Product Description

In this campy chiller, a college couple, in 1959, see an object plummet to Earth like a meteor. The boy accidentally swallows a space-slug that shoots out. In 1986, two freshmen roam the campus and stumble across the corpse of the boy who swallowed the space-slug. Once thawed out, the corpse comes to life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3442 in DVD
• Brand: Son
• Released on: 2009-10-27
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.20 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Also on the Disc
Night of the Creeps, Fred (The Monster Squad) Dekker's spoof/tribute to '50s-era horror and science fiction, died an unheralded death at the box office back in the slasher-centric '80s, but it developed a passionate cult following in the ensuing decades; aficionados and first-timers alike will be thrilled with this DVD release, which underscores the film's loopy charms with a wealth of fun supplemental features. The premise is prime Creature Feature material--in 1959 an alien experiment containing vile, sluglike organisms that possess their hosts crashes to Earth, where one of the slugs takes over a young Lover's Lane habitué; flash-forward to 1986, when hapless nerds Jason Lively (brother of Gossip Girl's Blake Lively) and Steve Marshall discover the corpse, cryogenically frozen in their college lab, and accidentally free it as part of a prank. The body unleashes its extraterrestrial passenger, which proceeds to infect the student population at a breakneck pace. Dekker juggles his humor and horror with a fair amount of skill, though for every inspired moment, there's a groaner or two (it was the '80s, after all); the presence of genre vet Tom Atkins (The Fog, the 2009 My Bloody Valentine) lends a proper degree of grit. Though not perfect, Night of the Creeps was--and remains--a refreshingly quirky alternative to the franchise-heavy studio horror of the decade.

As a reward for the cadre of fans who have been waiting so long for Creeps to reach the DVD market, the director's-cut DVD is bursting at the seams with extras devoted to the film's creation and legacy. Two commentary tracks--one with Dekker, the other with Lively, Marshall, Atkins, and costar Jill Whitlow--provide insight into both the technical and the production sides of the film; the latter is particularly notable for the cast's first viewing of the movie's original, less-gimmicky (and preferable) ending, also included here. Dekker and the cast reunite for an impressive, four-part making-of featurette, which includes interviews with makeup creators David B. Miller, Howard Berger, and Robert Kurtzman and producer Charles Gordon. Atkins also gets his own spotlight extra, which profiles his long and prolific career both in and out of the horror genre; the disc is rounded out with seven deleted scenes, the original trailer, and a text-only trivia track that can be played along with the feature itself. --Paul Gaita




Stills from Night of the Creeps (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

23 years for a decent home version?...Totally worth waiting!
An under-appreciated gem of campy sci-fi-tinged horror, this directional debut from director Fred Dekker has everything from a busload of frat-guy zombies to an undead killer puppy to an amusing death by lawnmower rampage that foreshadows Peter Jackson's over-the-top finale to Dead Alive. Virtually unnoticed during its brief theatrical run, this wildly entertaining horror-comedy achieved a cult status following its home-video release. This low-budget effort throws alien monsters, axe-wielding killers, flesh-eating zombies, nudity, and drunken fraternity pranks into a blender, spiced with witty one-liners and references to dozens of horror classics.

The result is a satisfying treat that will tickle the tastebuds of horror fans. The film's nominal protagonists are a pair of randy fraternity pledges who open a can of worms when they steal a corpse from the campus medical facility and release a horde of space-leeches, which proceed to infest the bodies of everyone in sight. The host bodies subsequently become homicidal zombies with a penchant for popping in on unsuspecting sorority girls. The town's only hope seems to be a hard-boiled ex-cop who has uncovered the secret link between the zombie invasion and a 30-year-old axe-murder case... and who's also several sandwiches shy of a picnic. Dekker keeps things moving at a brisk pace thanks to some outrageous set-pieces ,some of which happen so quickly they'll have viewers reaching for the pause button, and clever dialogue, particularly for Atkins ("Girls, the good news is your dates are here; the bad news is, they're dead"), who dives into his crusty character with relish

Not only does director/screenwriter Dekker keep things moving along nicely by offering some exciting and bloody thrills, but he also makes some interesting choices with the portrayal of his main characters as well. In addition to offering a social misfit protagonist who remains uninterested in the usual college party scene, the inclusion of a handicapped sidekick who isn't defined by his disability shows a director unafraid to offer real, identifiably human characters; a refreshing change of pace compared to the all-too-perfect teens that populated horror films throughout the following decade. Along with character names that offer sly nods to numerous famous horror directors, Dekker also includes a beyond hard-boiled police detective hilariously cocksure swagger provides much of the film's effective gallows humor. Sure Dekker includes such college horror film mainstays as the obligatory love interest and the spoiled jock who gets his rocks off humiliating the nerds, but once he turns up the heat during the final act, cinematic clichés take a backseat to fast-paced zombie head-bursting fun.

