Review: Night of the Creeps
Director: Fred Dekker
Night of the Creeps opens with a rather laughable intro which features aliens with a stricking resemblance to the mutant babies from 'IT's ALIVE'. Only these critters pack heavy firearms whilst dumping a dangerous experiment from their obscure spacecraft. Don't worry though, the science-fiction angle is a somewhat flaky attempt to get a different angle to the zombie scenario. And sure enough Night of the Creeps serves a variety of horror themes. Aliens, slug parasites, non-canibalistic zombies and even a good old axe wielding maniac come to play. While this is not necessarily a good omen (on the contrary, oftentimes this indicates a brick-a brick of unfinished projects) it doesn't come across like a monster match movie, nor a defunct mismatch.
The story is that of Chris and J.C. two 'dorks' exploring their first weeks at college. In an attempt to win the respect of a potential mate, they engage in a whimsical endeavor to gain membership of a sorority. To do this they have to steal a corpse and deposit it on the doorstep of a rivaling sorority. The naive duo sets off to do just that. By a twist of faith *cough- cough* they find a cryogenic laboratory that harbors a frozen corpse. As common horror (il)logic prescribes they open his tube and decide to take the frosty fellow. It just so happens that this isn't any ordinary necro- icicle but someone who swallowed... the alien experiment that crashed on earth in the 1950's ! I'll just stop right here because the plot is not exactly thick.
While this film of chock full of winks and nods and (self)satire it's B-movie charm does not justify the impossibly cheap ending... but apparently not what the director had in mind. An alternate ending is included in some rare bootleg tapes and from what gather it would have been far superior (which wouldn't be too hard to do).
Night of the Creeps has some relatively decent effects and while it doesn't show ALL the gore in your face it does give you some visuals that raise an eyebrow once or twice. But the movie wouldn't be half as good without the wonderful part of Inspector Cameron (Tom Atkins) who's corky humor hits target almost every time. Humor and horror don't always mingle, especially when they actually try to be funny. (Remember Return of the Living Dead II ?!) But it is delivered quite successfully. You might also notice characters by the names of Craven, Romero, Cronenberg and Hooper running around. Dekker also worked on the House and after Night of the Creeps his most notable work was on Monster Squad and Tales of the Crypt, so that might give you a clue. Zombie pets and slug slithering, head-popping and axing action with a measly plot on the side. Unpretentious, witty mid-eighties fun. Brain-dead ? Ready, set, GO !
Reviewed by: LordLeviathan, added October 12 2006
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