Night of the Creeps
| release date | August 22 1986 |
| studio | Sony Pictures |
| director | Fred Dekker |
| writer | Fred Dekker |
| starring | Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Tom Atkins |
| rating | R |
| tagline | If you scream... you're dead. |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
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With about 70% of older horror films, it’s honestly hard for me to tell what “horror” films were meant to be comedy, and which were meant to scare me. Because the 70s were loaded with laugh-out-loud unintentional cheese films like Phantasm and The Omen, it’s certainly not hard to see the natural evolution of horror films in the 80s. The 80s shifted from horror films intending to scare to horror films intending to make people laugh. Instead of trying to scare people with clichés, 80s horror took clichés and made people laugh at their predictability. Sadly, after you’ve seen this laugh-at-the-thing-that-would-have-scared-you-in-the-70s formula repeated over and over again, it stopped being funny really quickly, not to mention became as predictable as the movies it parodied. I’ve literally seen hundreds of 80s horror-comedies, and of them all, I can only pick out one or two that was genuinely funny or entertaining. The Evil Dead, for example, understood how to be genuinely comedic and still retain the horror elements. Night of the Creeps, however, is just . . . the same thing.
If you’ve seen any 80s horror comedy, you’ve seen Night of the Creeps. Yes, it has a few comedic moments that set it apart from the crowd for a few seconds, but they’re few and far between. The Star Wars parody in the opening was pretty clever, but after that Night of the Creeps just becomes like all the other 80s horror-comedies. It repeats the same lines, same pseudo-scares, same jokes, same clichés, same plot, same EVERYTHING.
The main character is romantically challenged–really, who would have guessed? Have you ever seen an 80s horror-comedy where the main character is anything BUT a romantically/sexually challenged male? Over 90% of the movie is absolutely nothing but this cliché kid trying to figure out his pathetic relationship problems. It isn’t funny, it’s boring. I’ve seen the plot before in everything from 60s sitcoms to Dear Abby columns in the local newspaper. I can really care less.
When the action starts, it’s just a bunch of generic head-shots, then the movie goes right back to the boring, cliché dork drama. The “gore” is all done in PG-style cut-off scenes, so don’t even expect any on-screen blood to make the movie more enjoyable. It starts out as a painfully forgettable movie, then quickly turns into a movie that I literally could not force myself to watch again.
What else is there to say?
If you grew up in the 80s, I can understand how this film may be nostalgic to you. I won’t rain on your parade. If you watched this with youthful innocence as a kid, I’m not going to rain on your starry-eyed nostalgic parade. However, if you didn’t grown up in the 80s, you’ll have seen this material literally thousands of times in other 80s films and in the countless return-to-fun-horror films of the 2000s. By today’s standards, Night of the Creeps is little more than a TV-PG-rated Disney Channel movie.
I caught this on the tube late one night. It’s cheesy as hell, but it’s good cheese. I enjoyed it enough to add it to my collection. I have it listed on Ryan’s little survey that has gotten tons of responses. It’s worth a viewin’ though. Don’t expect too much. It’s just good cheesy fun!!!
Ahhh!!! What is it with you guys?! This is a treasured cult classic, loved by many people, including myself! Hell, I even own a laserdisc of it so I clearly love this film. It has an outrageous sense of humor driven by the performance that made Tom Atkins a B-movie legend.
ALSO, and this really gets on my nerves guys–a lot of you guys are getting the Skull Ratings mixed up, a “1″ is the worst, a “10″ is “the best”! I’ve seen many people give “1′s” to movies they said they liked, and it hurts the film’s user rating terribly, which REALLY hurts the film, too–a lot of fans new to horror who frequent this site probably won’t buy a dvd of a movie if the user reviews are low.
Night of the Creeps is probably my favorite B-Movie of all time. Thrill me!
Detective Cameron? No, Bullwinkle Moose. Anyone who says this movie sucks can kiss my ass. One of the classics.
Awesome, not as good as Monster Squad but Fred Dekker is the 80′s b-movie man.
