Night of the Creeps (1986)

{Warning: The review contains spoilers.}

1989. I’m sitting in my living room, watching a reruns of the TV show Batman (my favorite show at the time), and angered that I have suffer through a whole slew of commercials before I get to see how the episode is going to end. Suddenly a promo for tonight’s movie pops up; at first I’m not interested, as it looks like a lame ass zombie film, but that all changes when I hear the following exchange:

Detective Cameron: I got good news and bad news, girls. The good news is your dates are here.

Sorority Sister: What’s the bad news?

Detective Cameron: They’re dead!

After that, I feel that I MUST watch this movie, it is my duty, nay my destiny to do so. The movie, needless to say, is Night of the Creeps and I, being ten years old at the time, am absolutely mesmerized by everything that I have just seen. This film has EVERYTHING: Zombies, leeches (creeps) that shoot into people’s mouths, a hardboiled detective, a teenage love story, and space aliens. I was so enamored by the movie that when the station re-aired it a few days I popped in a blank video cassette and  pressed the record button on the VCR (our remote was broke), convinced that I would have it for all eternity, or until the cassette wore out. That didn’t happen, as my dad taped it over for an episode of Columbo.  In his defense, it was an exciting episode in which Columbo goes to a movie studio to solve a mystery.  However, it would be well over a decade until I saw the film again and that was when it aired on the Sci-Fi channel.  This time I made damn sure no one would tape over it and I’ve been true to my word, I still have it in my “tape off TV” video library. 

What surprised me upon seeing it as an adult was how funny the film was in parts, I completely missed this as a ten year-old kid. By this time I had taken a few film studies course at UWM and was pretty well versed in cinema history, so I found it absolutely humorous that the characters shared the same last names with famous horror directors: Chris “Romero”, Cynthia “Cronenberg,” J.C. “Carpenter,” and Detective Ray “Cameron.” And the topper was that the characters go to Corman University. As a kid, I didn’t really pay much attention to interactions between the characters, but rather spend the minutes counting down when the zombies were going to attack. As an adult, I tend to find the character scenes for more interesting than any of the horror scenes.  Night of the Creeps strongest asset is that it has fairly interesting and likable characters, rather than the standard personality free super models that often populate many horror films of today:

1.       Chris Romero (Jason Lively) – Chris is probably the least interesting of the main characters, but that’s mainly because he essentially serves as the film’s straight man. He is a fairly average looking college student and lacks self confidence, he still recovering from a bad break up from his high school sweetheart and moans about it all the time, much to the chagrin of J.C.  He is extremely self conscious and is a complete wet blanket at social gatherings.  He is also a hopeless romantic, when he sees Cynthia for the first time he is completely starry eyed and is convinced, despite not knowing her, that he is in love. However, he’s too nervous to introduce himself to Cynthia at frat party, so his best friend J.C. does the talking for him. When J.C. (lies) and tells Chris that Cynthia doesn’t have a boyfriend, Chris thinks the only chance he has with her  is by joining a fraternity, rather than being himself.  This in turn leads to the creeps being unleashed upon the college; in order for Chris to get into a fraternity he must pull a prank on one of the sororities, which involves stealing a cadaver and putting it on the lawn of sorority house. Chris and J.C. then go to the medical lab, where they stumbled upon a cryogenically frozen corpse.  Chris wants to get the hell out of there, but J.C. presses a button which opens the cryogenic chamber.  Chris tries to lift the corpse (while the disabled J.C. keeps asking him annoying questions), when suddenly it grabs his arm, this freaks out both him and J.C. and they run out of the lab, “screaming like banshees.” A lab assistant walks in and is promptly “creeped” by the thawed cadaver.  After this incident, Chris is not only depressed, but a little paranoid as well. However, as his world comes crashing down, Chris is essentially forced into action and proves himself fairly adept at handling high pressure situations; by the end of the film he becomes a fairly commanding presence, ordering the sorority sisters to leave the house, while him and Cynthia head down to the basement to take care of the creeps.  

2.       J.C. Carpenter (Steve Marshall)- J.C. is the exact opposite of Chris, extremely confident and a fairly funny loving guy, despite having a physical ailment that makes him use crutches to get around. It’s to Dekker’s credit that he never uses J.C.’s handicap as a cheap ploy for sympathy; there is no sad back story about to explain his ailment, nor are there violins heard on the soundtrack when he is first introduced, instead J.C. is presented as a wiseass that just happens to be handicapped.  His is constantly cracking jokes to make light of bad, often ridiculous situations. When he comes back from talking to Cynthia, Chris wants to know all about her, J.C. replies, “Well, she knows her name, which is impressive for a sorority girl.” Most importantly, he is a true friend to Chris and his not afraid to call him out on his bullshit; after having been scared by the corpse, the two go running back to their dorm room. Chris asks what they should do and J.C. cracks a joke that involves bolting the windows and shouting, “You’ll never take us alive coppers!”  This irritates Chris and he shouts, “Everything’s a joke to you tonight.” This sends J.C. off a huge, long rant:

