Night of the Creeps

What is this? A homicide, or a bad B-movie? Not exactly what you would call an unknown horror comedy, but there is the distinct feeling that it should be better known. As its cult fan base will attest, this is blast of a movie, a homage to the "B" schlockers of lore. Directed by Fred Dekker, the premise sees some alien beings eject a flask of alien slugs down to earth, which lands at a fraternity campus, something which cause mayhem some years later when a frozen body is disturbed at the medical lab and the slugs are unleashed. Cue infestation that turns people into zombies! The pic plays up to the clichés of fraternity based movies, with nerds and nudity on tap, all smothered in a gooey horror comedy sauce. One-liners are ripe, the characterisations also, the latter of which fronted by a glorious Tom Atkins as a hard drinking hard - boiled detective with issues and quips ready to be poured out. It's not genius film making, but given the low budget it deserves its cult status, because it never pauses for breath and it's very aware of what it wants to be - and crucially who its target audience is. 7/10

Night of the Creeps is a fantastic movie to watch in many different situations: with friends, at a sleepover, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day, and so many more. It's an easy to watch flick, and it contains the right balance of horror elements, gore, campiness, humor, and absurdity to make each viewing as enjoyable as the last. It's got a touch of body-stealing aliens, a touch of zombies, a touch of traditional serial killer, all mixed with all the fun that can come from being placed in a sorority house. Sure, it's not downright frightening, and it's not necessarily an utterly funny movie like a comedy, but the balance it strikes between the two is where the beauty shines through.