Night of the Creeps
1986, US, Directed (and written) by Fred Dekker
Colour, Running Time: 84 minutes
VHS, PAL, CBS Fox, Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Stereo
Distant space: a chase around an alien spacecraft results in the launching of a capsule containing some unexplained test project deep into the cosmos. 1950s, Earth: two lovers see a ‘meteorite’ crash in the nearby woods; the guy goes off to investigate it just in time to witness hundreds of slug-like creatures crawl from the impact site - he never returns. 1980s/the present: a motley pair of college outcasts, Chris and JC, decide to join a fraternity of popular dudes so Chris can impress the new girl of his creams, sorry, dreams: Cindy. The trouble is, their initiation prank involves obtaining a dead body and leaving it outside one of the student buildings. They manage to wander into the local science facility and stumble upon a laboratory where a body appears to be stored in a state of suspended animation. Fooling around with the controls they manage to unlock the chamber and decide this is the body they’ll use for the prank. Much to their disgust the corpse opens its eyes - they panic and run, but when the cops arrive at the scene they find the cryogenic body has ‘disappeared’. Meanwhile, outside the girls’ student quarters, Cindy sees a man staggering around by one of the windows; his head explodes and out crawl dozens of slug-like creatures. These things seem to have an attraction for gestating within human or animal brains leaving the host to walk around in virtual living death until the slugs are ready to escape into the outside world to find more hosts and therefore multiply even further…
Approached in a tongue-in-cheek manner the material functions adeptly on several levels, intermixing fun and frights while unfolding a well considered story that weaves a surprising number of its own narrative elements together. It’s refusal to take itself overly seriously (indicated, for example, by naming the characters after genre directors) actually enhances the drama and tension in places. College dorks, Chris and JC, make for an amusing and endearing pair of leads that are easy to identify with for anyone who didn’t exactly fit in with the main dudes during their educational years, although I find Chris’s evolution from total nerd to hero a bit corny and implausible. Embedded in the 80s the film might prove nostalgic for anyone who happened to be a teenager during the period. Delivering some of the best lines, Tom Atkins is brilliant as the cynical cop who hides a past that intricately plays an active part in the story. Dekker must have stretched the budget to its limits with the early sequence set on the spacecraft (which lasts a mere couple of minutes) followed by some excellent special FX work later on. Incorporating many elements of genre convention, from the walking dead to exploding heads and alien slugs, and combining them with a fast-paced adventure populated by great characters and some cool set-pieces, you get your money’s worth and Night of the Creeps remains the greatest 80’s horror never released on DVD.
I don’t believe this even received a sell-through release on video - I purchased the tape in a rental-size box via mail order for £25 around 1992 and I’m glad I did as I’ve watched it many times plus there’s still no sign of it on disc. Following the recent announcement of Dekker’s other notable (but not as good) movie, Monster Squad, for an SE DVD I would think there’s a slim chance of this pleasing movie appearing too, though it‘s clear major studios would generally rather re-release their money-spinners rather than look after comparatively little titles like this. Considering Dekker’s only other film directing credit was Robocop 3, perhaps we can consider him a one-hit wonder. The stereo soundtrack on the tape is quite strong but may well benefit from a 5.1 upgrade, while image quality is reasonably nice for VHS. Check this one out if you have the opportunity.