Movie Details
| Title: | Night of the Creeps | |
| Director: | Fred Dekker | |
| Year: | 1986 | |
| Genre: | Horror | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 04.15.06 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (1)
- Monster Squad
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 04.15.06 | Alamo Downtown | Another kickass Alamo event... tonight at midnight they showed Night of the Creeps with writer/director Fred Dekker in attendance. I'd never seen this movie before but had heard lots of good things about it. Well... good in an 80s horror/comedy sense of the word. This was actually a last-minute thing. Tomorrow there's a Monster's Squad reunion screening with Dekker and a couple of the actors, but since Eric (who put a lot of this together) also loves this movie and he was going to be in town anyway, Kier-La got a print there you go. Dekker gave a cool intro and good Q&A afterward. There was a pretty decent crowd for it (I suspect more tomorrow), and aside from the print jumping the sprockets right at the beginning, the screening went well. It surprised me exactly how similar this is to Slither, both in subject matter and tone. When Tim asked Dekker what he thought about it, Dekker was very polite, saying his movie wasn't all that original either and since James Gunn says that he hasn't seen it he thinks they just stole from the same places. That said, he had 20 years to see his movie and he didn't so fuck him. heh heh heh. Later on though, talking in the Lobby, Dekker brought up a Monster Squad TV show from the 70s and how he'd never even heard of it when his film came out so he can sort of identify with that feeling. He also urged all Night of the Creeps fans to actually physically write a letter on paper and put a stamp on it and send it to Sony Home Entertainment so it's there in front of their face and they can't just blanket delete the e-mail and it's not just a list of random names that don't mean anything and they might think there's money to be made and decide to release it on DVD. Dekker spoke of his original ending which is pretty different from what we saw so it sure would be interesting to see that footage restored. So my thoughts on the actual movie? I liked it. It does walk that line like Joe Dante's work where it's sort of goofy and funny but then you'll find moments of genuine creepy horror stuff mixed in. There's a detective character that's stuck in the 50s that's the best thing about the movie but the main kid is also really good. I think he's the kid that played Rusty in European Vacation... he's got a couple straight-man reaction shots in this that are really well done. surprisingly well-acted. There's a line where the hot sorority girl tells him that her newly-ex boyfriend is an asshole and he says "I know he's an asshole" in a pretty great reading. I dunno, some surprisingly good acting out of him. The biggest things for me tonight, hands down the things I will remember about tonight for years and years to come, are the trailers that Tim played before the show. He played trailers for The Stuff and Night of the Comet. If you are Steve or Trapper you will know that we watched those very same movies in a double feature up in Rochester one night, and in that order as well! When the trailer for The Stuff started I was like "nice! I didn't know Tim had this..." and leaned over and said I loved this movie to Jarrette, who looked like he hadn't seen it. But then when Night of the Comet came on Jarrette was like "I love this movie" and I was completely taken aback. I mean what are the odds? Two of Trapper's favorite movies from the 80s, that he rented and made us watch as a double feature, projected in trailer form at the Alamo years later. There's something cosmic about that... or not. I remember not liking Night of the Comet at all though... I'll have to see that again. The Stuff though... I actually suggested that to my other friends in Rochester as part of their Cheese-a-thon (where we watch bad movies and eat cheese and drink tang all night. it was college) so I got to see that twice in the same year... the trailer reminded me of how bizarre and crazy it is. Now i want to see them both again.... i might have to recreate that double feature sometime and coerce a few people to sit through them like Trapper coerced me. so a good night all around. The two actors from Monster Squad were also there tonight and they all hung out and talked in the lobby after the movie... more on them tomorrow though. |
