80's Trash from the Future

Okay, I've been looking at this thread and I wonder number one, how on earth did you find/hear about all of these movies, and number two, with the exception of Demi Moore, what happened to all of the other actors in these pics? Are any of them on imdb.com? Where are they now? (I have a soft spot for the victims in horror films.)

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~~More DVD extras, please. Thank you.

Great Trash

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Thanks for reading again Nebs

All of these films were available to rent on video (many of them censored) in the 80's and can be tracked down on dvd should you so desire. Re the cast members and IMDB, again you should be able to track all of them down.

Good stuff, as usual! You are right about Howling II, as well. Quite the turd-fest. I did like the first one, though. Have you seen the wonderful Class of 1984?

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Oh yeah I love that film, it's a cult classic, Timothy Van Patten was so awesome in it; he should have been a big star. Infact I think I'll do a review soon, I have it on dvd along with the semi-sequel (and even more trashy) Class of 1999, have you seen that one?


Stegman gives Chuck Palahniuk a few ideas in Class of 1984

i dont get the point

I don't get the point of this post.

Not sure what you mean if you mean why does Future write these reviews! can't he just do it for fun i like reading his reviews

I suspect he may be referring to my somewhat obscure comment below the Timothy Van Patten picture. In that scene Van Patten's character Stegman smashes his head into the mirror so can accuse Mr. Norris (his teacher and arch nemesis played by Perry King) of assault. The scene is comparable to the one in Fight Club where Ed Norton's character beats himself up in his bosses office. Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club, but I've not read the book so maybe I'm wrong and that scene only appeared in the film; in which case I look like a complete fool, Doh!

lol... Don't you hate that UF? You think you've been clever and, maybe, even a little bit witty, but then you think of something that would completely ruin your joke and leave you looking an idiot.

FTR, I both liked your joke and not read the book. So, if I'd come up with the comment, I'd have fallen into the same trap.

I saw this movie!!!--a few years back...crazy, but totally believable because of the directing and the acting. I remember now what the kids did at the highschool and didn't one of them play the piano really well and another one did something to King's wife? Sorry--I don't mean to spoil anything for anyone.

(Thanks for refreshing my memory.) P.S. I heard this movie was based on a true story...any truth to that?

It's Stegman that does both of those things. No idea if it was based on a true story or not.

I love Class Of '84. I spent over 20 years trying to find that film.

Pretty sure its not based on true story. Although I used to run with dozens of kids just like Stegman. There was a lot of sh*t heads like Stegman around back then.

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Rats: Night of Terror (Bruno Mattei 1984) Trash rating +
No trash cinema thread would be complete without a neck straining nod in the direction of the late Bruno Mattei. A sort of poor man's Lucio Fulci; Mattei was an Italian exploitation director responsible for some of the cheapest, trashiest pieces of Z-movie dreck this side of Ed Wood. Spanning a thirty year period from 1970 to 2007 he churned out over fifty films in numerous genres including nazi-sploitation like the infamous SS Extermination Love Camp (1977); women-in-prison-sploitation like Violence in a Women's Prison (1982) and Women's Prison Massacre (1983); zombie-sploitation like Hell of the Living Dead aka Zombie Creeping Flesh (1980) and Zombi 3 (1988); not to mention rip-off-sploitation like his scandalously titled 1995 TV movie Cruel Jaws (US title Jaws 5), and my favourite, Terminator II (1990). Yes you read that right, Terminator II. For many of these films Mattei was billed under numerous pseudonyms, the most well known of which is Vincent Dawn. This was to makes his films appear as American productions, but I can't help but jokingly imagine it was to avoid the wrath of certain Hollywood studios and directors. Indeed how Mattei and co were never sued over the plagiaristic content of some of his movies is beyond me...


Co written with long time collaborator Claudio Fragasso, Rats: Night of Terror was no doubt heavily influenced by James Herbert's classic horror novel The Rats. In reality however the film bears more resemblance to the third novel in Herbert's trilogy (also released in 1984), Domain.

Set two hundred and twenty five years after a nuclear holocaust (or 'A.B. - after the bomb' as it's called here) Rats: Night of Terror begins with a grubby group of bikers called 'New Primitives' scavenging a familiar limestone quarry wasteland looking for food and shelter. With names like Kurt (the neckscarf wearing leader), Chocolate (the whiny blaxploitation wannabe), Video (the curly headed unfathomably stupid one), and Duke (the power hungry traitor who dresses like Napoleon Bonaparte); they're your usual bunch of childish posturing soon-to-be-deadsters complete with army surplus punk rocker wardrobes, and a clapped out armored van with wispy camouflage curtains. As the opening credits roll we see them arrive in an abandoned town where they proceed to take shelter in an old science lab (that reuses the same props from Luigi Cozzi's Contamination, and Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City). But this is no ordinary science lab, oh no, this one was headed by researchers who were fiddling with rats and calling themselves the Total Elimination Group. Naturally this isn't good new for our grimy heroes...

Looks fantastic UF. By the way I love the new disclaimer at the beginning of your thread. Very funny and worth a read for anyone who hasn't read it.

