Tri Star, 1986
Starring: Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow and Tom Atkins
written and directed by: Fred Dekker

the plot: The year is 1959 and, in a small college town, the remains of a failed alien experiment fall to earth and land in a wooded cove. A frat boy finds the crash site and is soon infected by wriggling, slug-like creatures. His body is recovered, frozen and placed in a secret underground laboratory. Twenty-five years later, hapless nerds Chris Romero (Lively) and J.C. Hooper (Marshall) arrive on campus and begin the great college pursuit of joining a frat in order to meet chicks. Chris has his eye on one girl in particular, Cynthia Cronenberg (Whitlow), who just happens to be dating the fraternity president. Chris and J.C. make a bid to become pledges and the frat brothers force them to steal a corpse from the local morgue and put it on the lawn of a rival frat. But J.C. and Chris pick the wrong stiff to steal and unwittingly thaw out the body of the infected frat boy. Soon, alien slug parasites are skittering through town, infecting people, animals and, in some cases, corpses, and turning them into hungry zombies. Detective Ray Cameron (Atkins), haunted by his high school sweetheart’s tragic death years earlier, takes over the case. At first doubtful of J.C. and Chris’ story, Cameron eventually comes to believe them. But, when a bus full of frat guys is infected by the slugs, Cameron, Chris and the townspeople find they might not be able to contain the invasion.

why it’s good: A loving pastiche of all things horror from the 1950s through the early ’80s, “Night of the Creeps” is solid fun. The dialogue is clunky and the acting fairly bad, and much of the fun in the early part of the film comes from spotting nods to other horror luminaries. But “NOTC” is so cheerfully passionate about old-school horror that it’s impossible not to like it. There are some gloriously cheesy bits, and actor Tom Atkins gets all the best lines as the crusty old Detective Cameron. He answers his phone by saying, “Thrill me,” and during the climactic zombie fight, he delivers this exchange:

“I’ve got good news and bad news, girls. The good news is your dates are here.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“They’re dead.”

There are some other cool bits, too, including an ax-wielding zombie corpse, some grossly deformed pets infected by the slugs, and a scene involving a zombie and a lawnmower that surely made an impression on Peter Jackson. “NOTC” is light on the scares, but it’s got some great zombie effects by Robert Kurtzman, and the alien slugs are fairly creepy, too. “NOTC” was writer/director Fred Dekker’s first film, and it, along with his follow-up, “The Monster Squad,” showed a lot of promise. However, Dekker hasn’t been behind the camera since 1993’s “Robocop 3,” and it doesn’t look like he’ll be making a return to film anytime soon. It’s a shame, since horror flicks in the vein of “NOTC” are in short supply these days.

why you should own it: Strangely, “NOTC” isn’t officially available on DVD, though you can obtain bootlegs from eBay and other online sources. There are rumors of an official DVD release containing the film’s two different endings, but there’s no timeframe for that. Your favorite VHS haunt may also have a copy floating around. No matter how you find it, “NOTC” is definitely worth checking out.