Upson Pratt

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Upson Pratt is the main antagonist in the 1982 horror anthology film Creepshow, in the final story "They're Creeping Up on You".

He was portrayed by the late E.G. Marshall.

Overview

Upson Pratt is a neurotic business tycoon who lives in a sterile, white penthouse apartment atop a skyscraper in a major city. He communicates with the outside world via the telephone, treating his employees and subordinates in a cutthroat, heartless manner. George Gendron, one of Upson Pratt's executives, informs him that Norman Castonmeyer, has committed suicide because Pratt took over his company, Pacific Aerodyne. Upson Pratt seems delighted rather than upset cause Norman being dead and will not have to offer him a seat on the board of directors.

Upson Pratt is obsessed with cleanliness and has a huge phobia of bugs. Unfortunately, he keeps finding cockroaches in his apartment, which sets him on a rampage to correct the situation. One of his other employees named Carl Reynolds calls Upson Pratt and tells him that he and his wife took the kids to Disney World on vacation. Upson Pratt tells Reynolds that if he don't hear from White and the exterminators within a space of a half an hour that he will have no job by midnight and then next year he can take the kids to Disney World on his fucking welfare check. Not too long after, building superintendent named White rings the door bell at Upson Pratt's apartment and talk about the bug problem and then tells Upson Pratt that he can get Porelli Bros there to get the bug problem fixed. Upson Pratt makes thinly veiled racial slurs in an attempt to intimidate the man.

Creepshow7 — Upson Pratt sees he is doomed.

As Upson Pratt finds more bugs in his apartment, someone gets through on his private line. Norman Castonmeyer's widow, Lenore (voiced by Gwen Verdon), calls Upson Pratt to curse him for her husband's death. Upson Pratt is amused by her melodramatic sadness, until the cockroaches multiply. He finds them in his food processor, bits of them surfacing in the grain cereal he eats. An electrical blackout occurs, and the roaches attack, swarming by the thousands everywhere in Upson Pratt's apartment. Upson Pratt retreats to his "safe room", a climate-controlled sleep chamber, just as the phone rings. Lenore Castonmeyer's voice curses him over and over "I hope you die! I hope you die!", and Upson Pratt discovers his bed swarming with roaches. The roaches quickly cover him and Upson Pratt suffers a heart attack. The power returns, the lights come back on, and the roaches are nowhere to be seen. Upson Pratt's body lies inside the glass sleep chamber. White, the superintendent rings the door bell at Upson Pratt's door and laughs when Upson Pratt doesn't answer, asking "Bugs got your tongue?" Suddenly, swarms of roaches burst from Upson Pratt's body, so many that they nearly fill the glass chamber.