Fluffy, Fear, And The Crate

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The scare that hooked so many of us wasn’t just teeth and shadows. It was wood splintering underwater, a breath that didn’t come when it should, and the stubborn belief that a crate at the bottom of a quarry still holds something hungry. We open the vault on Creep Show’s The Crate, the creature fans call Fluffy, and the handmade practical effects that make this segment feel alive decades later.

We talk about why The Crate sits at the top of our Romero list and how that cliffside ending reads like a neon sign for a sequel that never arrived. The conversation moves from fandom to the shop floor: the oversized creature head, a routed breakaway crate front, and a studio tank likely shared across segments. On take one, panic hits—proof that even seasoned crews can miss the rehearsal that matters most. That moment becomes a lesson in preparation, safety, and the strange alchemy of fear and craft that gives horror its bite.

From there, we chase the artifacts that got away—those broken crate fronts and odd treasures that slip into the “murky past.” The nostalgia turns forward as we trade ideas for modern Creep Show, including a cockroach-inspired script concept itching to be written. It’s a love letter to practical effects, the Romero lineage, and the creative loop where one iconic monster sparks a new one. If you’ve ever wondered why some segments live rent-free in your head, or how a single prop can shape a generation of nightmares, you’ll feel right at home here.

Join us for a candid, lively look at creature building, underwater gags, and the sequels we still dream about. If this conversation stirs your own pitch or memory, share it with us, subscribe for more deep dives, and leave a review so fellow horror fans can find the show.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Dill Ferrucci on the fishbowl, welcome.
Hey, thanks.
Absolutely thank you for takingthe time to swim in the bowl
with me.
Oh, no problem.
I just want to say that thefluffy segment in Creep Show is
my number one favorite segmentin the film.
And Creep Show is my number onefavorite George Romero movie.

(00:26):
Wow.

SPEAKER_02 (00:26):
You know, it's amazing how often I I hear
statements like this.
Particularly the first one.
People love the crate segment,they really do.
And you're the second guy justthis today who said that to me.

SPEAKER_00 (00:42):
I I I actually went to school for screenwriting here
at Point Park, and I have GeorgeRomero's desk.

SPEAKER_02 (00:49):
Really?
Yes.
No kidding.

SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
And I I had I had like a concept idea for a sequel
story to the crate.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00):
Great.
You know, I was kind ofsurprised there wasn't a sequel
to the crate.
I mean, it's obviously set upfor a sequel, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
The classic ending there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10):
Right.
You expect more.
And then right then when CreepShow 2 was going to come out,
you know, people would have beenthinking, oh, what about the
crate?
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (01:19):
Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (01:23):
Unless the creature, no, no, I was gonna say, could
the creature have mutated intothat slimy black stuff, but no,
it's not even the same thing.
Completely different.

SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Right, right.
Any stories working with George,creating fluffy, the experience
of working on the crate?

SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
Gosh, well, um, sure, sure.
I'll I'll tell you a story thatwas um interesting to me at the
time.
It has to do with the um the thevery ending of the segment that
we were just mentioning, youknow, being flung into the
quarry.
I guess it was an old, supposedto be an old quarry, right?
Right, right.

(02:04):
With a flooded quarry.
Right.
They throw the crate in thereand to drown the creature,
right?
So, I mean, I was not obviouslyactually in a crate that was
going off a cliff, but but wedid have the underwater shop,
okay?
And that was in in the studio,the studio that we created with

(02:24):
in somewhere around here inMonroville, you know.
Um so they had a water tank, abig water tank was built.
Maybe it was the same one usedfor the for the for the
unfortunate, you know, Becky andwhat's his name, you know, in
the big to tide you over.

(02:45):
Uh but anyway, yeah.
Probably the same tank.
Anyway, because you rememberthere's underwater shots of of
them, right?
The hair flying and the water,they're drowned.
Right.
Anyway, so the um head, ofcourse, right, and it's large.
This is a large map of creationthat we built.

(03:08):
I was assisting Savini.
And so it comes out like thismuch, right?
It's it's like this.
There's a lot of space insidethere.
And um so I had to be inside alike a crate front, which had
been routed out in a crackpattern behind it, right?
And in there to punch, wearingthe the creature head and arms

(03:33):
punch through and break out ofthe crate, like break the front
of the crate apart.
And um so they had a scuba setup for it, like first.
A scuba mask, but whatever wouldfit, right?
And and then put the head onover that, and then I got in the

(03:53):
tank and went down.
This is going on very long.
Anyway, look, the point is, Iwent down in there, and on take
one, my body completelypanicked.
I like blew the take, broke thething wrong.
I'm like, I thought I wasdrowning.
Like, but I was just going forit.
I just went, you know,underwater to do the thing.
The thing is, I'd never worn oneof those things, and nobody had

(04:17):
me practice whatsoever.
And like, I like I had noconscious fear, but like
instinct took over.
It really was like some internalsignals told me I'm gonna drown
right now.
And that's I don't know, it'sone of those funny little things
that happens.
You know, typically we were wellprepared with whatever we were

(04:38):
doing, right?
Right.
On that one occasion, neither Inor anyone else thought that if
I've never breathed through ascuba apparatus, maybe I should
try it.
That's right.
Right, right.
Weird.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Well, I'm glad I'm glad it all worked out and that
you're you're you're here you'rehere with us today.

SPEAKER_02 (04:59):
Yeah, of course they had extra crate fronts.
That's an artifact I used tohave.
Whatever, you know, interestingthings I used to own from the
free show are gone and the murkypast, like in the bottom of the
reservoir with yeah, that brokencrate part.
Right.
That's kind of a cool artifact.

SPEAKER_00 (05:18):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (05:19):
It's history.

SPEAKER_00 (05:21):
Right.
Another segment that is one ofmy favorites is is the final
segment with with with thecockro with the cockroaches.
Yeah.
That segment actually inspiredme to write a script dealing
with cock cockroaches.

(05:44):
Yes, yes, actually it has.
The way I I was telling it toHoward Berger earlier is that I
I wrote a spec script for thecreep show series.

SPEAKER_02 (05:54):
Oh, yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (06:06):
Right, right.
Maybe all I have to do is writeit.
There you go.
I had an idea.
I haven't it's it's it it hasn'tbeen written yet, but I kind of
have the the premise in my head.

SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
Okay.
Honestly, I'm surprised that ithas not appeared, particularly
considering that the creep showseries.
Exactly.
I've never I I ran into Gregoccasionally.
I've never thought to mentionthat to him.
Not that I I mean I don't haveto push it, but it's not gonna
like have a a you know vestedinterest necess, so to speak.

(06:46):
Right, right.
That'd be cool.
I mean, I don't think I would,you know, be fluffy.
I don't need to be.
Again, you know, I mean, right.

SPEAKER_00 (06:56):
Awesome.
Well, Daryl, it's been apleasure talking with you.
Same here.
Thank you for sharing your youryour stories about George and
Fluffy and the creep show.
And it's been a pleasure havingyou swim in the bowl with me.
All right.
I hope the temperature was justright.
Yeah, well, thank you so much.

(07:16):
Okay, cool.