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Creepozoids
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Full Moon Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (2nd August 2025). |
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The Film
 By 1998 (remember this is a 1987 film so we're still a few months off world annihilation), the world powers have engaged in nuclear war leaving most of the surface of the earth uninhabitable due to mutant nomads and acid rain (neither of which we actually see). A quintet of army deserters - natural leader Jake (Family Reunion's Richard Hawkins), blowhard Butch (Deadly Embrace's Ken Abraham), smart Kate (Lunch Meat's Kim McKamy aka adult star "Ashlyn Gere"), sexy Bianca (Nightmare Sisters' Linnea Quigley), and nerdy Jesse (El Chupacabra's Michael Aranda) - stumble upon an abandoned bunker while seeking shelter from a coming acid rain storm (signified throughout by stormy stock footage riddled wlvith white speckles). They quickly discover that the bunker was being used for an experiment invoing self-reproducible amino acids and that the people working on it didn't so much flee as die horribly. After Jesse dies in a gooey manner, the others worry that they have been infected; however, a hulking insectoid mutant could get to them first (well, that or the mutant rats). Despite the post-apocalyptic setting, sober tone, and better effects, David DeCoteau's Creepozoids is otherwise very similar to his Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama released the following year by Charles Band's Empire Pictures' offshoot Urban Classics with its small cast running around dark corridors and getting picked off by monsters. In some ways, the film feels more like an Italian post-apocalyptic picture of the Rats: Night of Terror tier (including a laughable mutant rat puppet) – possibly due to Thomas Callaway's gel-lighting and Hawkins' lead performance which at times sounds awkwardly-dubbed – yet it is never sufficiently outrageous suggesting that all involved were playing it safe. The bulk of the running time is an efficient time-waster with a bit of T&A – the always dependable Quigley doffs her clothes for a shower sex scene and Abraham also strips down for DeCoteau's fans – some gooey deaths although it appears that the filmmakers wanted to stay on this side of an R-rating with blood that is usually more black than red and limbs stay connected despite the creature's claws and pinchers. The finale, however, is a bit frustrating since it has some nice tense bits with the monster's genuinely creepy offspring but is dragged on way too long to get the film to feature-length with the hero does more screaming than the two female characters combined and the viewer may wind up be rooting for the monster. 
Video
Although intended for the video market, DeCoteau on the commentary track reveals that Band had ten prints made and sent around the country before its VHS release on the short-lived Urban Classics Video line followed by an LP-mode sell-through release from United American Video and then a nineties SP-mode release from resurrected pre-Empire Pictures Band video label Cult Video to coincide with the 1993 laserdisc release under another Band sub-label Shadow Entertainment under which it was also released on DVD in 2003 – as part of Full Moon's DVD distribution deal with Koch Vision – and a later 2013 DVD as part of their "Grindhouse Collection" line. Full Moon originally released the film on Blu-ray in 2017 – followed by a U.K. release from 88 Films, a German mediabook from Wicked Vision – which included a bonus DVD of Full Moon-era sci-fi/horror flick Shadowzone – and another more recent U.K. release from 101 Films – and recently announced a remastered edition with a new audio commentary and over two hours of behind the scenes footage; however, this turned out to be an error and this new Blu-ray streeting in August is identical to the earlier disc. The 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen transfer strips away the NTSC video haze, revealing a moodier-looking picture of deep blacks, neon greens, and hot reds as well as the rough edges of a production shot on a limited amount of new raw stock, plenty of short ends – including expired rolls – and Paramount-licensed stock footage of rain clouds and electrical storms of unknown vintage (DeCoteau only half-jokingly suggests one shot was from Gilligan's Island). 
Audio
Audio options include the original mono track in Dolby Digital 2.0 along with a 5.1 upmix that can only be selected via one's remote control audio button or software player menus. Sound design is supportive but not particularly enveloping on either track with the score eking out most of the tension despite the presence of a Xenomorph-ic mutant and a killer baby. Unlike later Full Moon Blu-rays, there is no SDH subtitle option. 
Extras
Extras start off with an audio commentary by director David DeCoteau – who has been willing to record commentaries for pretty much all of his films getting release no matter how small – in which he discusses how he assembled such a low-budget production and the both economic and constraining choices he had to make including redressing the same room for all of the sets and using a new self storage building for the corridors the characters had to run through. He also evaluates some of his choices in light of his relative inexperience. He reveals that Quigley could not do his previous "train wreck" Dreamaniac because she was doing Return of the Living Dead but agreed to appear in Creepozoids, and then DeCoteau swapped her role when McKamy did not want to do nudity. Like the filmmakers of Evil Laugh – in which McKamy was body-doubled – DeCoteau also recalls his surprise to discover in Adult Video News that McKamy had become adult star "Ashlyn Gere" with a rare reference to his career earlier in the eighties directing adult films in noting the gifting to him of a lifelong Adult Video News subscription due to his achievements in the field. He also reveals that Callaway had only shot one feature before but was eager for the work when he had to replace DeCoteau's regular photographer Howard Wexler after a falling out that was eventually resolved since Wexler would shoot DeCoteau's last 35mm films in the nineties and several of his union-crewed digital features (DeCoteau photographing several of his smaller films like the 1313 franchise himself), as well as how Band pushing back the production by a month gave effects artists Thomas Floutz (The Lamp) and John Criswell (Playroom) the funds and time to do more with the creatures. He also recalls that he and the crew discovered hardcore magazines and photographs in the studio space which he was shocked to learn had previously been the studio of Penthouse photographer Suze Randall (Stud Hunters).  The disc also includes a photo montage (2:12) of production stills provided by second unit camera operator/"Skate-o-vision" operator Rick Lamb () and Full Moon trailers including one for Creepozoids (1:51).
Overall
Creepozoids is a more "economic" than cheap eighties monster movie that delivers effects, T&A, and a modicum of thrills.
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