MovieChat Forums > Night of the Creeps (1986) Discussion > Overrated!

Overrated!

posted 12 years ago by bill9340
25 replies | jump to latest

I love low budget horror, even if it's really bad like Sharktopus. & I really liked this movie, but there are far too many reviews that rave about it like it's a "missed by the masses classic" like Evil Dead 2 or Tremors. The acting is really bad & the script & direction are almost as bad. There are way too many clunky moments where people say things that don't make sense, the actors seem like they aren't sure what to do next, the sequences don't seem to be in an order to move the story forward, the characters seem to change social status or motivation constantly, etc. This was a mess, but I did like it. But I wish the casual fans would stop jumping on some sort of insane bandwagon to drive the ratings up, kind of like all the Oregon Duck football fans who have never been to a game & don't know where Eugene Oregon is, but swear they are the best team in history!

"Those goofy bastards are just about the best thing I’ve got goin’ in this crazy world."

[–] bishp23 12 years ago

I'm watching it now and I agree. I remember being terrified of it as a kid, but it's quite cheesy now. Still entertaining though.

[–] filthydeeds 12 years ago

I watched it a few nights ago and I agree it is overrated, though I think Tom Atkins delivered a fantastic performance.

Still better than a lot of big budget movies out there though.

I'd give it a 4.5/10

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I've got to go see a man about a dog...

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BreakingDexter 11 years ago

This movie was like sex without an orgasm.

[–] BrainGremlin 10 years ago

A lot of fun and leaves you yearning for more? Doesn't sound so bad.

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Sad story. You got a smoke?

[–] BreakingDexter 10 years ago

Sex without release is awful.

[–] BrainGremlin 10 years ago

And yet you're more likely to soon return for another go. It seems to me you're calling the film a classic! I wouldn't go that far, but it is very entertaining and I'll doubtless watch it a dozen times more before I perish. Tom Atkins is absolutely awesome in this, and I never think Tom Atkins is awesome.

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Sad story. You got a smoke?

[–] devastation_x 11 years ago

I remember a few years ago before this was available on DVD the fervor for it was at fever pitch. I was a teenager in the 80's and went to plenty of Horror flix then, but this one escaped me. So after reading all the hype for this online I was eager to check it out. It came onto On demand sometime just before the DVD release. Maybe the hype was too much for this to live up to, maybe Im jaded after a lifetime of horror; I'm not sure. All I know is this was a really lackluster movie. It was too tame to be a horror comedy, and not harsh enough for a straight up scary movie. The end result is I thought it was crap. I think the movie Slither took this concept and seriously refined the ideas; and made it work much much better.

[–] PhilKill 10 years ago

I thought it was loads of campy fun, even loved the terrible alien effects at the start. It's a great self aware b-movie. I would even say a forgotten gem and quite underrated. I've not heard many people talk about it in the way they do about others from that time like Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator and Return of the Living Dead.

[–] ghostgate2001 10 years ago

Just watching it now, in August 2014, and I'd never seen it before - which was really surprising to me, because I've been a fan of this sort of "genre" stuff since VHS-rental days and I honestly thought I'd seen 'em all.

I guess I just never rented it back in the day for some reason - maybe the cheesy title put me off? maybe it had a bad cover that did it no favours? - and it looks like it was out of distribution for quite a while, which probably explains why I never saw it on UK TV (before now) or picked it up on DVD.

So, for me, it's been a bit like unearthing a "lost" film from the 80s that somehow passed me by and would've been exactly my kind of thing back then. Weird.

Anyway, you're right: it's not some "missed by the masses classic" - it's just a dose of amiable nonsense that's entertaining enough on its own terms. Films do tend to gain a bit of "legend" about them when they're not commonly available - I guess because they remain the film we remember them as being, not the film they really are.

Besides, people seem increasingly bi-polar about films these days: everything's either "the best film ever!" or "the worst film ever!" - whereas this film is ample proof that there are plenty of shades of grey between black and white, because it's neither amazing nor terrible, just "pretty decent for what it is."

[–] psdhart 10 years ago

Did you also watch it on film4, ghostface2001?

i had never heard or indeed seen this before, thought it was great

[–] ghostgate2001 10 years ago

That's right - Film4 :)

I just can't understand why I never saw it before this year. I used to knowingly rent some real dreck back in the VHS video-library days because I lapped up this sort of 80s B-movie stuff. I mean, if I rented obvious crud like "Ghoulies" then I can't imagine I would've deliberately skipped this one - especially when it had John Carpenter regular Tom Atkins in it.

[–] balthazar_bee 10 years ago

I wouldn't say this is overrated at all. Quite the opposite.

Night of the Creeps works on many, many levels. In fact, I'd say it's far better than it has any right to be.

I mean, it's a horror comedy that's funny and...well, maybe not "scary", but diverting and occasionally creepy. More than that, it's always amusing and ultimately satisfying. That right there puts it well ahead of similar films from the era. Honestly, most horror comedies fail in both respects.

And speaking of the era, nice to see a film pay tribute to one era on purpose (the 50s/early 60s) and one just by virtue of happening to capture it on film (the 80s).

It's got Atkins, and every movie could use more Atkins, but the young duo (Spanky and Alfalfa, is it?) are the right balance of likable and believable. In fact, I think we can add "moving" to this film's list of virtues -- and who'd have thought that? Full disclosure: I actually tear up during the scene in which our hero listens to his buddy's last words. That scene alone has more heart in it than any other horror comedy that comes to mind.

What's really strange about this movie, for me, is how long it took me to discover it. I grew up in the era of video rental stores and awesome VHS cover art, and I can distinctly remember seeing the box on the shelf. Somehow, I avoided it until it was released on blu-ray, at which point I was kicking myself for my negligence.

[–] da_major1 9 years ago

I remember watching this movie as a kid on ch11 WPIX if your from NYC. Its a good bad horror comedy. I was glad to catch it the other day on chiller. It brought back so much nostalgia. I also liked the zombie makeup. The cat face was very creepy.

[–] joe_538 8 years ago

I'm in my thirties and saw this for the first time a few days ago and loved it. I'm even a little embarrassed it took me so long to get around to seeing it.

[–] I_heart_toughguys 9 years ago

I totally agree ?
It's NOT over rated.

[–] MathewsJ2 9 years ago

Definitely not overrated. Low budget horror comedies that are fondly remembered almost 30 years later and have a fan base at all must have done something right.

[–] gregforttmags 9 years ago

I found it genuinely funny and was lucky enough to see it in a packed cinema last night (in one of those flea pit art house joints) where there were many laugh out funny moments that were mostly intentional. And it was very, very gory and genuinely frightening in places (but I've gotten more numbed to that, like I've gotten numbed to nudity).

[–] hatr 9 years ago

I think it deserves higher than 6.8