This movie is probably, in my view, one of the best zombie/alien movie that I have ever seen and Tom Atkins would agree with me. This movie tells of an alien slug species the invade a small town back in the 50′s, and a pair of geeky college friends accidentally release the original host of the life-forms after a fraternity prank went bad. What I enjoyed so much about his movie are three things: the acting, the excellent editing and the creature features, all of which made this move so memorable.
EDITING: Like the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, this movie effectively transitions from the 1950s to the present day 1980′s using a careful edit. The killer is about to kill the young woman when as soon as he brings the axe down it’s the year 1986. It’s this kind of technique that I love to see in horror movies, the concept of contrasting images that horror movie lack. If you pay attention to some of the action sequences, the two different shots match up perfectly so it doesn’t look like they are two different shots, they are practically seamless. It was an overall great use of juxtaposition.
ACTING: What I want to point out is that this movie, character wise, is a huge tribute to all the great horror directors just like Evil Ed is to Evil Dead. The character list is as follows: Christopher Romero, James Carpenter Hooper, Cynthia Cronenberg, Det. Ray Cameron, Det. Landis and Sgt. Raimi. There were great performances by Jason Lively (Romero), Jill Witlow (Cronenberg), Tom Atkins (Cameron) and Steve Marshall (Hooper). There were even great performances by supporting actors like Vic Polizos and Dave Alan Johnson. It’s these kinds of formulas that I love to see in horror movies, a great character tribute with great performances by the cast.
CREATURE FEATURES: As far as the special effects go in this movie, they were not all that bad, and for that time they were pretty decent. You can tell that the zombies that are about to be decapitated are pre-cut heads and the blood looks pretty fake, and the zombie cats and slugs look too much like puppets, but it’s these things that make the creature features all the more recognizable. The gore was pretty good and some of the decapitations and head blowings were pretty cool and there was a reasonable amount of blood and flaming zombie drones.
It’s easy to see where James Gunn got his idea for Slither; only in this movie it jumps from the 1950s to present day. It can even be inferred that the 50s portion of the movie is a tribute to the cheesy 50s b-grade horror movies the probably inspired the director. I would recommend this movie to anybody who loves horror movies, especially those who love either zombie flicks or alien farces. As for me, it would probably be one of my favorite horror / sci-fi’s that I have seen.
This movie is one of my favorites in the genre/sub genre of zombie horror, it has everything you want in one. Definitely recommend this if you like Romero’s stuff and the “Return Of” movies, (the good ones).
For this weeks journey into the obscure, I’m bringing forward a movie that is very near and dear to my heart, Night of the Creeps. This movie haunted me for years. Not because it scared me but because I couldn’t remember what the fuck it was called. All I remembered was seeing a trailer on HBO when i was a young whipper snapper, that had this army of undead zombies crawling toward a house & a man standing next to window (who for some wierd reason I thought was Donald Sutherland), saying the immortal line, ” The good news is your dates are here. The bad news is there dead.” For the longest time couldn’t tell you what this film was called but I lusted for it. Hell I dreamed about the damn thing.
That was until one night i was hanging out with some friends, & we began the discussion of films that we liked as kids that hadn’t made it to dvd yet. So I bring up my hidden passion, & someone non-chalantly says, “Oh you mean Night of the Creeps.” WHAT!!! Thats it!! Thats the title of the film!! I figured something like Zombie College Massacre or Old Guy Near A Window, but the title Night of the Creeps just didn’t seem crazy enough for the images of a movie I’d never seen in my head.
So after some searching I found a copy at a local horror convention about 2 hours from my home. I really had to restrain myself from buying a dvd player for my hotel room so I could watch this film. So i waited and drove the longest 2 hours of my life and literally ran in the door shut the door to my office & prepared for nirvana.
There are few things in life that I will always cherish, the birth of my children, the day I married my wife (my second wife not that dirty cunt that took my dog), & the day I got to watch Night of the Creeps. Its not that the movie was that good or even scary it was just awesome. A horror comedy that was way ahead of its time.
Night of the Creeps follows two college students trying to fit in with the cool kids, pledge a fraternity, get the girl, and not get pocessed by alien worms that turn you into flesh eating zombies. There are many intertwining storylines in this film but it all comes together to make one hell of a movie.
The movie stars Jason Lively (Rusty from European Vacation), Allan Kayser (Bubba from Mama’s Family) & one of my favorite actors of all time Tom Atkins (Creepshow & Halloween III). The film is directed by Fred Dekker who went on to make another of my favorite films Monster Squad (don’t worry we’ll get to that one later). Now I’ve received word that a proper special edition dvd will be coming out by the end of the summer. FINALLY!!!!
Night of the Creeps proves that saying that the longer the journey the greater the reward.
I’ll second that!!!
THRILL ME
-T
I love this movie. It was filled with horror movie cliches but they worked perfectly. It’s a shame that Fred Dekker didn’t do more horror movies. Between this movie and Monster Squad he is one of my favorites.
B-grade horror comedy with great special effects.
Brilliance . . . if you want a look into the madness, creativity and humor that oozed from films and creators in the genre in the 1980s, look at this and EVIL DEAD 2 and you will have an idea of the greatness of the period . . . blends everything from zombie films, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, axe-wielding maniacs, college sex romps and even aliens. If you have not seen this, you need to brush up on some of the unseen gems of the genre.
Night of the Creeps
12/14/09
This movie is a gem of the 1980′s horror/comedy genre. It was just released on DVD for the first time this October. Directed by Fred Dekker, this landmark movie has inspired many other horror films like 2006′s “Slither” by Sean Gunn. It’s a great party film or so I’ve heard. I don’t get out much or I could confirm this theory.
The opening scene shows midgets in rubber suits (Aliens) on a space ship that is being invaded. Is that a great way to open a movie or what! They jettison a container of something into to space and it finds its way to Earth. We then come upon a scene set in the 1950′s that is shot in black and white. There is a teenage couple making out at a lovers lane cliff overlooking the city, when they sees a “UFO” crash into a field. They go to examine the crash as the radio blares about an escape mental patient. They pull over on a vacant stretch of road and the guy goes into the woods to investigate. We see the escape psychopath approaching the car, and he eventually hacks up the girl with an ax. Upon inspection of the UFO the guy has and alien slug fly into his mouth, infecting him. This is where the movie goes back to color and we see Detective Landis disturbed from his nap by the phone ringing. Landis is your typical hardboiled cop who found those bodies’ years back. He has the memorable catch phrase of “thrill me!” every time he answers the phone.
Our main characters are two college freshmen. Chris is played by Jason Lively who got the part right after playing Rusty in the classic European Vacation. He is your basic everyman that you can really get behind and root for in a horror movie. Then we have his best friend J.C. played by Steve Marshall. He’s a witty, smart assed handicapped kid who everybody likes. Except of course those mean frat guys. The head frat guy is played for a laugh, since he is such a clichéd stereotype. He is a blonde haired, sweater vest wearing guy named Brad. His red sports car even has license plates that say “Bradster”. What a douche! Anyway Chris has a huge crush on a sorority girl, Cynthia, but she is also the Bradster girlfriend. Chris and J.C. try to get into a fraternity and must somehow get a dead body and put it another frat houses yard as a pledge. In the college medical research building they find a cryo-chamber with the frozen body of the infected guy from the `50′s. Needless to say he is thawed and escapes to infect the campus. Upon investigating the lab Detective Landis asks the cops “Is this a homicide or a bad B-movie.” Director Fred Dekker also wrote the script and has several tongue-in cheek scenes and bits of dialogue. Kind of like what the Scream movies did in the mid 90′s.
The alien slugs go in through your mouth and lay eggs in the unfortunate person’s brain, turning them into zombies. Their heads eventually (wheather shot or hit with an ax) explode, releasing more slugs to infect more people. Cynthia finally leaves Brad after he trip J.C. in front of a crowd. Dude, picking on the crippled kids will not win you points with the ladies. Chris finally gathers enough courage to talk to her and she asks him to be her date for the dance. On the night of the big formal, the frat guys run into a little bad luck, and Detective Landis (who has all the best lines) says “The good news is your dates are here, the bad new is their dead.” The whole sorority house scene that follows is completely insane and fun to watch.
Although made in 1986, this movie feels very modern and way ahead of it’s time, even if can be very 80′s at times. The blood and gore effects are actually quite good considering the meager five million dollar budget they had to work with. It was also made in a time without the aid of computers and CGI. Many horror movies released today are either remakes of popular 80′s movies or made to give it the feel of the time period.
Looking back who doesn’t miss the 80′s? (I’m laughing on the inside)
Good flick but was better when I was thirteen!
I love this movie!!!!
A quintessential slice of 80′s horror movie perfection.
Great flick with great performances(esp. the mighty Tom Atkins)and an overall fun vibe. PLEASE,PLEASE DON’T REMAKE THIS.
Cult classic from the glorious 80s. Imo a bit overrated but still a must-see because it’s probably the only movie in history with aliens, alien slugs, zombies and a lunatic axe murderer in it.
Awesome. I love this movie. Tom Atkins is the man! This is why the 80′s cheese kicks ass!
As I think about it more, I <3 <3 <3 this movie!! Totally fulfilling cult favorite! The characters, the writing, the on-par acting as well as the absolute hilarity of the tasteful clusterfuck that is every fun aspect of a B movie thrown TOGETHER! Great, great fun! The ONLY thing that probably bothered me about this movie was that I thought it had SOME sequences that were BADLY edited. Still, that hardly makes the film any less awesome than it already is. THRILL ME!
one of my favorite 80′s flicks, great on gore, laughs and alien leech things, loved this the whole way through the movie, a must see
Oh, so this is where Slither got their story from lol. This movie was a blast, I love these 80′s horror films. Its nice to see gore without CGI. A great 80′s flick that will probably get a lame remake soon. Highly Recommended.
I have loved this movie since I saw it on late night Sci-Fi channel years ago, but watching it today it takes me a while to remember why. The plot can be plodding, the humor and even the intentional cheese can be too much, and it runs low on action a lot.
And then I remember what makes this movie so fucking awesome: THE ZOMBIES. The trick about the zombies in this movie is that not only are they reanimated corpses, but they are reanimated by space worms that nest and reproduce in their skulls by feeding on their brains, and when one is forced to destroy the corpses in the only possible manner – destroying their heads – the skulls explode and launch the zombie-breeding worms every which way. It’s a really cool zombie device and I think the movie pulled it off well (except for the stop-motion slug nest at the end).
Watch it, but make sure you cover all of your holes first.
i still have the original uk rental vhs of this movie which has the awesome reversable fron cover.
truly a grea great movie!!
At first I was unimpressed, but after a while I found myself enjoying this movie. There’s gore, and some decent FX, and Tom Atkins is a hoot. Not bad.
One of my favorites. A very entertaining stew of a movie with characters you grow fond of. Check it out, you’ll like it! Hell, I’m gonna give it five skulls because I think it’s a lost classic.
This movie is really all over the place in my opinion, we get alien scientists, axe killers, 50s camp value, the stereotypical angry cop everything. But seriously the movie is very VERY cut and dry with its stereotypes which is exactly what makes it so awesome.
Two loser college kids have the ultimate my bad moment and start a zombie horde thats none too shy about their panty raid (so to speak) There is no way this movie was meant to be serious the local police station has a flamethrower, theres a running gag with a jump scare glass door, and a bus load of zombie meat heads.
The movie knows exactly what it is and why its here in the same vein of killer clowns this is 80s cheese at its absolute best and a must have for all camp lovers. Throw this bad-boy on your dvd shelf or vhs if youre old school and if you love it alot, check out a familiar looking movie of the late 2000s by the name of slither.
