It's entirely good news as Scream Factory reissues the 1980s sci-fi horror comedy classic NIGHT OF THE CREEPS on two-disc special edition Blu-ray.

Deep in space, an experiment goes awry and a rogue alien launches a capsule from the ship before it can be destroyed. The projectile is mistaken for a shooting star by lovers at make out point, including preppy Johnny (Ken Heron) and his date Pam (Alice Cadogan, BEVERLY HILLS COP) who drive off to investigate after a run-in with cop ex-boyfriend Ray (Dave Alan Johnson, RAMPAGE) she has spurned. On a lone stretch of road that night, Pam falls victim to an escaped mental patient with a fire axe while Johnny ingests a parasite that escapes from the capsule. Twenty-seven years later, straight-laced Chris (Jason Lively, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S EUROPEAN VACATION), still reeling from the breakup with his high school sweetheart, hopes to impress from afar Cynthia (Jill Whitlow, TWICE DEAD) by joining her sorority's brother fraternity along with equally misfit friend J.C. (Steve Marshall). Although he has no intention of admitting the pair, fraternity president Brad (MAMA'S FAMILY's Alan Kayser) tasks them with an initiation prank to steal a body from the morgue and leave it on the lawn in front of their rival fraternity. Sneaking into the morgue, they stumble upon a cryogenic vault and extract Johnny's preserved body but are frightened off when he appears to move. Hardboiled detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH), still haunted by memories of Pam's murder and his showdown with the killer, responds to a report of two bodies in the morgue but finds only the corpse of a student intern (David Paymer, GET SHORTY). When Johnny's body turns up at the sorority house with his skull split open, it takes Ray little time to finger Chris and J.C. but he must grudgingly release them since the janitor (Robert Kino, GHOST WARRIOR) who identified them fleeing the morgue did not see them lugging the body; however, Brad's confrontation with them backfires when girlfriend Cynthia learns that he put up them up to the prank in the first place. Befriending Chris and J.C., Cynthia also swears that the body was alive when she saw it and it disgorged several large slugs from its split skull, which is easier for them to believe than her story of the house's recently dead pet cat that came back to worm-eaten life. Having tailed Chris and J.C., Cameron does not believe Cynthia's story either, until the body of the axe murderer he blew away and buried unearths himself and resumes his killing spree. Distracted by their burgeoning relationship, Chris and Cynthia are as oblivious as the rest of the campus preparing for the formal dance while alien parasites are slithering around the campus and reviving the recent dead.

The directorial debut of screenwriter Fred Dekker (THE PREDATOR) – and unfortunately just one third of his feature directorial output alongside the fun THE MONSTER SQUAD and the so-so ROBOCOP 3 – NIGHT OF THE CREEPS is one of the most "infectiously" fun horror comedies of the eighties, sending up the likes of THE BLOB before the technically proficient but uneven 1988 remake. The arch staging of the fifties monochrome flashback gives way to a then-contemporary 1980s college comedy of pretty girls, nerds, comedic straight men, and fraternity douchebags who are quick with the quips but given depth of characterization by the script – which manages to maintain momentum even during exchanges conveying underlying character flaws and backstory – and by the engaging lead performances that are on equal footing with that of Atkins who drags the past into the present with him in the form of his flatfoot persona, vintage car, and equally vintage insults. While the film is a self-described "stew" of elements, influences, and homages – virtually every character is named after a horror director and even Roger Corman favorite Dick Miller (A BUCKET OF BLOOD) makes a welcome appearance as a day player – Dekker deftly bounces back and forth between laughs and scares. The jump scares are startlingly effective and the parasitic invasions pack a visceral punch, but the real chills come from Cameron's monologue about the axe murderer and his fate as prelude to his horrific mummified return. The climax is another skillful balancing act of shrieks and chuckles, only stumbling with two imperfect endings on the theatrical version and director's cut (which sort of has one ending on top of another). NIGHT OF THE CREEPS is easily a cut above other 1980s horror comedies, and there's plenty of such dreck on which it can perch itself (hello TEEN WOLF TOO!, SATURDAY THE 14TH…). Porn star Robert Kerman (CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) has a bit part as a cop.

