Night of the Creeps

Another ‘cult classic’ from the 1980’s, this time it’s slug-like aliens which are responsible for a zombie invasion that begins at a university campus and gradually take over the entire town.

1959 (and shot in b/w) and we are invited aboard a spacecraft in which two aliens frantically try to prevent a third crewmember from releasing a secret experiment. Alas, the frenzied crewmember in question succeeds in shooting a canister-like object into space which crashes to earth a short time later. Around the same time two young lovey-dovies – a college student and his girl - are about to make out in the car when a young policeman approaches the couple and warns them of an escaped maniac on the loose. It becomes clear from the policeman’s behaviour that the girl in the car is a former love interest of his. Despite the warning the young college student drives to a secluded parking spot with his date for a bit of hanky panky when they notice something like a falling star plunging from the night sky though of course the star is nothing else but the canister. Just as the student gets out of the car to investigate, the girl gets attacked by the escaped and axe-wielding lunatic. Completely unaware of what’s going on back at the parking spot, the student proceeds to open the canister when a slug-like thing finds its way from the canister’s opening into the student’s mouth.

Forward to 1986 (now shot in colour) and Chris Romero (Jason Lively), a student at the Corman University, ponders over the recent break-up of a relationship when he and best mate J. C. (Steve Marshall) join a student party during which Chris sets his eyes on fellow student Cynthia Cronenberg (Jill Whitlow) and is smitten immediately! Together with J.C. he concocts a plan that will win him the heart of Cynthia, not easy given the fact that she is betrothed to college asshole Brad – head of the Beta Epsilon fraternity. In order to impress Cynthia Chris decides to join but Brad doesn’t accept new members easily: they have to complete a task to prove they are worthy of such an exclusive fraternity. In Chris’ case, he is tasked with stealing a cadaver from the University’s medical centre and schlepping it to the steps of the sorority house. Sure enough, Chris and J.C. seem in luck when they find a frozen body but once it starts thawing it seems to reach out for them. Luckily they escape but a medical student working at the lab is less lucky. Enter Detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins) who is none other than the policeman who, 27 years earlier, tried to warn his own ‘lost love’ of a maniac on the loose… Now he feels the stolen corpse and the events from 1959 are somehow connected and right he is too, because the stolen corpse just happens to be the same student who opened a can of, er, slugs, 27 years ago… and now as the frozen corpse is thawed the slugs begin to multiply and spread quickly, turning those who encounter them into alien zombies…

Great fun for most parts and well, it goes without saying that cheesy 80’s fashion plus music contribute little. However, veteran actor Tom Atkins is in top form here and the in-jokes are equally hilarious: Chris Romero, Cynthia Cronenberg, Corman University, Detective Landis, Sergeant Raimi… director Fred Dekker, who also wrote the screenplay, is clearly a horror buff.