Creepshow/Skeletons in the Closet

Skeletons in the Closet
Season 3, Episode 2A
Release date	September 30, 2021
Teleplay by	John Esposito
Story by	Greg Nicotero & John Esposito
Directed by	Greg Nicotero
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Creepshow — Season Three

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Skeletons in the Closet is part of the second episode of the third season of Creepshow, and the thirteenth episode overall.

Starring: James Remar (Bateman), Victor Rivera (Lampini), Valerie LeBlanc (Danielle), Lucas Godfrey (Burke)

Additional Cast: Paul Kim (Teen 1), Casey Wortham (Teen 2)

Plot Overview

On the eve before the opening of a prop museum, film buff Lampini is confronted by his late father's rival, who hopes to make a deal for something especially valuable in exchange for his silence.

Trivia

The Show

• While never stated by name, the skeleton Bateman wants is the original version of the Creep from the first Creepshow film.

• The ashtray from "Father's Day" makes its obligatory appearance in one of the museum's display cases.

• The first Creephow film's theatrical poster is seen on the walls of the museum.

• Joe's triple feature poster from Model Kid can also be seen on the museum walls.

• Lampini's assistant Burke ends up exclaiming "Fuck-a-diddle!" when he drops some boxes. Mike the janitor from the first film's story "The Crate" says the same thing when he drops a quarter.

Behind the Scenes

• Many of the props featured in the episode are allegedly the personal property of Greg Nicotero, the executive producer of the series who worked on many of the films mentioned.

Allusions and References

• This story has several allusions to George A. Romero. In addition to one of the skeletons being the basement zombie from Dawn of the Dead, we briefly see his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Lampini is wearing a Day of the Dead t-shirt when we first see him.

• One of the props is the mummified corpse of Norman's mother in the original 1960 film Psycho, with the quote "We all go a little mad sometimes." written over the entrance. The famous shower kill is even recreated later in a black-and-white scene where Danielle dies. To Danielle's dismay, when talking about it earlier with the two teens, they mention Vince Vaughn, who starred in the 1998 shot-for-shot remake.

• Lampini cowering in the corner as Bateman's skeleton axes the door is a parody of the famous scene from The Shinning.

• In the panel where we see Lampini and Danielle disposing of Bateman's body, he can be seen being lowered into a vat labelled "2-4-5 Trioxin." This is the substance from the 1985 horror comedy The Return of the Living Dead that reanimated the dead, and may be the reason why Bateman's skeleton becomes animate.

• Various other props seen throughout the story include:

• Michael Myers's mask from the Halloween films, as well as his signature kitchen knife. However, it's not clear which specific film either item is from. We can also see a Silver Shamrock medallion/computer chip attached to the masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

• Freddy Krueger's signature glove from the original 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street.

• Ash's chainsaw from Evil Dead II. We also briefly see the Kandarian dagger from the same entry. Bateman's skeleton comes at Lampini with the saw much like Linda's headless body from the film.

• Jason Voorhees's hockey mask can seen in a display case, but there's no indicator as to which film it's specifically from, but we also see a bust that's clearly from Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.

• Harry Warden/The Miner's mining gear from My Bloody Valentine.

• A Facehugger and a Xenomorph egg from the Alien franchise.

• A giant shark from the 1975 film Jaws hanging from the ceiling.

• One of the ray guns used by the Killer Klowns from Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

• The Captain's Chair of the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek franchise. Lampini is invited by Danielle to have sex in it at one point.

• Jack's reanimated corpse from An American Werewolf in London.

• The license plates from Christine, the evil car from the novel/film of the same name, and Ash's Oldsmobile from Ash vs. Evil Dead.

• The Holy Grail featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The teenagers seen at the beginning and end are seen messing with it at one point.

• Dennis Hopper's screen-used chainsaw from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Bateman shows off that he owns Gunnar Hansen's screen-used chainsaw from the original film as a show of superiority.

• Danielle is seen wearing the bladed Rosa Klebb shoes from the James Bond film From Russia With Love. She later uses the blade to slit Bateman's throat in a blind rage.

• A shelf full of decaying heads from Young Frankenstein. Lampini pranks Bateman by recreating Igor's "I ain't got no body!" joke to scare him.

• Burke is seen unboxing one of the Sentinel Spheres from Phantasm, noting that the film's director's mother had it in her attic for the past 40 years. Bateman's skeleton later throws the sphere into Burke's head to kill him.

• Lampini gives the teenagers in the opening scene a pair of custom-made Golden Tickets from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to invite them back for the grand unveiling of the skeleton display.

• Bateman ends up outbidding Lampini in an online auction for David Warner's decapitated head from the 1976 film The Omen.

• Lampini and Danielle pepper their dialogue with numerous famous movie quotes.

• The main characters' names are homages to film characters:

• Lampini is named after Professor Lampini from House of Frankenstein, who had a similar obsession with collecting peculiar things.

• Danielle is named after Danielle Harris from the Halloween series of films.

• Bateman is named after Patrick Bateman from the film American Psycho.

• Along with the original version of the Creep and the Dawn of the Dead zombie, the skeletons in Lampini's ownership come from other recognizable films, such as Poltergeist and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

• The skeleton that is revealed to be Lampini's father is housed in a display for the 1993 film Army of Darkness, and wields the same sword and shield as the skeleton from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

• The skeletons are also animated in stop motion when they come alive, much like Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts.