Worm-like space creeps fall to Earth and orally zombify pretty much anything they can fit inside, though 80s college kids are preferred. Gonna need your basic flamethrower from Dick Miller.

First of all, if you answer your phone with anything other than "thrill me" you are wrong.

I love this movie. This is the kind of movie you can watch alone and still feel like you're with friends. For me the great triumvirate of 80s fun horror is Fright Night, Return of the Living Dead and Night of the Creeps, and if they fought, Creeps would totally win 'cause as much as I like Clu Gulager and Roddy McDowall, Tom Atkins has that shotgun and a death wish. So I'm saying this is the ultimate iconic 80s horror movie.

And it is a horror movie. Light hearted sure, not going to chill anyone to the bone, but unlike a lot of others in its genre it does make me feel a few things other than just pure frivolous fun. It's time to talk about Detective Cameron.

I can literally count the number of horror movie protagonists I like on my fingers, and the very first finger refers to Tom Atkins as Ray Cameron. If you know me, and you don't, then you know I generally like cops in horror movies about as much as I like farts in a phone booth. And the cliche of trying to make them interesting by tacking on a troubled past and having them spout one liners just bugs me all the more and I'm like "Mr Voorhees get this guy out of my face". But this movie proves all of that can be done right if you've got Tom Atkins.

Absolutely bigger than life owns every scene he's in, every line hits for six, and I totally believe this guy goes home every night to a TV dinner and a bottle of vodka and tries to forget. Like when he tells the kid what he did to that psycho killer it's just dark and funny and poignant all at once.

We could talk scenes all night, but how about Tom Atkins and Dick Miller. That is the Oxford English Dictionary definition of movie gold. Every little thing nailed: the shotgun shells being fumbled with, the calm smile like Tom knows he's had his last TV dinner, Dick Miller's nervous laugh seeing something ain't quite right; I'm not a film buff kind of guy but it's like watching a perfectly turned triple play in baseball. Every scene in every movie that isn't like that has failed a little bit.

I'm not embarrassed to say I buy just about everything this movie is trying to sell me. Even the movie's jerk was funny instead of pissing me off, and I believe that is unique. Okay I wasn't entirely delighted by the two main kids, but I'd way rather them than a couple teen heartthrobs. They grew on me and I found myself liking them after watching with the commentary and seeing them as old guys.

This movie is actually 3 hours long because every time you see it you have to go straight back to the start and watch it again with the commentary. This is not the typical bland discourse by the director and lighting guy or something; it's the whole cast, and yes including Tom Atkins. Apparently making this movie was the most fun anything has ever had in the history of solid matter, and they tell you about it, and again it's like watching a movie with friends.

I actually didn't have much fun in the 80s, but this movie makes me think I did and brings it all back. Not even going to do a thrill me joke here; I'll leave that to the movie.

Yeah let's give the flamethrower to a sorority chick. She'll know how to use that.