On N List of Movie Reviews
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Night of the Creeps (1986)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
2/26
2/26:
I had high hopes for Night of the Creeps because Fred Dekker was the director of an underrated film
called The Monster Squad, but what a huge letdown.
It starts with the schlocky feel to pass for a horror spoof, reminding me of
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Terrible performances
are given by Steve Marshall and Tom Atkins who won't stop saying an all-time lame line: "Thrill me." Every time
he did, I thought, "Kill me."
At some point, the show does get better, coming close to a true horror film, only to be totally outdone by
ripping off Night of the Living Dead. It's even
cringeworthy when many characters are named after horror directors of the 70's and 80's. As often as "Bradster"
showed up, I wanted to tell him, "Nice hair...not."
If the leading actor looks really, really familiar, he used to be Rusty in
National Lampoon's European Vacation. Not to be
missed is David Paymer. Who knew he would have a minor role in a crap film like this before rising in the
ranks to star alongside A-list actors and win an Oscar nomination for
Mr. Saturday Night? As usual, Dick Miller of
A Bucket of Blood makes a cameo appearance.
All in all, Night of the Creeps rightfully flopped at the box office but got Shane Black started in
the movie business, enabling him to write screenplays for two truly outstanding films the following year:
Lethal Weapon and
The Monster Squad.