Fuck you, Chris! Look, every single day I put up with your moaning about what’s her name and how you wish could fall in love again, but you’re too chickenshit to do anything about it. And then this Cynthia girl comes along, dream girl 2001, and I say to myself, “What the hell? I’m sure as hell never gonna get laid, so I might as well help my best friend, right?” Then you say, “J.C., help, we got to join a fraternity so she’ll give me the time of day. I say, “What the hell? You got to do it, you got to do it. And what do I do? I bust my ass off to help you and you get chickenshit again. And I push and I push and I don’t give up, and why? Why? You don’t even know. You don’t even care, because it’s important to me that you’re happy. Is that so crazy? And if we got to act like jerks and get into trouble to do that, then what the hell! It’s better than acting like jerks for no reason, right? So yeah, everything is a joke. It’s hilarious! Because if you take it seriously, you just get depressed all the time like you are. So fuck you!

Night of the Creeps boldest stroke is that it kills J.C. (an extremely likable character) midway through the film, thus setting up that no one is safe in this film. J.C.’s death is handled offscreen, but he still plays a vital role in the film’s denouement, after he gets “creeped” he records a message for Chris and explains that fire will kill the creeps.

3.       Cynthia Cronenberg (Jill Whitlow)- Cynthia is fairly sweet and somewhat naïve sorority girl, who inexplicably is dating the biggest dipshit on campus, Brad or “the Bradster” as he calls himself. However, despite her seemingly sweet exterior, she isn’t a complete pushover and often refuses to put up with Brad’s nonsense. Twice she stands up to Brad, calling him out on his arrogant behavior.

-The first time occurs after Brad confronts Chris and J.C. about the cadaver prank. Brad put the two up to it, but it upset that it wound up on the lawn of the sorority Cynthia goes to. Of course, the two guys know nothing about it, as they chickened out when the corpse seem to come to life. They are complete unaware that they corpse walked to Cynthia’s sorority, where its head burst open and shot creeps anywhere. J.C. tells Brad to back off and to “practice goose stepping.”  Brad kicks the back of J.C.’s crutch, which sends J.C. falling to the ground. Brad then asks Cynthia if she’s coming with him and she replies by flipping him the bird.  Then she helps J.C. up and gets introduced to Chris for the first time in the film.

-Brad calls Cynthia on the phone and then starts berating her for sticking up Chris and J.C. He then criticizes her for being a psych major and she, not wanting to hear any more of his drivel, hangs up the phone.

Her role of heroine is accidentally, in fact you could say that she is recruited by Chris, when the zombies converge on the sorority house, Chris gives her the flame thrower and briefs her on how to use it.  At first, she is completely shocked by all that is happening around and is incapable of doing anything, but eventually she snaps herself out of it and proceeds to set ablaze all the zombies (and the creeps that burst out of their heads) that come into her path.

4.       Detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins)- Cameron is the most complex character in the film, on the surface he is your average cinematic hardboiled detective, he doesn’t suffer fools gladly and often makes off color jokes, but deep inside he is a complete emotional  wreck. Cameron is haunted by the murder of his high school sweetheart 27 years earlier at the hands of an axe wielding maniac, as he confides to Chris, “Your high school sweetheart went on with her life. Mine got hacked up by some nutcase with an axe.” Cameron later on hunted down the killer, murdered him and buried the body it in an empty lot. However, despite having his revenge, he is still incapable of moving on with his life; at one point his superior asks, “Do you get off on living in the past?”  When the creeps are unleashed upon the campus, Cameron is convinced that it somehow ties together with his past, and is later proven correct when the corpse of the axe wielding maniac is resurrected by the creeps.  Cameron once again confronts his sweetheart’s killer, who is literally a pile of walking bones and blows his heads off, which in turn unleashes a whole bunch of creeps on civilization. After this confrontation, Cameron has a complete breakdown and is on the verge of suicide, when Chris comes knocking at his door to inform him that J.C.  has been taken by the creeps.  Cameron is hell bent on stopping the Creeps and doesn’t care  whether or not he comes back alive. In fact all Chris really manage to do was delay Cameron’s suicide, as Cameron sacrifices himself by dousing the basement of the sorority house with gasoline and blowing up the place. The presence of Detective Cameron is what really makes Night of the Creeps unique to the 80s horror cycle; in most horror films from that period (and even today for that matter) the law is either largely absent or completely inept, here Cameron dominates every scene he is in and is completely competent at his job. He’s also slightly insane and by the film’s end the role of action hero has been passed from him to Chris. 