All and all this move is B and beautiful. 8/10
Night Of The Creeps is a perfect example of 80′s homage films. It has boobs, crazy teenagers partying, slugs, cheesy acting, one of the greatest one-liners i have ever heard, great effects, exploding heads, and the fun feel of the 80′s. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. All In All, Night Of The Creeps is a fun movie and I recommend it.
Night of the creeps is one of the best 1980
B-movies ever.
fun movie
Over hyped in my opinion. A entertaining, appropriately cheesy 50′s horror/B-movie horror homage.
Not really my cup of tea, but can appreciate what it is going for. Silly 80′s special effects fun. Might not change the channel if it came on and there was nothing else to watch.
http://thewolfmancometh.com/2010/11/30/night-of-the-creeps-1986/
Entertaining B-film, along the same lines as ‘night of the comet’. Was kinda expecting more, but in the end you get what you paid for.
I’ve seen all too many 80′s horror homages in my time, some good, some bad, many just plain mediocre. There were even some that others liked that I didn’t, but I guess it’s a matter of personal taste. I’m not the biggest supporter of the 80′s horror era; it was a relatively negative movement for the genre. But it had its gems, one of them being “Night of the Creeps”. Here is a film that was made in the 80′s, yet it still feels like a tribute to its own decade. It’s a fun, gore-filled ride with a face that only a horror fan could love. If you take a good step back and observe the film, then you may see that it’s pretty good for what it is. There’s clever writing going on all around, although occasionally the film staggers. But hey: don’t they all?
This film isn’t a classic, not even for campy horror. But it’s not too often that I come around a campy “so-bad-it’s-good” horror film that I actually like, let alone thoroughly enjoy, so when the chance comes to see one that’s good, I usually take it. I brought out what I took in, when it came to watching this movie. I had high hopes; they were fulfilled. This film is just about as good as these horror comedies tend to get; funny, goofy, but often times smart. The film exercises a certain charm. It’s one that some will attempt to resist, but a guy like me simply can’t say no to a puppy such as this in need of love. Especially when the puppy is deformed and undead.
The film begins with some funny looking aliens fighting over a tube filled with…something. It drops to earth, the aliens are obviously pissed, and soon enough, we get to see what the hell was in the container. The film goes from there to an entertaining black-and-white sequence involving a couple as they encounter shooting stars/comets and psycho murderers; all in one night. Years later, it’s the college scene; with our main characters being a pair of lovable dorks, one in search of love. Of course, the thing that fell from the alien space-craft should not go unnoticed, and apparently after all these years, it’s still existent.
Inside the container were some little black parasites. They can infect humans and animals, turning them into mindless zombies. The zombies grow in mass numbers on the night of the prom, which if you know anything about horror movies, is the best night for an event such as this to happen. Expect blood on the dance-floor.
The film is not merely one about the zombie genre, but it also pays homage to slashers and alien-invasion flicks. It’s one big B-movie nod, which knows how gloriously absurd and clever it is; which makes it work on its own right. I won’t say it’s a great movie, and I won’t say that everyone is going to like it, but me, I admittedly enjoyed it throughout. This movie is pretty much entertaining whenever it chooses to be gory or just plain dumb. This film is playing dumb; and playing “horror homage”. If you like B-movies, then you may or may not like “Night of the Creeps” more. But chances are you will appreciate it.
Thought the acting wasn’t good, but I really enjoyed the movie overall.
Cheesy, bad acting/script, but lots of fun, especially in the second half. Clear inspiration for films like Slither with some likeable characters and fun over the top effects.
Enjoyed this when I was younger so I bought it on Blu-ray to revisit an old favorite. Sadly, it doesn’t maintain its appeal. Way too much time is spent on the various relationships of the students. The effects are not nearly a juicy I remember. It’s actually funnier when you have it on fast-forward as I did several times. The only redeeming feature is the enthusiastic performance by Tom Atkins as the detective, though his catchphrase is used a few too many times. Overall it’s definitely a B-movie, as in boring. Another review said it best, the movie is better when you’re 13 because it’s not too graphic. But I wonder if modern youth are so jaded they would take a pass.