Cult films are more often than not movies that didn’t make a splash at the box office when they were initially released yet find an audience later on who treasure the experience. The first major example of this was NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and then ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Midnight movies have moved on to become DVD releases when it comes to cult classics and a new one is released this week, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS.
While the film didn’t do well upon its initial release, fans have been clamoring for its release on DVD, resorting to watching those well worn VHS copies over and over again. The film gets special treatment this week with a release not just on DVD but on blu-ray as well.
The story involves a space capsule ejected from an alien controlled starship that falls to earth in 1959. Containing an experiment gone wrong, a fast moving space slug is set lose and leaps into the mouth of a lovers lane young man thinking he was chasing after a meteor. His date doesn’t fare much better when she is chopped up by an axe wielding maniac who just escaped from a mental institution.
Fast forward to 1986 and Corman University where young Chris (Jason Lively) and room mate J.C. (Steve Marshall) are walking fraternity row as Chris spots the girl of his dreams, Cindy (Jill Whitlow). J.C. gets her name and the pair realizes the only way Chris has a chance it for them to pledge. Unfortunately they pledge the most notorious frat there is, requiring them to put a corpse on a sorority lawn to join. The frat’s top man, Brad, is Cindy’s boyfriend though and he has no plans to let them join.
The duo hit campus and discovers the frozen body of the alien ingesting guy from the movie’s beginning. Caught by a grad student they make a run for it, not witnessing the corpse killing the grad and walking out, ending up at Cindy’s sorority house and having his head split open releasing more of the alien slugs.
Enter Detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins), a tough as nails hard guy whose catch phrase “Thrill me” is now cult film fodder. His investigation leads him back down memory trail as it was his ex-girlfriend who was the one axed those many years ago.
Chris and J.C. are dumped on by Brad and his goon squad which results in Cindy bypassing him to come to their aid. Unfortunately at the same time, Det. Cameron takes them in for questioning concerning the missing body.
More happens along the way with Cindy asking Chris to the school dance, J.C. becoming infected with the space slugs, Det. Cameron revealing himself to the already dazed Chris and an entire busload of fraternity members being infected with the slugs and returning as zombies. To quote Det. Cameron to the girls of the sorority house, “The good news is your dates are here, the bad news is…they’re dead”. Now it’s up to Chris, Cindy and Det. Cameron to take down these slugs spattering, mind numbing zombies and slugs while in the process saving the Earth.
The film is a hoot of the highest order, offering science fiction, horror and humor in equal doses. Dekker has said on your first film you never know if you’ll do another so you try and put in everything you can think of that you want to do. That happens here but not to the detriment of the film but to its benefit.
The acting by such a young cast is believable, just what is needed in a film so ripe with unbelievable situations. While none went on to more notable roles, they all do a tremendous job here. And Tom Atkins, a terrific actor who falls into the always recognizable yet whose name isn’t always known category, turns in one of his best performances ever. You might even remember him from movies like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE FOG, LETHAL WEAPON or even the recent MY BLOODY VALENTINE remake.
The film has all the great ingredients of a cult classic. Select lines to remember and quote. Monsters that sound silly yet are truly, well, creepy. Exploding heads. Zombies (including a zombie dog). Aliens. And best of all for fans, the original ending Dekker shot but that has not been previously released.
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