There’s always been a divide amongst horror fans as to whether or not humor belongs in a horror film; some fans absolutely detest it, while other fans completely embrace it. I really think it depends on the film’s subject matter.  In Night of the Creeps the humor is needed to help the audience digest it’s rather ridiculous premise:  Experimental leeches (creeps) are shot from a spaceship in a canister, crash land on earth, and proceed to turn random people into zombies by flying into their mouth.

By adding humor into the mix director Fred Dekker lets the audience know that the film is not to be taken seriously and should sit back and enjoy themselves, plus it helps to masks many of the films flaws. If this film was played completely straight, chances are audiences would laugh at the film, as opposed to laughing with it. Night of the Creeps benefits greatly from the humor, whereas a horror film like Night of the Living Dead power lies in its straightforward, documentary like approach to the subject matter. For instance, if the character of Ben was to shout a stupid catchphrase after killing a zombie, it would be completely out of the place and destroy the overall tone of the movie. In Night of the Creeps, when Detective Cameron shouts, “It’s Miller Time!” before blasting off the head of a zombie, it fits perfectly into the overall tone of the film and usually gets a huge response from the audience.  

However, it’s also important that the humor respects the horror aspect of the film; the threat genuinely needs to be real in order for the audience to buy the premise.  If, for example, there was a scene in which one of the creeped out zombies slipped on a banana peel or did an elaborate pratfall, it would diffuse any tension that the filmmaker might be going for.  The humor often comes from the characters reactions to the zombies, or their being completely oblivious to the matter; when Cynthia is trying to comfort a creeped out Brad, she has her backed turn towards him and is unaware of the creeps shooting out of this mouth. It’s a moment that gets two reactions: 

1)      You’re laughing at how blissfully ignorant she is to the situation.

2)      You’re shouting at the screen, pleading for her to turn around.

The threat is genuine, but you can’t help but to laugh at how oblivious Cynthia is to the danger that is standing right behind her.  Thankfully, Chris arrives just in time to dispose of zombie Brad.

The other thing I couldn’t help to notice is that Night of the Creeps (especially in the first half) often plays like an 80s teen comedy. The archetypes are there:

Chris - the insecure lead who is infatuated with Cynthia.

J.C.- the wise cracking, off beat sidekick who dominates the first half of the film, but vanishes at the film’s climax, though in J.C.’s case he is killed off.

Cynthia - The girl of Chris’ dreams, who is coincidentally dating the biggest asshole on campus.

Brad – The campus bully that makes Chris’ life a living hell.

Teenagers often populate horror films, but they tend to belong in groups and there really is no pecking order. They are either camp counselors hoping to relax before the kids arrive, or they are party animals whose goals are to get wasted and/ or laid over the weekend; which makes it even more interesting that Chris’ main goal is to be in a genuine relationship with Cynthia, as opposed to just wanting to sleep with her. He even confides in J.C. that Cynthia could be the one and that he is in love. That was often the driving narrative in most teen comedies of that period; the lead male’s desire is not to have sex with his dream girl, but to be in a fully committed relationship with her. In Teen Wolf, after Scott and Pamela have just had sex, he is absolutely heartbroken to learn that it meant nothing to her. In Chris’ case, he gets his wish and at the film’s end is embracing Cynthia in his arms while her sorority burns down.

Whether or not this is intentional by Dekker is a matter of speculation, but it plays nicely into the era that he is stylizing onscreen. One of Dekker’s wisest decisions is to have a title card the reads “Pledge Week – 1986,” after the films black and white introduction. This may not seem like a big deal, but it allows for present day audiences to accept the film’s more dated aspects.  It was often common for other horror films of that decade to begin with a prelude set in the past and when it cut to the present a title card would flash onscreen that read, “Present Day” as opposed to giving you the exact year. This was often done to give the film a timeless feel, by not giving an exact date the filmmaker was trying to imply that it could take place in any era. The problem is that these films look nothing like the present day. In the original Friday the 13^th, the characters lifeline is stripped away when the land phone gets disabled; now a day practically everyone would be carrying a cell phone and would have the cops there in a matter of minutes.  

