf mother who shamelessly lies to Trudy and kills both her and her ex-husband.
- Get Out!: Robert tells this to Janice when she tries to get Bobby back, resorting to firing his gun at the ceiling to force her to obey.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: Explored three ways throughout the episode:
- Robert wants to shelter Bobby and cure him of his lycanthropy so he's not a threat to society, but his approach is rather controlling, to the point where it borders on aggressively so.
- Bobby just wants to be free and embrace his werewolf nature, but he neglects the fact that his werewolf side kills people.
- Janice genuinely loves Bobby and wants him back, but she embellishes her husband as an abusive monster, lies to a social worker's face, and sheds crocodile tears in order to achieve it.
- I Have No Family!: The opening phone call has Robert telling Janice that ever since she and Bobby were infected with lycanthropy, they were no longer a family.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: George Romero worked with Tom Savini on many of his films, and Savini directed this episode of the series Romero produced.
- Karma Houdini: Janice gets away with lying to Trudy, the social worker that she kills, right after killing her ex-husband. Bobby similarly gets away with killing at least one victim and a dog.
- Little "No": They're Trudy's last words as she's slammed into the wall.
- Mama Bear: "Wolf" in Janice's case, as she lets nothing stand in the way of getting her "cub" back.
- Manipulative Bitch: It's a double whammy in Janice's case, as she's not only an actual werewolf, but she has no problem spinning blatantly false stories for Trudy about how her well-meaning husband Robert kidnapped their son, locked him up, and potentially starves him, which the poor social worker eats right up.
- Mythology Gag:
- Bobby has the theatrical poster of Creepshow, the inspiration for the series itself, on his bedroom wall, the camera even doing a slow pan across it during a transition, where the image of the Creep looming in the night sky fades into the full moom outside Bobby's window.
- He also reads an issue of Fangoria magazine with a Day of the Dead (1985) cover, also directed by George Romero with special effects by Tom Savini, director of the episode.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Trudy was only trying to help Janice get her son back in what seemed like an open-and-shut case of a brutish father kidnapping him and violating his wife's custodial rights. It's only towards the end that she realizes Robert was in the right all along, and is perhaps killed by a wolfed-out Janice in the process.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: They stay largely human when they transform, mostly gaining claws, pointed ears, and a muzzle. They're inherently monstrous on every mental level as well, as Janice and Bobby have no qualms with killing anyone they can find and lying to government officials to further their goals.
- Papa Wolf: As determined as Janice is to find Bobby and be together with him again, Robert is equally determined to keep her away from his son until he can find a cure for his lycanthropy.
- Parents as People: Both of Bobby's parents have shades of this.
- Robert wants to keep his son from killing people and cure his lycanthropy, but is going about it in a rather controlling fashion.
- Janice just wants her son back, but is willing to lie to a social worker about her husband being cruel to Bobby just to see her child again.
- Really Moves Around: Robert has taken Bobby from Janice and moved him to several undisclosed locations across the country for six months since they became werewolves, and the beginning of the episode has him telling the boy that they'll have to be moving again when Janice gets their number.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Bobby's bedroom door has numerous locks on it to keep him confined while transformed, including having one of his hands chained to the bed.
- Stalker without a Crush: Janice, who is shown to have gotten Robert and Bobby's new phone number when the episode begins, as she's not stopping at anything to get her son back.
- Start of Darkness: The Perry family's vacation in Ireland six months ago, where Janice and Bobby were attacked, and infected, by a werewolf.
- Super-Strength: Since she's a werewolf, Janice has greatly enhanced muscle power, easily able to toss Robert aside as she tries to open Bobby's barricaded door. Her punching Robert in the face and slamming Trudy into the wall contains enough force to potentially kill them, and she easily rips the above-mentioned door entirely off its hinges to reunite with Bobby.
- The Unfettered: Janice stops at nothing, not the law nor her ex-husband, to get Bobby back.
- Unwitting Pawn: Trudy plays right into Janice's hands in her pursuit to get her son back, and is rewarded by getting killed by the mother she was duped into helping.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The first time Bobby transforms, he's clearly tearful at the aspect of what he's become, especially after nearly ripping his dad's heart out. But later on, Bobby tells his dad how he's come to accept and even embrace his wolf side. When he learns that he killed someone and their dog after his latest transformation, he not only doesn't mind the reveal, he's proud of it, much to his dad's surprise. This indicates that whatever kind of kid he previously was, Bobby's curse has drastically changed him into something monstrous.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Robert goes to great lengths to keep his son from harming anyone while in werewolf form, chaining him up during a full moon, boarding up the bedroom windows, and forbidding his monstrous wife to find them, despite Bobby's protests.
- Wham Shot: Bobby's offscreen transformation and his lupine shadow on the wall of his room, revealing that he's a werewolf at the end of the opening act.
