Movies
Five Great ’80s Creature Features to Stream This Week
The creature feature, at its most basic, is simply a horror movie in which a monster plays a prominent role as the primary antagonist; the term says it all. It’s the creature part that’s loose for interpretation, of course. A creature feature could be anything from carnivorous aliens from space to manmade monsters to genetically altered animals run amok.
This week’s streaming picks highlight creature features from the glorious age of practical effects: the ’80s. These five horror titles run the gamut in tone, style, and creature, showcasing just how nebulous and varied the creature feature can be. Whether you’re in the mood for quirky parasites with personality or lust that turns monstrous, these ’80s creature features go big on practical effects. Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Alligator – AMC+, freevee, Night Flight+, Peacock, Prime Video, Shout TV, Shudder, Tubi
The plot, borrowing from a popular urban legend, follows a baby alligator flushed down the toilet. It winds up in the sewer, a local laboratory’s precise spot used as a dumping ground for growth hormones and waste. That cute baby alligator grows into a monstrous beast and wreaks havoc on the town. Only Robert Forster’s Officer David can stop it. From director Lewis Teague (Cujo, Cat’s Eye), Alligator is legitimately good. It also earns major points for having the gall to kill a child in a suspenseful scene. And nothing beats the climactic wedding with a rampaging reptile.
Brain Damage – AMC+, Arrow Player, Fandor, Kanopy, Midnight Pulp, SCREAMBOX, Tubi
Frank Henenlotter’s follow-up to Basket Case brought a much more effective anti-drug campaign than that of First Lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No,“ in the form of the pint-sized parasitic Elmer. Or Aylmer, for the initiated. When an older couple loses their ancient parasite in their apartment complex, it finds a home in Brian (Rick Hearst). More specifically, it attaches itself to Brian’s brain stem and injects its addictive blue liquid, sending Brian into a euphoria that he can’t get enough of. The only problem is that Elmer demands to be fed human brains in return. A phallic, quick-witted parasite voiced by John Zacherle combined with Henenlotter’s distinct style of horror comedy makes this oddball creature feature a winner.
Cat People – Criterion Channel
Save for some very basic plot elements, the iconic pool scene, and subtle references; Cat People shares very little in common with the 1942 film it’s based (loosely) on. It’s not much of a remake, but more of a complete reinvention, written by makeup artist turned writer/director Alan Ormsby (Shock Waves, Popcorn) and directed by Paul Schrader (First Reformed, Taxi Driver). It follows Irena (Nastassja Kinski), who has arrived in New Orleans to reconnect with her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell) after years of separation in the foster system. Paul reveals that the siblings come from a line of cat people, doomed to transform into beasts if they dare give in to their sexual desires. Irena doesn’t believe him until she finds herself falling for a zookeeper, and Paul ends up on a murderous spree. This update puts heavy emphasis on creature effects to highlight the monstrous nature of lust.
The Deadly Spawn – AMC+, Cultpix, Shudder
Released in 1983 under the title Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn in the hopes of luring audiences hopeful for an Alien sequel, this micro-budgeted labor of love charms with its DIY aesthetic. Think The Evil Dead gore meets 1950’s B-horror, in which a meteorite crash lands on Earth and unleashes a voracious man-eating alien upon a small town. It’s impressive in its ambition, especially for a group of amateur filmmakers, and has long since developed a significant cult following. It’s a creature feature that puts its creatures, and creature FX, first.
Scarecrows – freevee, Prime Video, the Roku Channel, Tubi
Never mind the bizarre premise, in which a group of criminals hijack a plane and seek refuge on an abandoned farm. This creature feature begs the question, why aren’t there more horror movies about scarecrows? One by one, victims fall prey to terrifying scarecrows, rendered even more horrific by cool creature designs and effects by Norman Cabrera (Attack the Block, Drag Me to Hell). In a barebones story that doesn’t bother to explain its mythology, this one does the critical thing that matters most in a creature feature. It makes the monsters the centerpiece. It’s a creature feature that favors atmosphere and gory special effects, and that’s enough to ensure a good time.
There’s been a lot of talk about how Christopher Nolan snuck in some horror elements into his epic adaptation of The Odyssey. However, even before the Cyclops began to eat Ithican soldiers and Circe subjected them to magical body-horror, cinemagoers were already witnessing supernatural terror through a certain trailer that was attached to most IMAX screenings of Nolan’s film.
It turns out that this trailer was for Rob Savage’s Other Mommy, an adaptation of Bird Box author Josh Malerman’s horror novel, Incidents Around the House. With the teaser now available online and revealing that the award-winning Jessica Chastain is playing the titular antagonist (as well as her ill-fated human counterpart), not to mention the fact that the picture is being helmed by the director of hits like Host and The Boogeyman, genre fans are understandably hyped for this upcoming thriller.
That’s why I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer and share four things we learned from this sneak peek at Other Mommy!
4. Rob Savage is Going Back to His Supernatural Horror Roots
I know I’m in the minority when I admit that Dashcam is my favorite Rob Savage movie, but even I understand why the filmmakers’ fans have been waiting a while for the director to get back to telling more grounded paranormal stories as he did with 2020’s Host.
Other Mommy obviously isn’t a found footage movie, but moments like the poltergeist activity on the kitchen table combined with the nature of the source material, which actually features a full-on exorcism, indicate that this adaptation is more than a simple creature feature. That’s why I think Savage is once again going to borrow from the same ghostly narratives that made his debut film such a viral hit.
3. Other Mommy is a More Convincing Doppelganger in the Adaptation
Part of the horror from Malerman’s original novel came from the fact that the entity taking on the form of Bela’s (Arabella Olivia Clark) mother wasn’t very good at passing itself off as human. This resulted in several uncanny moments where other characters began to notice that there was something visibly wrong with the family and decided to keep their distance.
Savage’s film appears to be taking a different route, with the trailer showing a version of the entity that can, at least physically, imitate Chastain’s character perfectly. This change is likely the result of the filmmakers wanting to incorporate more paranoid scenes where Bela and her father, played by Jay Duplass, are confused about which Mommy is safe to interact with.
2. The Family is Also Better Off This Time Around
Incidents Around the House featured some interesting subtext about how poverty can negatively affect American family dynamics. After all, the main characters were already feeling scared and isolated before the entity emerged from Bela’s closet and began scratching at their emotional wounds. The trailer for the movie, however, depicts the family as being relatively well off before these incidents begin to occur.
I can only imagine that this part of the story was changed so that the family’s fall from grace can be even more dramatic as the mom and dad’s pasts are revealed and Bela falls further into the clutches of the demonic antagonist.
1. Jessica Chastain is Embodying Evil Dead Rise’s Alyssa Sutherland
Mothers turning against their children is one of the most disturbing horror tropes out there (just check out classics like Hereditary and Carrie if you need proof), but it takes a remarkably skilled actress to pull off such a monstrous transformation. This is especially true when both a regular, loving mother and the Other share the screen in the same film.
That’s why I appreciate how Chastain appears to be channeling another evil redhead mother that recently traumatized audiences with her performance. It’s too early to be sure, but I’m fairly confident that Chastain’s character has at least some amount of Ellie in her cinematic DNA – Ellie being the iconic deadite brought to life by Australian actress Alyssa Sutherland in 2023’s Evil Dead Rise.
Let us know in the comments if you think we missed any important details from the trailer, and don’t forget to check out Other Mommy when it hits theaters on October 9!
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