As I mentioned before, I first saw Night of the Creeps on television, I bring this up because the TV version’s ending was significantly different that the ending that was on the theatrical and video release of the film.  In the theatrical/video cut Cynthia notices a dog, crouches down to pet it and gets creeped for her effort. The final shot is of a creep flying towards the camera, thus screwing Cynthia and Chris out of a happy ending. In interviews Dekker has stated he regretted this ending and only used it because the studio didn’t approve of his original ending.  Obviously they had a change of heart, because when the film premiered on television, they substituted the “Cynthia gets creeped” ending for Dekker’s original, far more elaborate ending.  The television version gives Cynthia and Chris their happy ending, but then cuts to an ambulance driving down the road, just then the charred corpse of Detective Cameron walks into frame with a cigar in his mouth. The charred corpses takes a few more steps and then collapses, once his body hits the ground, creeps burst from his head and scurry under a gate; the camera tracks back to reveal that the gate belongs to a cemetery. The camera then proceeds to track over the gate and into the cemetery, when all of a sudden a light shines onto a headstone.  The camera then tilts up to reveal an alien spaceship flying into frame, slowly searching the cemetery for the creeps.  This was the ending I grew up with and naturally it’s the ending I prefer. What I like about the cemetery ending is that it puts the audience through an awry of emotions: When the creeps burst from Cameron’s head and slither into the cemetery, the audience’s naturally reaction is, “You have got to be kidding me!” The problem has seemingly gone from bad to worse, it’s only a matter of time before Cormon University is swarming with zombies; but then confusion sets in when the spotlight shines on the headstone. When the spaceship flies into frame, the audience doesn’t know what to expect or even how to react; it’s a prelude to a movie that we never see.  It’s a far more ambitious and ambiguous ending that the audience can interpret it anyway they want.  I always feel a sense of relief when  I see the spaceship flying, because (in my mind) the aliens have come to save the day. They are here to reclaim their experiment and to offer the Earth some assistance; it’s on par like in the westerns when the cavalry arrives at the last minute to save the heroes from certain doom.  The way I figure is if the aliens can fly across the galaxy and locate the creeps to this exact cemetery, then it is a cinch that they will be able to have this problem cleaned up in no time.  I also like this ending, because I like the character of Cynthia and seeing her getting creeped is a complete bummer, especially after everything she has been through. The movie has already killed off two likable characters in J.C. and Cameron, does really need to off a third?  It’s also served as a nice bookend; the film begins with the aliens and ends with them, tying everything up rather neatly. When the movie was finally released to DVD in 2009 the cemetery ending was “restored” to the film, while the alternate ending with Cynthia was relegated to special features.

In my previous entry for Better off Dead, I mentioned how it was a shame that director Savage Steve Holland was given very few opportunities to unleash his imagination on the movie going public and the same applies to director Fred Dekker.   In his short lived career Fred Dekker directed three movies: Night of the Creeps, The Monster Squad, and Robo Cop III.  While it’s probably best that no one remembers Robo Cop III, both Night of the Creeps and The Monster Squad are highly entertaining films filled with interesting ideas, and surprisingly both have developed a cult following over the years.

Night of the Creeps is a whole grab bag of ideas: a teen comedy, zombie film, and alien invasion film all rolled into one.  Dekker begins the film a board an alien spaceship where an alien that has been creeped steals a canister and shoots it off into space, then the film segues way into a black and white sequence modeled after the science fiction films of the 50s. The looks is wonderfully authentic, if you were to compare this sequence to the many science fiction films of the 50s, it would be hard to tell them apart; the cinematography and the acting are spot on. 

Fred Dekker is extremely creative in the way he reveals information to the audience;  towards the end of the film we get a shot of Cameron lying on a couch in his apartment, holding a lighter in his hand and hesitating on whether or not he should light it. Just then a knock comes from his apartment door; he ignores it for a few seconds, but eventually gets annoyed by the nonstop pounding and gets up to answer the door.  The film cuts to high angle shot of Cameron ripping duct tape off the door cracks and he violently opens the door to find Chris waiting on the other side with tears streaming down his cheeks. Chris informs Cameron that the creeps got J.C.  (Alfalfa as Cameron calls him) and then explains to Cameron their life cycle and how they can be destroyed. We then got to a long shot of an opened oven, the camera slowly zooms in on it as Cameron walks in and out of frame gathering his gear, the camera finally settles on a close up of the oven’s dials, then Cameron’s hand pops into frame and turns off the gas.

It’s a wonderfully visual moment; it tells you everything you need to know about the character without a single line of dialogue. Fred Dekker’s direction is choppy at times, but for a first time filmmaker it's still pretty impressive and a real shame he wasn’t give more opportunities.


Cast: Chris Romero (Jason Lively), Detective Cameron (Tom Atkins), J.C. Carpenter (Steve Marshall), Cynthia (Jill Whitlow), Brad (Allan Kayser), Detective Landis (Wally Taylor), Sgt. Raimi (Bruce Solomon), Young Scientist (David Paymer), Johnny (Ken Heron), Pam (Alice Cadogan), Lisa (Suzanne Snyder). 

Writer & Director; Fred Dekker

Running Time: 90 minutes.