For horror-movie newcomers, it's important to know the difference between the two main approaches to horror films: the scary and tense versus the ridiculously silly. Night of the Creeps definitely falls into the latter and knowing that beforehand changes the enjoyment quite a bit. When a serious horror film isn't scary, it has failed its audience, but if a silly horror movie isn't scary, then there's no problem because the audience is probably laughing too hard to scream anyway.
Night of the Creeps tells the story of a college campus that is overrun by parasitic slugs that turn their hosts into brain-dead zombies. The slugs are actually an alien experiment that was compromised in 1959 and crash landed on Earth. A plucky and very dumb college student investigates the crash site and is the first victim of the hostile takeover. For no reason at all, his body is cryogenically frozen in a science lab at the local University. After two fraternity pledges, J.C. and Chris, botch a morbid frat prank, the frozen zombie is let loose on the campus to spread his alien urges. Seasoned Detective, Ray Cameron (played brilliantly by Tom Atkins) is called in to investigate and soon after, the dead start to rise and an unsolved serial killer case is re-opened.
Night of the Creeps glorifies the fun and adventurous side of horror movies. With direct references to movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space and Shivers, Night of the Creeps is an inside joke to horror fans. The tongue in cheek dialogue, such as Cameron's stoic calling card "Thrill Me," and the impossibly ridiculous scenarios creates a joyful romp through horror history that straddles the lines of the best sub-genres like the creature-feature, slasher, and zombie movies. It many cases, cult films earn that status by being so bad that they become good again. In the case of Night of the Creeps, it is so good because it wants to be so bad.
Now that it is finally available on a digital format, Night of the Creeps comes packed with extras including commentary from the director and the cast, documentaries about behind the scenes stuff, and a special bonus theater screening for the fans. The most important addition, however, is the director's cut. Unable to release the film the way he intended, Fred Dekker re-cut the ending the way he wanted to tie everything together. The original ending is included too, along with numerous deleted scenes, but fans of Night of the Creeps should want to see the intended ending for completion's sake.
If you are the type of movie-goer that prefers a little more Ed Wood than George A. Romero, then Night of the Creeps is a must-have piece of the zombie collection. This zombie horror send-up never got the success it wanted, but Night of the Creeps has become a sort of cult classic. It is slow to start, but if you are in the mood for enough camp to pitch a tent, definitely watch Night of the Creeps and you will understand why every formal dance is better with a flamethrower!
