Review of Night of the Creeps (1986) by Jérôme V — 13 Jan 2010

The 50s was rife with ultra cheap, ultra nasty B-movie horrors. It was half a century ago but similar garbage is still abundant in cinemas today in the form of drek like Hostel, Sorority Row and Final Destination. I guess the older horrors could be forgiven as it was a more innocent time. All B-movies from day one have been mere potboilers. Is Night of the Creeps an exception?

It's hard to review Night of the Creeps. There are many hits and misses. You could let the film off on all counts by claiming that all the goofiness is intentional, even when it's not. But the endless references to classic horror films becomes a bit too heavy. I'm not a fan of in-jokes, especially when their none-too-subtle. They're all over the place in horror films these days so maybe back in 1986 it was regarded as new and clever.

The plot is torn right out of a 1950s sci-fi comic. Aliens lose "an experiment" while cruising through space and it comes to earth in a cannister where it crash lands in the woods of a quiet little town in 1959. A wholesome teen couple in the middle of making-out go to investigate. The boyfriend is infected with something and the girl is slaughtered by an axe-murderer.

Flash forward to 1986 and we have a couple of dorks trying desperately to get into a fraternity at their college in order to impress a hot chick. During their hijinks they accidentally thaw the cryogenically frozen body of the wholesome boyfriend who comes back to life. Parasites are controlling his body and an plague of alien slugs slowly spreads across the town.

This biggest miss of NOTC is the fact that nothing really becomes of either plotline. The resurrection of the axe-murderer goes nowhere and is over as soon as it begins. The slug invasion doesn't add up to much action either. I saw the Director's Cut of the film which has a more conclusive ending and I can't imagine how weak this film would have been in cinemas with the original anti-climatic end.

It does has a lot of spirit, however. Fred Dekker crams loads of enthusiasm and affection into the 90 minute run-time and the cast seem to be caught up in the high. I've never really liked Jason Lively. His acting abilities are slight and outside of NOTC I've only seen him in European Vacation and Ghost Chase. He's merely okay in NOTC and his tall stature and gangly limbs fit his character. But his co-star Steve Marshall acts him off the screen. A friend of Robert Downey Jnr, Marshall came to Hollywood at his pal's insistence and within six weeks had a role in this movie. Despite the promising beginning he never made another theatrically-released film and has less than ten entries on his filmography. I can't imagine why.

Apart from Tom Atkins as a bitter detective you're unlikely to recognise anyone else in this movie. Though David Paymer has a cameo as an unfortunate scientist and Dick Miller appears for a small scene with the same name as the character he played in Roger Corman's Bucket of Blood. Even Fred Dekker himself never prospered as a director. After NOTC he went on to helm The Monster Squad and the exceptionally poor RoboCop 3. NOTC seems to stand out as the defining movie moment for many of those involved.

The film itself has been homaged/copied in recent years with James Gunn's Slither, which I have never seen. But the tacky 80s edge of NOTC has no modern day equivalent. Barry De Vorzon's score seems a little dated in some places but is otherwise adequate enough. Even De Vorzon's career pretty much ended with this film. He went on to score Exorcist III in 1990 and has done nothing since.

Considering the film's cult status and adoration among horror fans it's strange that it effectively killed/harmed the careers of everyone involved.

As a cheap 80s horror with gory make-up effects and a silly story you're unlikely to find anything better than NOTC. It knows it's dumb and has no delusions of grandeur. If only it had been pushed further it might have ended up being the classic such as those it paid homage to.