Night of the Creeps [Blu-ray]

 

 

Create your own review

Photos from the June screening and cast reunion for Fred Dekker's "Night of the Creeps" at Austin, TX's Alamo Drafthouse can be viewed on-line and they created quite a buzz in the horror community since being posted. The films screening took place on Saturday, June 13, 2009 and the event was also taped for inclusion on the long-awaited Director's Cut DVD of "Night of the CREEPS" which Sony Pictures has finally released. Did I say Finally!

Rumors had been circulating from fans who attended the special screening that the video image shown on June 13/09 at the Alamo Drafthouse was from the actual High Definition master print with the original ending usually found only in Bootleg copies of the movie. As a fan I hoped that Sony Pictures would do this film justice and the video transfer would be pristine. After watching the movie I can state that the widescreen picture is absolutely fantastic and better than anything I expected. The audio is also presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital but it sounded a little weak to me, so I switched to the fuller sounding stereo mix instead.

It was also mentioned that fans would get a chance to vote on-line for the DVD cover they liked best to be included for the long awaited "Night of the Creeps" DVD release so I guess this cover was the winner. Personally I prefer the Blu-ray cover instead or maybe the original cover found on the VHS copies should have been used.

Sony Pictures really skimped on the disc packaging and disc artwork in my opinion. The disc case is really flimsy with portions of the plastic missing and as far as disc artwork goes, they're isn't any. The disc is silver with the title printed on it and for me the lack of disc artwork was a big disappointment. Fans will rejoice over the fact that the original ending is included in the Director's cut and the alternate ending is included in the special features section. The special features and commentaries by Dekker and the cast are a real treat and any fan of this movie will love them.

The year is 1959 and a young couple on a date spot a mysterious canister after it has crashed nearby, the young man leaves his date alone in the car while he sets out to investigate the crash site. After opening the canister the young man is infected with an alien slug creature that enters his mouth and transforms him into a zombie; now the real nightmare begins!

The mutant slug creatures contained in the canister came from an alien spacecraft and were never meant to be released. During a battle on the spacecraft one of the aliens ejected the canister and it plummeted to earth. Luckily for the rest of the town the infected young man turned zombie was captured and he has been cryogenically frozen in the basement of Corman University where he is being studied and constantly monitored by a University scientist played by veteran character actor David Paymer.

Everything has been quiet in the basement of Corman University for years until two students J.C. (Steve Marshall) and Chris Romero (Jason Lively) accidentally stumble across the frozen body in 1986 while trying to pull off a school prank and they unknowingly unleash the slugs on the University campus. Now that the terror has started up again it's up to J.C. , Chris , Cindy and everyone's favorite cop of course Detective Ray Cameron to save the day. THRILL ME!

(60 Minutes of Behind-the-Scenes material and Bonus features include)

-"Birth of Creeps" featuring Dekker talking about the origins of the project
-"Cast of the Creeps" featuring Jason Lively, Tom Atkins, Steve Marshall and Jill Whitlow
-"Creating The Creeps" featuring interviews with SFX creators David B. Miller and Robert Kurtzman
-A special Tom Atkins centric piece called "Tom Atkins: Man of Action"
-"Escape of the Creeps" a detailed look at the post-production.
-Deleted scenes
-Fred Dekker solo commentary
-Cast commentary featuring Atkins, Whitlow, Marshall and Lively
-The original theatrical ending

Night of the Creeps is a must-see 1980s cult classic that almost seems to get better with age. With its unusually impressive blend of horror and comedy, this low-budget classic should serve as an inspiration to today's independent filmmakers. I've read that writer/director Fred Dekker wrote the screenplay in seven days, but it's as solid and witty a script as you're likely to find among films in the campy horror genre. The special effects are surprisingly good for the most part, and even the acting is solid all the way around. Dekker's love and appreciation for science fiction and horror is incorporated nicely into the dialogue, granting the film a special appeal to fans of those genres.

Way back in 1959, a pod carrying an alien experiment plummeted to the earth and - by infecting those exposed to it - caused the violent deaths of several young people before it was stopped. Things have been peaceful ever since - until a stupid fraternity prank by a young man desperate to impress a beautiful sorority girl. While Chris (Jason Lively) sort of draws the line at freeing human popsicles sealed up cryogenically for almost three decades, his gung ho buddy J.C. Steve Marshall) has no qualms about such an expulsion-deserving offense. They don't get far with the body, but they do more than enough to turn their bucolic college town into a veritable zombie killing ground. It's not long at all before zombies' heads start exploding across campus, releasing a myriad of alien worms eager to infect new hosts. As a few random murders escalate into the equivalent of a zombie invasion, only veteran Detective Landis (Wally Taylor) has any real insight into what is truly happening.

When they're not performing idiotic fraternity pledge pranks or running away ("screaming like banshees") from the undead, Chris - with plenty of help from J.C. - is trying to figure out how to separate Cynthia (Jill Whitlow) from her obnoxious boyfriend and (forgive the pun) worm his way into her life. I certainly can't blame the lad for that, as Cynthia is flat-out gorgeous. In fact, Jill Whitlow is a perfect example of why I and so many other fellows love the 1980s so much. It's just too bad that the only way for a normal guy to get such a babe is to take on a city full of monsters and somehow survive.

Night of the Creeps is a perfect candidate for multiple viewings. I must admit that Detective Landis' catch phrase and J.C.'s seemingly endless antics eventually got on my nerves, but there is plenty of memorable dialogue scattered throughout the entire film. The gore is satisfying enough to placate the slasher fan without scaring away those with a more delicate constitution, and the comedy and cultural references should appeal to just about everyone. Night of the Creeps is B-movie horror/comedy filmmaking at its best.

WHEN I SAW THAT NIGHT OF THE CREEPS WAS DUE TO ARRIVE NOT ONLY ON DVD,BUT BLU RAY AS WELL I WAS PRETTY PSYCHED.I HADN'T OWNED A COPY (OTHER THAN A LONG LOST) VHS TAPE SINCE THE ONE I BOUGHT AS A TEENAGER IN THE 80'S.I WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE SOUND AND PICTURE QUALITY, AS WELL AS THE ALTERNATE ENDING,INTERVIEWS AND OTHER EXTRA'S,I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS TITLE FOR ANY FANS OF GOOD 80'S CAMPY COMEDY/HORROR FLICKS !!!!

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 4 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Fromage galore!
So truthfully, I haven't seen this movie since the early 90's, but I remember watching it every single time it came on tv. Read more

Published on Oct 5 2009 by Miss Kitty

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 4 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!