Friday, October 15, 2021

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 15: Night of the Creeps (1986)

For some reason I never got around to seeing Night of the Creeps back in the 80's which is weird because it's actually pretty good. Did I hear some bad review of it somewhere so skipped it at the theater? Was it always checked out at the video store? I may never know!

And right from the start it's promising, with an opening featuring giant naked baby aliens, and a prologue filmed in black and white that takes place in the 1950's, mashing up an alien invasion story with an urban legend-esque mad slasher on the loose on lovers' lane.

The rest of the movie is very firmly 1980's, with two nerdy college boys trying to get dates with popular sorority girls who are seemingly beholden to frat boys. It's very clearly a comedic film from the very beginning, but it's when I started to hear the characters' last names--Cronenberg, Carpenter, Hooper, Romero, Raimi, Bava--that I knew this film was coming from a place of reverence, and not just send up. Horror movie veteran Tom Atkins is just the icing on the cake, and a cameo from Dick Miller as, yes, Walter Paisley, is the birthday candle on that cake. Lit with a flame thrower.

Night of the Creeps is available to rent from several online platforms including Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime.

1 comment:

Caffeinated Joe said...

A fun 80s flick, for sure! And that dude is Bubba from Mama's Family! Holy cow!