Now that i've widely spoke my mind, i must turn the table in a violent fashion and speak this out loud, to the top of my lungs: 11 years for the DVD release of one of the funniest, most entertaining campy B-flicks of the 80`s? An extended director's cut in Blu-ray only covers 50% of the misery we've suffered over the years, trying to get a decent version of this deliriously entertaining classic.

BLU-RAY edition of "night of the creeps- Director's cut".

Intro: The sound/video quality is very decent with bright colors and compressing, and good depth for the only audio channel. Below blu-ray standards because there is not much to enhance after all, this is a great work considering the fact that this movie never had an official dvd release untill October 2009 and was available only on VHS since 1987. The movie is restored at the best possible from the original tapes. Grainy on big tv sets, must look great on 21 to 26" tv sets.

The director's cut feature is the adding of the original ending Fred Dekkar planned for this movie, instead of what he calls a popular "cheap scare" for the current horror B-movies back in the middle 80's.

Features:

1-Commentary with writer / director Fred Dekkar:
2-Cast commentary.
3-Original theatrical ending: Less effective and corny in my opinion, glad he put the original ending the company didn't wanted for reasons you will know.
4-Deleted scenes: Little gems that should have been included, specially the phone conversations alerting dead bodies.
5-Five Featurettes: Birth / Cast / Creating / Escape / Legend of the Creeps: These featurettes are very recent interviews with the director, cast and crew and the promotion of the 2009 director's cut. Because of the very little amount of behind-the-scenes footage (only a few pictures), these featurettes are almost entirely based on conversations.
6-Tom Atkins, man of action: An interview with actor Tom Atkins.
7-Trivia Track.
8-Original theatrical trailer.
9-Previews: Blu-ray and 4 special editions of other releases.
10-English language and subtitles.
11-BD live

The Blu-ray Menu features are very simple and not exactly according to the movie's gory humor: Just a bar with a blood stain as an indicator and the sound of what could be a blade. Never the less, this is a very satisfactory edition for fans who waited 20 years for this classic. The 80's feel of the movie is priceless.

Well worth the wait brilliant release
NIGHT OF THE CREEPS BLU-RAY

***** Out of 5

Release Date- October 27th, 2009

Long out of print Fred Dekker's cult classic Night of the Creeps finally makes it's much anticipated debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Upon its theatrical release, Night of the Creeps despite being made on a low budget failed to turn a profit, which is something that has plagued the career of Fred Dekker with The Monster Squad and RoboCop 3 also being box office failures. When The Monster Squad finally got its due with a SE DVD it gave fans hope for Night of the Creeps would get one and it took a couple of years, but we can throw away our worn out VHS and bootlegs; this is the unrated Director's Cut, but it's the same movie you've seen before except the ending; the ending used was how Fred Dekker originally wanted to end the movie.

THE MOVIE
The very definition of a cult classic; it's funny has some decent suspense and great characters with strong writing and directing. Night of the Creeps is the kind of movie you can watch over and over again it's just that much fun to watch.

PACKAGE DESIGN
Why must studios change the original art work? Night of the Creeps like many pre-90s movies had some great poster art, but like many it was changed for the release. The new artwork is terrible! Anchor Bay and Blue-Underground almost always keep the original art, but the bigger companies almost always change it. The DVD cover is even worse than the Blu-ray artwork. It's not the worst I suppose, but if you've seen the original artwork you'll hate the new cover as much as I do. I'm tempted to slightly lower my rating, but as annoying as it is to have the artwork changed I'll deal with since Night of the Creeps has finally been released.

AUDIO COMMENTARY- Fred Dekker & Michael Felsher
This rates as one of my favorite commentary tracks; Dekker is nothing, but honest and mentions stuff he didn't like about the movie. Michael Felsher is from Red Shirt Pictures and is the producer of the DVD and Blu-ray. Dekker and Felsher work well together and there are never any lulls in the talking and it's also very informative.

AUDIO COMMENTARY- Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Tom Atkins
Excellent track and is informative and really funny at times; the cast clearly get along well and are clearly having fun with this commentary.

ORIGINAL THEATRICAL ENDING (HD)- 28-Seconds
This is the ending most people have seen, but this wasn't the intended ending by Fred Dekker; I liked this ending just as much as the other ending; while I wouldn't say this ending was dark, but it wasn't exactly happy either and actually I think the ending used on this release is a little better overall, but if you don't like the ending in the movie you can always watch the theatrical ending on the disc; both are good and while I slightly favor the ending used on this release it's one of those I could probably switch back and forth on, which I like more.

