Night of the Creeps

Dir: Fred Dekker

1986

****

Fred Dekker's Night of the Creeps is one of the most overlooked comedy horrors of the 1980's. It's a cross between a Sam Raimi and a John Hughes film or a Joe Dante with swearing, nudity and bloody gore if you will. It starts off as an ode to the classic 50's black and white B-Movie, then heads straight to being an 80's college comedy, with sex, zombies (including household pet Zombies), Aleins, Spaceships and flamethrowers. Jason Lively is Griswold Jr gone bad, Jill Whitlow is a slightly younger, more kick-ass version of Kelly Le Brock and Tom Atkins' Ray Cameron is one of horrors quirkiest of gems. The special effects are outstanding and the direction is pretty special considering it's a cheap comedy horror. Fred Dekker has a relatively small portfolio of work but what he has done (excluding RoboCop 3) is wonderful and helped make the decade so uniquely fun and memorable. Night of the Creeps really is everything you could ever want from a teen film, especially if you enjoy a bit of horror and have a funny bone.