Fred Dekker directed three films: Monster Squad (recently released to DVD in a nice edition that includes a feature length documentary), the underrated (and unusual) Robocop III, and his first film as a director, the 1986 zombie horrorfest Night of the Creeps.
Legacy of Night of the Creeps
Boasting the awesome poster tagline of "The good news is, your dates are here, the bad news is...they're dead", Creeps became an instant horror camp classic, with horror fans falling immediately for the fun, loose, satire soaked b-movie hijinks immediately. Fans loved the juxtaposition of a John Waters type teen film with the parody inspired zombie mayhem of a movie like Return of the Living Dead. They also loved the laid back coolness of Tom Atkins as the detective who tries to instill stability back into the terrorized town. On the basis of a funny script, some eighties cool, and a few good monsters, Night of the Creeps, while not a huge financial success, began to find it's intended audience.
The film gained an even bigger following after it's initial VHS release, and then DVD came to dominate the market, and fans waited for one of the most loved horror films of the eighties to follow the releases of some of the other fan favorites.
And they waited. And waited.
Hundreds of lesser known (and lesser quality, truth be told) horror tinged releases saturated the market, including (eventually) the wonderful Monster Squad. Still no Night. Fred Dekker attended conventions and was inevitably always asked the same question, one for which he had no immediate answer: "When is Night of the Creeps coming to DVD?"
Creeps Finally Comes to DVD
It appears Sony and Red Shirt Pictures has finally answered that call. Night of the Creeps is due out this October, just in time for Halloween, with all new special features including the film's original ending. It's rumored that the film itself will be the Director's Cut, which is going to make a lot of horror fans very happy. Additional details will be announced as the special features come together and the DVD release date draws nearer.
Other horror films with a large cult following that are invariably mentioned with Night of the Creeps as being deserving of a DVD release are 1977's The Town That Dreaded Sundown starring Dawn Wells (Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island) and 1981's The Prowler, a slasher directed by Joseph Zito.
With the exciting news of the impending DVD release of Night of the Creeps, other films of this ilk may be forthcoming.
In the words of NOTC's Detective Cameron, "Thrill me"!
Paul Counelis - I have written for many years on many subjects, my favorite being the horror culture genre. Some of the publications that I've written ...
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