Night of the Creeps (Fred Dekker 1986) - Trash rating
A reject of both the USC and UCLA film schools Fred Dekker broke into the business when he wrote the story for the successful comedy horror flick House released in 1986. He would go on to co write (with Shane Black) and direct the hugely popular The Monster Squad the following year, but just as things were looking up; he ruined it all by delivering the less than satisfactory sequel Robocop 3. Since then Dekker has stuck to writing and producing on things like Tales from the Crypt (writer only) and most recently on the ill fated Star Trek: Enterprise television series. Night of the Creeps was his debut feature, a labour of love seemingly born of a lifelong passion for monster movies and comic books. It's become a firm cult favourite over the years, and it's not hard to see why...

Beginning with a group of pudgy alien dwarfs jettisoning a sinister cannister from their spaceship; Night of the Creeps quickly transfers the action to a 1950's sorority row on a nameless college campus. In a sequence with dialogue lifted straight from John Landis' Animal House, said cannister crashes to earth releasing a horde of giant slugs that like to invade people's brains turning them into zombies (ala David Cronenberg's Shivers). Fast forward to the eighties and we pick things up with Chris Romero (Jason Lively) and James 'J.C.' Carpenter (Steve Marshall); two hormonal college nerds who need a cadaver for a fraternity prank. After breaking into the college medical school they're soon thawing out a slug infected corpse that was put into cryo sleep after the initial invasion back in the fifties. Naturally the critters get loose infecting the students (and cats and dogs), and terrorising sorority row, including Romero's love interest Cindy Cronenberg (Jill Whitlow). Enter laconic police detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins on top form) looking for some serious payback after his teenage sweetheart was murdered during the initial invasion...

If the character names alone aren't enough it should be pretty obvious that Night of the Creeps is one great big in joke of a movie. Clearly a horror movie fanatic, Dekker took his favourite ingredients from similarly low budgeted cult favourites and blended them together into his own tongue-in-cheek romp. It succeeds not only because of the savvy in jokes, but because the dialogue is reasonably well written, and the the fast paced narrative is focused rather than merely self indulgent. Dekker pulls off a seamless genre blend between 1950's alien invasion flicks, 80's frathouse comedies, and action orientated zombie movies. Not only that but the cast are all extremely likable, be it Steve Marshall as the fast talking J.C., or Tom Atkins as the wisecracking detective Cameron (who sarcastically introduces himself as Bullwinkle Moose in one scene, and for some unexplained reason, likes to call Jason Lively's character Spanky). The film has it's fair share of gory comic book violence (including exploding heads, zombie cats, axe murders, and flamethrower death) but it's always integral to the plot, and as a result, never feels gratuitous or uneven in tone. My favourite scene has Roger Corman regular Dick Miller issue Tom Atkins with a flamethrower in a nod to his role in Joe Dante's The Howling. The film is littered with knowing references like this making it a treat for B-movie fans. I mean how could you fail to love a movie that begins in outer space with cool looking, lazer toting aliens, and ends in a sorority house with a battle against slug infected zombies? How indeed? Clearly a low budget trashy affair Night of the Creeps comes together to form more than the sum of it's parts. It's one of my favourite films and has since influenced countless cult favourites such as Peter Jackson's Braindead, and most obviously James Gunn's 2006 horror comedy Slither. Seek this one out, you'll love it. Thrill me!

* Sadly Night of the Creeps has never had an official dvd release, but don't despair horror fans. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are said to be bringing out a dvd complete with extras in October.

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

^^^ I have to see that.

I really want to see this too. After all, if the words "a group of pudgy alien dwarfs jettisoning a sinister cannister from their spaceship" doesn't get me to see a film, nothing will.

BTW, as UF alluded to, there is a dvd release coming (October 20th 2009) and these are the extras.

ALL the special features to be included on the disc! Here it is:

Audio Commentary with Members of the Cast
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Fred Dekker
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Ending – Theatrical Version
Original Theatrical Trailer
Trivia Track
6 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes:
Birth of the Creeps - Writer/Director Fred Dekker discusses his influences and early filmmaking experiences and how NIGHT OF THE CREEPS evolved into his debut feature film.
Cast of the Creeps - Actors Jason Lively, Tom Atkins, Steve Marshall, and Actress Jill Whitlow talk about their experiences on the film, and how they have dealt with the film's enduring cult success over the past 25 years.
Creating the Creeps - Make-Up FX Creators David B. Miller, Robert Kurtzman and others discuss the extensive make-up creations in the film, and how they brought the slithering sluglike "creeps" to life.
Escape of the Creeps - A detailed look into the film's post-production and why the film was barely released to theatres with Writer/Director Fred Dekker, Composer Barry DeVorzon, and Producer Charles Gordon.
Legend of the Creeps - Final words from the cast & crew on the film's enduring cult popularity plus interviews with the film’s biggest fans.
Tom Atkins: Man of Action – A detailed look at the career of Tom Atkins with testimonials from filmmakers he’s worked with over the past thirty years.
Footage from the June 2009 cast reunion screening at The Original Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Thanks for that HK. I really can't wait for the dvd because my old Fox ex-rental vhs is on it's last legs. I watched the film again this afternoon before posting the review and the sound was really crackly; not to mention the fuzzy picture

No problem, UF.

Night Of The Creeps is one of those films that I've never been sure if I'd seen or not. It was on the videoshelves so much and I saw so many of that type of film, that many of them have blurred into one. But, from your review, I don't think I ever did. Surely I'd remember it, if only because I like Shivers so much. I'm looking forward to seeing it.