Let’s see: Space Worms. Axe-wielding maniacs. Zombie like infected. Boobs. One-liners. Horror. Comedy. Overall goodtime.
Night of the Creeps has everything you ever wanted in a horror/comedy movie. And boobs!
The film’s nominal protagonists are a pair of randy fraternity pledges (Jason Lively, Steve Marshall) who open a literal can of worms when they steal a corpse from the campus medical facility and release a horde of space-leeches, which proceed to infest the bodies of everyone in sight. The host bodies subsequently become homicidal zombies with a penchant for popping in on unsuspecting (and undressing) sorority girls. The town’s only hope (such as it is) seems to be a hard-boiled ex-cop (Tom Atkins), who has uncovered the secret link between the zombie invasion and a 30-year-old axe-murder case… and who’s also several sandwiches shy of a picnic. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
I have to thank the fine folks at the Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet (my place of employment, part-time) for doing their Late Show Cinema and bringing this forgotten gem of 80s glory back to the big screen in classic 35mm film. I was there for the tech check of the print and was just having a fucking ball when watching this forgotten classic. I remember seeing this many years back in my formative youth, marveling at the boobs mostly, but then again I liked zombies and this had plenty of them. Night of the Creeps is the sort of trash horror movies that were ultimately wildly inventive in what they were doing. They are the stuff of cult classics, surely mixing horror and comedy into the weave of kills and gore to cement its status as a favorite amongst the late night movie crowds.
It’s the perfect little movie that combines a zillion different things, but still manages to seem fresh even with the veneer of a b-movie clouding the picture. Tom Atkins rules as the hard-boiled cop trying to solve the outbreak problems. He delivers wonderful one-liners that are just cheeky enough to not feel forced and out of place. The plot of the movie just throws everything into a blender with blood and human parts and what you get is just a space alien infecting good time. Who cares that the filmmakers are trying to tie it all together, it just moves along on the charm of the story and for horror fans that’s all you need. Yeah it’s space slugs infecting people, turning them into zombies and they start to conveniently break into women’s houses while they are changing. Should you care? NO! Just watch this tempest storm of bad but good qualities and relax.
I don’t want to give away all the juicy bits in the movie, suffice to say that if the trailer even remotely intrigues you, just see the damn thing. I solemnly swear it’s fucking amazing.
Night of the Creeps seems like a giant mash-up of different ideas from movies across the spectrum of cinema. In a horror movie sense, this combines aliens, infectious creatures, zombies, axe murderers, and those wonderful kills we come to the movies for. On the other hand it has this campy comedy feel to the movie with a college-esque setting of frats and sororities, nudity, raunchy humor that comes of groan worthy and a litany of one-liners from Tom Atkins. It’s this big, beautiful love letter to the 80s style of filmmaking with horror and comedy movies. There is surely something for everyone in this movie whether you are wanting horror, humor, or just a perfect b-movie to add to your collection.