DELETED SCENES (SD)- 7:39
A lot of times scenes are deleted for good reason, but every so often you'll find some excellent stuff and this is one of those times; the deleted scenes are really enjoyable and while their loss doesn't hurt the movie they could have been put back in without hurting the pacing.

THRILL ME: THE MAKING OF NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (HD)- 59:46
This is a 5-part documentary that covers the whole movie; interviews with cast and crew members; Fred Dekker, Tom Atkins, Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Charles Gordon, Michael Knue, David Miller, Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, Todd Masters, Barry Devorzon. Here's a brief look at what the making of covers;

Birth of the Creeps- 10:40
Excellent feature, which touches upon Fred Dekker's time at UCLA and how the basic concept came about; highly informative with just enough information

Cast of the Creeps- 15:47
This focuses only on the cast and this was possibly my favorite of the features. The cast shares their memories of making the movie and tease each other through out. The one thing made clear is there was a bond between the cast and it shows big time in the film and they all seem to still have a strong bond all these years later. They also talk about their characters and how they related to them; again this was a great feature.

Creating the Creeps- 10:32
This one covers all the F/X of the film and it's a lot of fun and we get some good information. Many of the Make up crew also appear in the film and later appear as zombies and that was done to save time and money.

Escape of the Creeps- 11:34
This one covers the post production and how the screenings didn't go over well it also explained is why the ending was changed and we briefly get into reshoots and how the poor marketing resulted in a box office flop; this was another strong feature.

Legend of the Creeps- 10:59
The last look at the movie goes over the cult status the film has gained and there are also brief interviews with a few fans; Once again this disc delivers this was another winner.

TOM ATKINS: MAN OF ACTION (HD)- 19:54
If you are a fan of Tom Atkins (and really who isn't?) you'll enjoy this one; this has Tom Atkins explaining how he first got into acting and he talks about some of the movies he's done in his career; Shane Black who wrote Lethal Weapon went to UCLA with Fred Dekker and would later write the Monster Squad with Dekker was often on the set of Night of the Creeps and was shopping the script around for Lethal Weapon and wanted Tom Atkins for the role of Riggs, which later went to Mel Gibson; Atkins does appear briefly in the movie; so yeah this was yet another strong feature and again fans of Tom Atkins will enjoy this most.

THEATRICAL TRAILER (HD)- 1:30
No need to explain this.

TRIVIA TRACK
I'm not the biggest fan of trivia tracks, but this one was fairly good I suppose; we get some decent information and the track is constantly popping up through the movie. Nothing I hate more than when its minutes and minutes between.

TRANSFER
Night of the Creeps makes its debut in HD and the picture quality was very sharp; there is some grain and dirt during the movie, which is to be expected, but it's not all that noticeable and as the movie goes on you'll notice it even less in the scenes it does pop up in, but there aren't many scenes with much grain.

I had high expectations for the Blu-ray and I wasn't disappointed at all in the transfer; of all the Blu-ray's I own from movies released in the 80s or prior Night of the Creeps just might have my favorite transfer or the very least top 3. While this movie may not be used as a demo and again there is some grain and dirt, but it never serves as a distraction and the colors are sharp and the movie just looks amazing. I haven't seen the DVD, but odds are they are taken from the same source and differences probably won't be that much different, but due to the higher resolution the BD will be sharper; I suppose for a few extra dollars it's worth buying on Blu-ray even if odds are there won't be a huge difference is picture quality; but again the Blu-ray transfer is top notch and Creeps looks amazing in HD.

AUDIO
I wasn't sure what to expect out of the audio; quite honestly a lot of 80s and pre-80s flicks I don't think always benefit from a new sound mix; while they don't sound bad I do sometimes switch over to the original track, but the sound quality on Night of the Creeps was very good; maybe not great, but no complaints here.

FINAL WORDS ON THE DISC
The wait for Night of the Creeps was more than worth it; this just might be the best release of 2009. The transfer is strong as is the audio and the extras all really deliver big time. In this day and age DVD and Blu-ray releases seem to be getting weaker and weaker, but this disc very much delivers on just about everything there is to know about the movie. And last of all the movie itself is still just as great as ever; this disc comes highly recommended.

Great 80s B-Horror/Cheesey Gem
This is a funny and entertaining bit of 80s B-Horror. It's very nice to see that this got a Blu-Ray release. The picture and sound quality are fantastic in this version. Tom Atkins' one liners are very dry and will bring some chuckles for sure. The makeup effects are solid and the mix between dry humor and scares is fun. This movie has tons of cheese so be sure so bring along plenty of crackers and feel free to dip regularly.