B-movies are one way to liven up any evening of movie-watching. This pleasantly surprising bit of horror comedy from 1986 is a great way to kill an hour and a half. That is, if you’re able to handle a fair share of groan-inducing humor and somewhat gruesome special effects.
Back in 1959, a meteorite crashes into Earth, bringing with it a type of parasite that feeds on human brains. When the first victim of the parasite is put into cryogenic freeze, no one expects two teenagers (Jason Lively and Steve Marshall) to release him by accident. Apparently, the parasite spawned inside its host body as the newly thawed corpse releases hundreds of the little buggers into a college campus.
The parasites, which enter the human body through the mouth, kill the host body and cause the body to wander around, zombie-like, looking for more brains. They can only be killed by intense heat, which gives the film license to introduce a flame thrower and various firearms into the script for willy-nilly gore and splatter.
If this hardly sounds like a comedy movie formula, don’t be alarmed. The script, by Fred Dekker, is full of wit and obvious references to the plot’s own stupidity. This movie never takes itself seriously and that’s quite a relief. The thrills are cheap and so are the laughs. Dekker, who also directed, isn’t above the obvious and disgusting way to handle a scene, but he does so with such infectious glee that its hard to hold anything against him during the gratuitous nudity and gore. (The gore far outweighs the nudity, however.)
The movie actually succeeds on a nostalgia level as well. If anyone wants a true taste of the 1980’s, simply watch this movie. It’s got everything: silly electronic pop music, big hair, wild clothes and the usual “ugly duckling goes to college” plot present in so many 1980’s teenage movies.
This isn’t to say this movie is perfect. Some of the effects are quite lousy and, obviously, there’s no way a movie of this caliber deserves a rating in the ballpark of Titanic or Star Wars. However, Night of the Creeps is an interesting diversion from high brow entertainment, if only for a short while.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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