What's a Special Edition? It's a series where I review one of my favorites. These are films that would appear in my Top 50 or so (if I endeavored to compile such a list). My goal is to write a Special Edition Blood Capsule once every couple of months. We'll see how that goes!
This was maybe my fifth or sixth viewing of Night of the Creeps. I went in looking for flaws, thinking that there had to be something that dragged it down. My verdict? It's pretty much perfect. I'll even let the one-liners slide, and normally, those kinds of quips can grate my nerves. But it's Tom Atkins! I'm sorry; I'm assuming you have seen this film. I started writing movie reviews at the turn of the millennium, and a couple of decades ago, I would have started off with the synopsis. It's 2024, though. Are you really not familiar with Creeps? If you haven't seen it yet, well, watch it. But also, it's about space slug fugitives who have crash-landed on Earth. As soon as they skitter across the crust, they hijack dead bodies and puppeteer their way into a local university. Technically, this is a zombie romp. Having said that, horror goblins never mention it as a top-tier zombie movie. Good heavens, I don't know why.
Creeps is notable for featuring a main character with a disability. We never learn J.C.'s exact condition, but it never matters. For obvious reasons, I appreciate the inclusion of a handicapped dude, and I appreciate the fact that he's written with panache. All of the main players are three-dimensional. You root for the protagonists, which should always be the goal. That's why the bloodshed works. By the way, I love the axe-wielding zombie. That guy deserves his own franchise. Of course, Atkins is effortlessly cool as the ill-at-ease Detective Cameron. He has so much quotable dialogue, and again, I usually frown on "cute" lines. The film earns them, so I won't press charges or anything. Director Fred Dekker keeps everything moving along at a zippy pace. It's unfortunate that he couldn't pull his resume together after the calamity that was Robocop 3. Eek, that's another story altogether.
Night of the Creeps is a classic. Enough said. If it's not on your shelf, consider yourself banished from my celebrated Halloween card list. Don't worry. You still have a shot at my Christmas card list.
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