Night of the Creeps

"The good news is your date is here. The bad news is...He's dead."

1986 1h 28m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🍅

75%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 614🍅75%Rotten Tomatoes●62Metacritic★6.7IMDB · 27,240

HorrorComedyScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth and infects a fraternity member. They freeze the body, but in the modern day, two geeks pledging a fraternity accidentally thaw the corpse, which proceeds to infect the campus with parasites that transform their hosts into killer zombies.

“The good news is your date is here. The bad news is...He's dead.”

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Cast

Jason Lively
Christopher 'Chris' Romero
Steve Marshall
James Carpenter 'J.C.' Hooper
Jill Whitlow
Cynthia 'Cindy' Cronenberg
Tom Atkins
Det. Ray Cameron
Wally Taylor
Detective Landis
Allan Kayser
Brad
Bruce Solomon
Sgt. Raimi
Vic Polizos
Coroner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Fred Dekker
Writers: Fred Dekker
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 12% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

40 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Fred Dekker, shot by Robert C. New. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Barry De Vorzon. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael N. Knue shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jason Lively and Steve Marshall and Jill Whitlow carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The good news is your date is here. The bad news is...He's dead.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fred Dekker directs. Robert C. New behind the camera. Barry De Vorzon scores. Michael N. Knue cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Earned back only 12% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
340 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Directed by Fred Dekker, shot by Robert C. New. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Barry De Vorzon. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Michael N. Knue shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jason Lively and Steve Marshall and Jill Whitlow carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The good news is your date is here. The bad news is...He's dead.".
9IMDB entry: tt0091630 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 18 themes, including "spacecraft", "monster", "experiment", "police".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert C. New
Original score: Barry De Vorzon
Editing: Michael N. Knue
Production design: George Costello
Costume design: Eileen Kennedy
Makeup / hair: Bonita DeHaven
VFX supervisor: David Stipes
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,000,000
Box office: $591,366
Return: 12% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Night of the Creeps (1986)
Rotten Tomatoes: 75% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 62/100
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 27,240 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 1 nomination total

Also by

Fred Dekker

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-10-21
★ 7/10
What is this? A homicide, or a bad B-movie? Not exactly what you would call an unknown horror comedy, but there is the distinct feeling that it should be better known. As its cult fan base will attest, this is blast of a movie, a homage to the "B" schlockers of lore. Directed by Fred Dekker, the premise sees some alien beings eject a flask of alien slugs down to earth, which lands at a fraternity campus, something which cause mayhem some years later when a frozen body is disturbed at the medical lab and the slugs are unleashed. Cue infestation that turns people into zombies! The pic plays up to the clichés of fraternity based movies, with nerds and nudity on tap, all smothered in a gooey horror comedy sauce. One-liners are ripe, the characterisations also, the latter of which fronted by a glorious Tom Atkins as a hard drinking hard - boiled detective with issues and quips ready to be poured out. It's not genius film making, but given the low budget it deserves its cult status, because it never pauses for breath and it's very aware of what it wants to be - and crucially who its target audience is. 7/10
Dsnake12019-10-11
★ 7/10
Night of the Creeps is a fantastic movie to watch in many different situations: with friends, at a sleepover, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day, and so many more. It's an easy to watch flick, and it contains the right balance of horror elements, gore, campiness, humor, and absurdity to make each viewing as enjoyable as the last. It's got a touch of body-stealing aliens, a touch of zombies, a touch of traditional serial killer, all mixed with all the fun that can come from being placed in a sorority house. Sure, it's not downright frightening, and it's not necessarily an utterly funny movie like a comedy, but the balance it strikes between the two is where the beauty shines through.
Wuchak2022-09-21
★ 8/10
Entertaining sci-fi/horror “lost gem” from the mid-80s During a frat initiation, two buds at a SoCal university (Jason Lively and Steve Marshall) inadvertently unleash something creepy that results in the walking dead. Tom Atkins plays the detective on the case while Jill Whitlow draws the attention of one of the boys. “Night of the Creeps” (1986) is sci-fi/horror with a wink of amusement that features bits from previous movies, like “The Blob” and zombie flicks, to forge its own unique concoction. The writing is creative, the characters are fleshed-out and the director has a good eye for women in a few quick spots (not talking ’bout nudity or sleaze). The detective especially is an interesting character while Whitlow’s voice is to die for. This would obviously influence “Slither,” which came out two decades later, but “Creeps” is the superior film, by far (there’s something distasteful & ugly about “Slither,” but that’s just me). The movie runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot entirely in Los Angeles. GRADE: B+/A-