Jack’s life is upended when his mother is taken away from him, but her garden leaves him more to remember her by. Trenice and her friends are obsessed by pop star Regina and take the opportunity to visit her in hospital.

Shudder’s TV series based on the 1982 Stephen King anthology movie returns with a couple of solid if unremarkable tales.

Mums is based on the short story of the same name from Joe Hill’s Full Throttle collection. Abusive bully Hank (Ethan Embry) kills his wife Bloom (Erin Beute, The Vampire Diaries) when she tries to leave him, taking their son Jack (Brayden Benson) with her. He buries her body in the flower garden, where a drop of Jack’s blood, drawn by a thorn, is enough to resurrect her corpse and effect a revenge. It’s fun, and the practical effects are great, but there’s no twist to speak of, just bad people getting what’s coming to them.

In Queen Bee, directed by showrunner Greg Nicotero, teenagers Trenice and Debra can’t agree who’s the bigger fan of pop sensation Regina (Kaelyn Gobert-Harris) and are very excited when they discover that she’s due to give birth locally. Sneaking in to the hospital, they accidentally kill a security guard and are then amazed to witness the birth… except that this is no regular baby; it’s like a creature from John Carpenter’s The Thing via Starfleet Troopers. It’s a wonderful monster, and equally effective are the surgeons with glowing green eyes. It just plays out exactly as you think it will, and nothing more.

Verdict: It’s a treat to have Creepshow back on TV in the run up to Halloween, but this opening instalment is no classic. Hopefully normal business will soon be resumed. 7/10

Nick Joy