Night of the Creeps | August 22, 1986

Night of the Creeps

Night of the Creeps (1986) is an 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. The film is an earnest attempt at a B movie and an homage to the genre. While the main plot of the film is related to zombies, it also mixes in elements of slashers and alien invasion films. Despite its poor box office performance, "Night of the Creeps" developed a cult following.

In 1959, aboard a spacecraft, two aliens race to prevent an experiment from being released by a third crew member. The seemingly possessed third alien shoots the canister into space, where it crashes to Earth. Nearby, a college student takes his date to a parking spot where they see a falling star and investigate. It lands in the path of an escaped criminally insane mental patient. As his date is attacked by the axe-wielding maniac, the boy finds the canister, from which a small slug-like creature jumps into his mouth.

Twenty-seven years later, in 1986, Chris Romero pines over a lost love, supported by his disabled friend J.C. Hooper. During pledge week at Corman University, Chris spots a girl, Cynthia Cronenberg, and falls instantly in love. To get her attention, he decides to join a fraternity. Cynthia’s boyfriend, who heads the Beta Epsilon fraternity, tasks them with stealing a cadaver from the university medical center and depositing it on the steps of a rival fraternity house. Chris and J.C. find a frozen corpse in a secret room, but when it grabs them, they flee. The thawed corpse then kills a medical student working at the lab.

Detective Ray Cameron, a haunted cop, is called in to investigate the break-in at the cryogenics lab, where he discovers that one of the bodies – the boy who discovered the alien experiment in 1959 – is now missing, set free by Chris and J.C. The corpse makes its way back to the sorority house where he had picked up his date twenty-seven years ago. There, his head splits open and releases more slugs. Called to the scene, Cameron interprets the condition of the head as the result of an axe wound in the face.

The next day, the fraternity brothers confront Chris and J.C., who they believe are responsible for the previous night’s incident. They are then taken in for questioning by the police. Based on the testimony of a janitor who saw them running out of the university medical center “screaming like banshees,” they confess to breaking in but deny moving the corpse. That night, the dead medical student rises from his slab and attacks the janitor.

Cynthia tries to convince Chris and J.C. that the attacks are related to zombies, but they are skeptical. When J.C. sees Cynthia leaning on Chris’s shoulder, he leaves them alone and is attacked by slugs that emerge from the possessed janitor. After Chris walks Cynthia back to the sorority house, he encounters Cameron, who has overheard their conversation. 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 Cameron reveals that he buried the body under what is now the sorority house, he receives a call that the same axe-wielding lunatic has killed the house mother. Cameron blows off the corpse’s head with his shotgun, which releases more slugs.

The next night, while everyone prepares for a formal dance, Chris finds a recorded message that J.C. left for him posthumously. J.C. says that the slugs have incubated in his brain, but he has discovered that they are susceptible to heat. He confesses his love to Chris and wishes him luck with Cynthia. Chris recruits Cameron, who was in the midst of a suicide attempt, and they retrieve a flamethrower from the police armory. They arrive at the sorority house just as Cynthia breaks up with Brad, who has become possessed. After killing him, the Beta fraternity brothers show up, despite having been killed in a bus crash. Cynthia and Chris team up to destroy the outside zombies while Cameron clears the house.

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. In the basement, they find an enormous pile of slugs and Cameron, tape across his mouth, preparing a can of gasoline. The detective begins counting down as he splashes gasoline, and Chris counts down in sync with him as he and Cynthia race out of the house. As Cameron opens up the house’s gas valve, several slugs leap to attack him. He flicks his lighter, and the house goes up in a fiery explosion. Chris and Cynthia share a kiss as they watch the house burn.