Night of the Creeps is a 1986 American science fiction horror comedy film written and directed by Fred Dekker in his feature directorial debut, starring Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow, and Tom Atkins.
[2] In the film, a college student and his best friend steal a cadaver from a cryogenics lab, as part of an initiation rite in a local fraternity.
Based on the testimony of a janitor who witnessed them running out of the university medical center, "screaming like banshees," they confess to breaking in but deny moving the corpse.
At his house, Cameron explains to Chris that the escaped lunatic's 1959 victim was his ex-girlfriend, and that he secretly hunted down and killed the axe-murderer in revenge.
After they stop the horde, Chris spots more slugs racing toward the basement; Cynthia explains that a member of the sorority had received specimen brains for biology class.
The police cars race by the charred and 'zombified' Cameron who is shuffling down the street, still smoking a cigarette, when he suddenly stops and falls to the ground.
Searchlights appear from the night sky, revealing the source to be the spaceship from the beginning of the film, with the aliens intending to retrieve their experiment.
Most of the main characters (Romero, Carpenter, Raimi, Landis, Hooper, Cronenberg, Cameron, Miner, Craven, Bava) are named after horror movie makers.
[4] The soundtrack album, featuring Barry DeVorzon's score for the film (except tracks 22-26), was issued in 2009 by La-La Land Records.
In the Philippines, the film was released on March 5, 1987, with free "protector" stickers handed out for early moviegoers to put on during the screening.
[9] Nina Darnton wrote that the film, though derivative, "shows a fair ability to create suspense, build tension and achieve respectable performances.
"[10] Nigel Floyd of Time Out London wrote that the direction and special effects are poor, but the film is still "enjoyable enough in a ramshackle sort of way.
"[11] Michael Gingold of Fangoria rated it 3.5/4 stars and called it "one of the year's most surprisingly entertaining fright features, one that homaged practically every subgenre imaginable, yet kept a sure hand on its tone and never descended into spoofery.
"[12] Christopher Monfette of IGN rated it 7/10 and wrote that the film "shows its age" but is scary, gory, and has plenty of quotable lines.
Club rated it C+ and wrote, "Night Of The Creeps has all the ingredients of a top-notch cult movie, yet Dekker too often ends up recycling clichés rather than subverting or spoofing them.
I pulled it off"[17]^ Dekker received a special award for his first-time direction at the 1987 Paris International Festival of Fantastic and Science-Fiction Film.