Night of the Creeps (1986)

An alien experiment is accidentally let loose from a spaceship and it falls down to Earth unleashing slug-like alien parasites that turn their hosts to zombies and it's up to some teenagers and a detective played the excellent Tom Atkins to save the night.  

Fred Dekker has only directed 3 movies to date.  Two of which are regarded are cult classics with Night of the Creeps and one of my all time favorite movies, Monster Squad.  The last movie he directed was the heavily panned Robocop 3, but if you want my opinion, I think Robocop 3 is a lot of fun.  Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is Dekker needs to write and direct more movies pronto.  Night of the Creeps was written in a mere seven days and has continued to find an audience for over 25 years, despite it's limited release when it first came out and also not getting a DVD release until 2009 in the States (some countries are still waiting).

According to Dekker himself, Creeps is a pastiche of movies that inspired him, ranging from 1950's sci-fi and horror, to the zombies created by Romero and even the 80's high school comedies of John Hughes.  The characters in the movie are even named after horror directors such as Romero, Cronenberg and Hooper.  If any movie celebrates its influences it's Creeps, but it's a damn fine flick in its own right, with plenty witty and memorable dialogue, lovable characters, an amazing look and a spirit that captures both the 80's and the 50's.  There's even a zombie cat... and dog.  In terms of horror it's brilliantly suspenseful.  The performances are terrific, especially Tom Atkins, who plays a tortured detective out for revenge.

Night of the Creeps is a horror comedy classic with just the right amount of laughs, cheese, suspense, blood and horror.  A must see masterpiece.