Theatrically released by Tri-Star Pictures in the United States, it was this theatrical version (88 minutes) that was also released on tape, by HBO Home Video. When the film was finally released to DVD and Blu-ray by Sony, it was in the film's preferred director's cut (89:47) with the alternate ending as seen on television prints of the film, and Scream Factory has utilized the same master for their director's cut and recreated theatrical cut (88:13) using the HD master for the director's cut and the theatrical ending which had been featured in HD as an extra on the Sony disc. Although nearly a decade old, the HD master is still quite strong looking with richly saturated colors and a level of detail that both increases ones queasiness in assessing some of the effects while also making the artifice of a couple animatronic bits all the more apparent (poor Gordon). Fine detail can suffer in a couple of the night exteriors but the warmth of the skin tones appears to be a deliberate choice to contrast the living with the living dead. Audio options include the same lively DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remix of the original Dolby Stereo soundtrack which is active from the first space scenes to the slithering of the creeps rushing with directional accompaniment in depth and width. The scoring seems to have a bit more umph than the song selections (appropriate for the fifties scenes but the music during the eighties party scenes can seem a bit more recessed than the spoken dialogue requires). A DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track is included but, as a 2.0 track was not included on the Sony Blu-ray, one wonders whether it actually is a two-channel version of the matrixed Dolby Stereo original or a downmix of the 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are also included on both versions.

The theatrical cut disc features hour-long documentary "Thrill Me: Making NIGHT OF THE CREEPS" – separated into five sections with no "play all" option – in which Dekker, producer Charles Gordon (DIE HARD), editor Michael Knue (THE HIDDEN), composer Barry De Vorzon (THE EXORCIST III), actors Whitlow, Lively, Marshall, and Atkins along with effects supervisor David B. Miller (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) and crew members Robert Kurtzman (IT FOLLOWS), Howard Berger (KILL BILL), and Todd Masters (THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT) discuss the origins of the project, casting, performance, the effects work, the post-production woes including pacing problems and the endings, as well as its reception upon release and more recent revival screenings. "Tom Atkins: Man of Action" (19:55) is a career-wide interview with the actor providing anecdotes on a chronological rundown of titles in his filmography, including non-horror titles like THE NINTH CONFIGURATION and the TV movie A DEATH IN CANAAN. Also on the disc is a selection of deleted scenes (7:38) from the television version of the film (on which the director's cut ending first appeared) as well as the film's theatrical trailer (1:32).

The director's cut disc features an audio commentary by writer/director Dekker, moderated by Michael Felsher, in which he cops to the film as a grab bag of things he wanted to see in a movie along with all of the shots he wanted to do (including a Hitchcock dolly/zoom shot by way of JAWS). He also points out more subtle touches like Chris' first sighting of Cynthia being shot at 48 frames-per-second and the contrast in visual style and performance between the fifties and eighties scenes. He also reveals that he wanted to do the aliens in the opening sequence as stop motion, and that the unintentional laughter at the little people in suits had the effect of giving audiences license to laugh, while the 1986 title card actually helps keep the film contemporary by contextualizing the more garish markers of its era of production. A second audio commentary featuring actors Lively, Atkins, Marshall, and Whitlow is a lively affair with the trio of younger actors recalling their friendship and comradery on the set while Atkins soon finds his footing on the track (as much due to the others' love of his character onscreen, his genre reputation, and his offscreen persona). The younger trio reveals that they pretended to be college students and hung out at the real fraternity and sorority row parties on campus, while Lively and Whitlow joke about their chemistry and their subsequent roles together in Roland Emmerich's GHOST CHASE which was shot in Germany the following year. While there are plenty of behind the scenes stories and ribbing between the commentators, the track is most entertaining as they react to onscreen action and dialogue.

Also on the director's cut disc are Scream Factory's newly created extras. In "Real Good Plan" (10:46), Lively repeats a lot of information and anecdotes from the commentary and documentary such as auditioning initially for JC which he thought was a more challenging role before being convinced by Dekker that the lead was better, his friendships with Marshall and Whitlow, his admiration of Atkins, Dekker knowing what he wanted both from his actors as well as from the cinematography, and having to get used to extensive night shoots. "The Bradster" (7:42) is a welcome interview with actor Kayser who was not featured on the earlier disc but the audio is horribly recorded (requiring the viewer to turn up the volume for his comments and back down for the film clips). He discusses the audition, liking the script and the character, the prosthetic make-up and his discomfort with the contact lenses, but also noting that possibly may have been a jerk at the time for distancing himself from the rest of the cast during the shoot. In "I Vote For That One" (10:12), actor Heron discusses his experience with the make-up effects and the nude body stocking, as well as how the effect of the creep leaping into his mouth was achieved. "Worst Coroner Ever" (6:28) is an interview with actor Vic Polizos who was doing HILL STREET BLUES during the day and the shoots constantly went over time despite the production's agreement to let him off in time to get to NIGHT OF THE CREEPS shooting in the evenings.