Dan from Exploitation Retrospect and I had briefly discussed the pure awesome that would be a proper DVD release of Fred Dekker’s other cult horror movie Night of the Creeps, following in the wake of the recently released From Beyond DVD. another movie that we had both been waiting along time for.
However, Twitch is reporting that at a recent Rue Morgue presentation of the movie, Dekker announced that as much as he wants to see Night of the Creeps released to DVD in an official capacity, it looks like Sony is going to sit on the license and do what they do best with these sorts of properties: Nothing.
The article mentions an alternate ending, though, and I’m always interested in this sort of thing. I’ve seen the movie on TV and I’ve seen it on video and the ending is always the same. Atkins blows up the slugs in the basement and is then seen walking by a cemetery while a spaceship flies above, we get a last look at one surviving slug. The Twitch article mentions a jump-scare. What the hell are they talking about?
September 21, 2007 12:07 pm
I own a spiffy Laserdisc rip of this underrated classic on DVD which contains both versions of the film. The differences are as follows. There will be spoilers.
From IMDb:
“Version for regular television has Roy Cameron walking out of house as a zombie. He collapses near a cemetery where the Creeps escape but are later captured by the alien spacecraft from the opening scene.”
“The other version of the film ends abruptly with a slug-creature jumping out of the zombie-dog’s mouth as the characters watch the sorority house burn down.”
September 21, 2007 12:10 pm
Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that second ending. Also, I never thought Cameron was a zombie in the end, I figured he just barely escaped with his life.
Then again, I also like to think that neither Childs nor MacReady were The Thing at the end of THAT movie.
September 21, 2007 10:09 pm
It’s so sad when these films just get shelved and tied-up in red tape. I’m just glad “From Beyond” finally saw the light of day!
I think my next wishlist DVD release now is “Electric Dreams”…with commentary, of course!
September 23, 2007 1:23 pm
The ending you’ve seen (with Atkins) is not the original theatrical ending. That ending sees Chris and Cynthia outside the sorority house after the explosion. The dog from the sorority mother’s house comes walking up and the slug jumps out of its mouth, presumably towards Cynthia’s mouth. The Atkins/spaceship ending was tacked onto the cable and TV versions, but I’m pretty sure the original videotape has the original, theatrical ending. I’ve heard that an official DVD release was in the works but perhaps that’s not the case. Too bad. With FROM BEYOND finally out on DVD (and just as great as I’d remembered) CREEPS immediately jumps to the top of my Wish List.
September 24, 2007 5:32 am
Actually, the ending with the dog sounds very familiar now. Maybe I have seen it.
September 24, 2007 12:36 pm
In Spain (and I presume that in Europe was so) this film was only released with the dog’s ending…
September 26, 2007 1:37 am
I live in toronto, and so I suscribe to Scream Television, it’s a horror channel that plays some wicked cool stuff. One of which is Night of the creeps, I have it recorded on my PVR and watch it often. The dog was in that one.
September 27, 2007 7:58 am
Electric Dreams!!!!!!!! Was that the movie where the computer comes alive and falls in love with the owner (some bachelor guy)? Good movie, i remember that from the 80s
October 2, 2007 1:44 pm
I hear ya Josh, scream TV, Drive in classics and IFC are the only 3 channels that get serious playtime on my tv. I caught this movie on there too, didn’t know it had a different ending than the dog one.. Now I hafta see if I can find the alternate ending..
October 2, 2007 1:54 pm
God damn it! I’ve heard about Drive-In Classics and Scream and I’d kill for both of them! We’ve been teased down here in the states for literally years about dedicated horror cable channels but they never seem to materialize. Advertisers won’t buy time on a network that doesn’t cut their movies for nudity and violence and fans won’t watch a network that has ads and cut movies. No-ad cable networks never seem to get off the ground since TV broadcasting is expensive business.
The Horror Channel spent years telling fans that they were going to deliver the goods and when they finally did show up, it was a blip on the radar as a soft-launch with some men’s channel (like Spike), after hours for only a few hours in a select few markets.
I have a cable channel that comes with my monthly cable package called Fear Net but it never shows anything worth watching unless you’re into Witchboard and Ghoulies sequels.
October 3, 2007 8:51 pm
Nah give me the old days of early Cable and Monstervision on TNT. yes it was edited with commericals but Joe Bob’s commentary segments made it worth it. The sci-fi channel actually used to be about 50% horror but then they went all Star-gate on me. I no longer have cable. I find Netflix is my best deal to get the movies I want to see.