Night of the Creeps and I have a rich history. When I was younger (around 11 or 12 I believe), I was staying at my grandma's for vacation. I had my own large room and a small tv. I was flipping through channels and happened upon Night of the Creeps. It had already been on for a while, but I decided to watch it anyways. I remember being completely grossed out and scared out of my mind. For the next few nights I had trouble falling asleep and I'm pretty sure I had a few nightmares. Naturally, now that I'm older and it's October I had to find the time to watch this classic again. Needless to say, this time was a much different viewing experience.
In Night of the Creeps, we follow college students Chris Romero (Jason Lively) and John Carpenter-Hooper (Steve Marshall), or J.C. for short. As part of a pledge prank, Chris and J.C. break into a science lab and attempt to steal a cyrogenically frozen cadaver. Little do they know that this cadaver was infected by an alien slug, and once dethawed it will spread chaos and destruction wherever it goes. Now, it's up to J.C, Chris, Chris' sudden crush Cynthia Cronenberg (Jill Whithlow), and hardened detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins) to stop the alien slug infestation and save the world.
Jill Whithlow is absolutely adorable as the innocent Cynthia. Jill doesn't have any problem flashing us her tits in one scene, always a plus. Cynthia is the first to witness the slug infestation, and of course when she tries to get help, no one believes her. Whithlow isn't the best actress, but she does just fine in her role.
Jason Lively is believable as Chris, the constantly depressed and self-defeating everyman. He just got out of a relationship, and so is not in the happieest of moods, that is...until he catches sight of Cynthia and decides on the spot that he wants to marry her. In an effort to win her over, he decides to pledge a frat and is given a prank to perform. He drags his best friend J.C. along for the ride. Lively does a good job here, by far his best scene being one involving a lawnmower, and another one where he gets to say one of the best one-liners in the film. Lively manages to actually pull off charming evefry now and then, and he makes for a good, believable leading man.
J.C. is one of the stronger characters in the film. He is the funny, dorky, disabled best friend to Chris. He walks on crutches, and doesn;t approve of Chris' constant mopey attitude, stating that "when you're depressed, I'm depressed. And I don't like being depressed...it's well, you know...depressing." J.C. has made it his goal to cheer Chris up in any way possible, including helping hook Chris up with
Cynthia. J.C. is one of the funner characters in the film, always having some wise-crack up his sleeve. I'll admit his whole dorky schtick can get old at times but he is still one of my favorite characters in the film.
Tom Atkins is fantastic as Detective Ray Cameron. He is tortured by a desision he made back when he was still a rookie, a decision that may come back to haunt him soon. He plays the bad-ass detective that is called on for extra help. He has some of the most memorable lines in the film (It's Miller time), and is a well-needed addition to the cast, helping to add some fun and bad-assedness into the film. You don;t fuck with Tom Atkins.
Night of the Creeps is part zombie film, part alien invasion film, and all B horror. The effects used for the zombies in the film are really good, in an old-fashioned, schlocky, cheap kind of way. They are so schlocky they're actually kind of endearing. Night of the Creeps spends much of it's time throwing in homages to other horror films and their directors. Plan 9 from Outer Space is mentioned several times and appears on a television once, the last names of the leads (Croneneberg, Carpenter, Hooper, Cameron, Romero) are last names of famous horror directors, and the film starts in the '50's and uses Black and White for this portion (a clear throw-back to 1950's horror films). Night of the Creeps can be surprisingly clever at times, as it's homages and nods are proof of.
Night of The Creeps may not be the best, or strongest B horror film you can see but it's infectious silly fun makes this a good one to re-watch during the Halloween season (or any time in fact). Looking back, I am surprised that this film scared me so much during my youth. Sure there are a few creepy moments and there are some good gross-out parts (just looking at those slugs makes me cringe a little), and the atmosphere is no doubt fantastic....but I've seen much scarier films. Still, this film will always have a special place in my heart as one of the first films to really introduce me to B horror (or any horror) and one of the very few films to keep me awake at night. Night of the Creeps will certainly give you a few chills, a few good laughs, and a few things to pump your fists to (the climax is all kinds of awesome). All in all, if you're looking for a good way to pass the time, you could do worse than Night of the Creeps.
3.5 STARS
Slither was actually inspired by this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment