Night of the Creeps

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Night of the Creeps was the debut

of writerldirector Fred Dekker.

His previous screen credit

was for the original story...

...on the movie, House (1986).

The title sequence was designed

by Ernest Farino...

...who was also responsible for

the title sequences for such films as...

... The Abyss (1989)

And Terminator 2 (1991).

This was the first feature film

for producer Charles Gordon...

...who would later go on to produce

Field of Dreams (1989)...

... Die Hard 2 (1990)

And Waterworld (1995).

If you look closely, you can see that...

...the alien carrying

the container of creeps...

...has in fact been "creeped" himself.

His eyes are the dead giveaway.

The score for the film

was composed by Barry DeVorzon.

His other credits include The Warriors

(1979) and Exorcist III (1990).

He is also an accomplished

rock musician.

Ken Heron, the actor playing Johnny,

is the only actor to appear...

...in both the 1950s and

Excluding dream sequences,

of course.

Alice Cadogan, who plays Pam,

can also be seen...

...in the original Beverly Hills Cop

(1984) as a hotel clerk.

Originally there was a scene here

that introduced Johnny...

...to the other girls in the sorority.

It aired on the television version

of the film.

The actor playing a young Ray

Cameron is Dave Alan Johnson...

...who would later go on to create...

...the television series,

Doc and Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye.

This segment is filled

with classic '50s music, including...

..."Put Your Head on My Shoulder"

and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. "

On the radio is "The Stroll"

by The Diamonds...

...which is repeated

at the end of the film.

It was chosen by Fred Dekker

due to its eerie and hypnotic quality.

The movie is chock-full of homages to

other horror movies and their makers.

Corman University is named after

legendary B movie producer...

...Roger Corman, who created

many of the films...

...that influenced

Night of the Creeps.

Roger Corman has produced

hundreds of films...

...in a career that spans over 50 years

in the business, including...

... Little Shop of Horrors, Battle

Beyond the Stars and Carnosaur.

The creeps in this film were created

by David B. Miller...

...and were made of vinyl.

Hundreds were used in the film.

What looks like a direct hit with

the ax is a forced-perspective shot.

The actor is actually much further away

from the car than he appears...

...and the ax never came close

to the actress.

Jason Lively is famously known

as the second Rusty...

...in National Lampoon's

European Vacation (1985).

He comes from a family of actors.

His father is actor Ernie Lively,

and his sisters are...

...Blake Lively (Gossip Girl)

And Robyn Lively (Teen Witch).

Actor Steve Marshall is not

physically impaired. Just FYI!

The characters of J.C. And Chris

were actually featured...

...in a early short film

of Fred Dekker's.

He carried them over

to the Creeps script.

J.C. Is James Carpenter Hooper

and Chris is Christopher Romero...

...an homage to horror filmmakers

John Carpenter (Halloween)...

...and George Romero

(Night of the Living Dead).

Actress Jill Whitlow had just

come from a starring role...

...in the film, Thunder Run (1986)...

...and had been featured briefly

in the classic comedy, Porky's (1982).

The actor playing the mono-browed

Steve is David Oliver...

...who appeared in the horror film,

The Horror Show in 1989...

...which was released as

House III overseas.

A deleted moment occurred here

as J.C. Valiantly hits on a girl...

...only to be shut down. It was featured

in the television version of the film.

The film's director of photography

was Robert C. New...

...who lensed the original Prom Night

(1980) and went on to such films as...

... Lionheart (1990), Riding the Bullet

(2004) and Demon Hunter (2005).

The film's soundtrack includes

numerous 1980s confections...

...from such artists as

Intimate Strangers and Stan Ridgway.

Cynthia Cronenberg is named after

Canadian filmmaker...

...David Cronenberg (Scanners,

Naked Lunch, The Fly).

The film's editor, Michael Knue,

found this film coming back...

...in a strange way to him

later on in his career.

He was selected

by director James Wan...

...to edit his film Dead Silence (2007)

Because he was such a fan...

...of his work

on Night of the Creeps.

Knue has since gone on to edit Wan's

latest film, Death Sentence (2007).

Knue also cut the sci-fi classic,

The Hidden (1987)...

...and the fourth entry in the Nightmare

on Elm Street series in 1988.

Brad is played by

actor Allan Kayser...

...who is best known as Bubba from

the TV series, Mama's Family.

Interestingly, due to the rather

off-putting nature of the character...

...Fred Dekker instructed

the other actors...

...to spend as little time

with Kayser as possible...

...to help create the on-screen tension

between Brad and our heroes.

However, all the actors and Dekker...

...found Kayser to be

friendly and professional.

The song playing in

the background of this scene...

...is "Caught Up in the Crossfire"

by The Charm Kings.

It is also featured in another

cult classic from 1986...

...Hal Needham's Rad.

Many of the frat guys are played by

members of the makeup FX crew.

Since so many of the fraternity brothers

were going to become zombies...

...it was decided that it would save

time to just have the makeup team...

...play as many of the frat guys

as possible.

Playing the lab assistant here,

is actor David Paymer.

He would go on to appear in the film

Mr. Saturday Night (1992)...

...for which he was nominated for

an Academy Award (R) in 1993...

...for Best Supporting Actor.

He has also become

one of Hollywood's...

...most notable character actors,

appearing in such films as...

... The American President (1995),

Payback (1999)...

...and In Good Company (2004).

Paymer recently returned

to the horror genre...

...with a major role in director Sam

Raimi's Drag Me to Hell (2009).

Another key member

of the production team...

...was production designer

George Costello.

He had previously worked as

an art director on such films as...

... Evilspeak (1981) and

the original The Terminator (1984).

Costello would later handle

production design duties...

...for Problem Child (1990) and

Alligator Il:
The Mutation (1991).

He recently returned

to the horror genre...

...with the horrorlcomedy

My Name Is Bruce (2008).

"This gives me the creeps!"

Is one of many lines of dialogue...

...that reference the movie itself.

While it may appear that

actor Ken Heron is naked...

...he is actually wearing underwear.

The icy frost around

his midsection on the tube...

...is what gives the impression

otherwise.

It is never explained why Johnny

was placed in a cryogenics facility...

...or who did it.

Fans have speculated on the

back-story...

...saying that the U.S. Government

knew about the meteor landing...

...and was using Johnny's body

for experimental purposes.

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