Night of the Creeps
Blu-Ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Fred Dekker
Screenwriter: Fred Dekker
Cast: Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Tom Atkins
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 88 / 90 Minutes
Release Date: June 25, 2019

“Zombies, exploding heads, creepy-crawlies… and a date for the formal. This is classic, Spanky.”

Written and directed by Fred Dekker (of The Monster Squad and RoboCop 3), Night of the Creeps is a fun, throwback horror comedy that pays homage to ’50s B-movies like The Blob and Plan 9 from Outer Space.

The 1986 film is the latest cult classic to receive a definitive collector’s edition Blu-ray release from Scream Factory, including both the theatrical and director’s cut versions of the movie and a plethora of new bonus features.

“But what 13-year-old boy isn’t obsessed with arcade games?”

As the father of a 14-year-old son who regularly pounds his desk in anger after being sniped in Fortnite, that is a good question. It’s also the question posed by Jimmy Kelly and Michael Tuite, the co-writers of Polybius, a short horror film directed by Kelly and based on a real urban legend about the titular 1981 arcade cabinet game that drove people mad in the Portland, Oregon area. Who better to investigate and get to the bottom of this than horror legend Tom Atkins!

Tom “Thrill Me” Atkins made a name for himself in early to mid ’80s starring in cult horror classics like John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980) and Escape From New York (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), and my personal favorite Atkins film, 1986’s Night of the Creeps. Always a man who commands attention and respect, Atkins plays Sheriff Atkins in the film, and is trying to solve the mystery of young boy’s apparent suicide after playing the game.

The synth score and Stranger Things vibe puts you right into an ’80s arcade. Check out the trailer below.

Escape from New York
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: John Carpenter
Screenwriter: John Carpenter, Nick Castle
Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Ox Baker
Scream Factory
Rated R | 98 Minutes
Release Date: April 21, 2015

“Call me Snake…”

Co-written and directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing), 1981’s Escape from New York is set in a then near-future 1997, in a crime-ridden United States that has transformed Manhattan into a maximum security prison.

Synopsis: In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam. But when the US president (Donald Pleasence) crash-lands inside, only one man can bring him back: notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell). But time is short. In 24 hours, an explosive device implanted in his neck will end Snake’s mission – and his life – unless he succeeds!

I am sorry. I was wrong about you and I apologize. I was young and stupid and I ask for your eternal forgiveness.

This is my confession as a 32-year old man who for years was part of an angry hateful mob towards 1982’s Halloween III: Season Of The Witch. In my DVD collection, I own every Halloween film except for part three. Like many other horror fans, I whined and complained due to the lack of Michael Myers. Friends and I rejoiced to watch Halloween 4-7, reveling as our pale-faced slasher hero killed dozens of youngsters.

But the years have mellowed me. Thus my confession: Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the best Halloween movie since John Carpenter‘s 1978 original classic. Yeah, I said it! Now I submit to the internet the evidence”¦

Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Collector’s Edition: DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, and Dan O’Herlihy
Shout! Factory
Release Date: September 18, 2012

Eight more days ’til Halloween,
Halloween, Halloween.
Eight more days ’til Halloween,
Silver Shamrock.

One night in an unnamed Northern California town a rather frightened individual named Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is being chased by a group of mysterious men in business suits. After eluding them in an auto junkyard, Harry passes out in a gas station. An attendant brings him to the local hospital where Harry mutters, “They’re coming to kill us all.” Looking over their newest patient is Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins, my real father – hey a guy can dream, can’t he?), the hospital’s resident boozing swinging dick. While handsome Doctor Dan is distracted one of those fine business suit-wearing psychopaths slips in and crushes Harry’s skull with his bare hands! Then he gets into his car and sets himself on fire, much to the shock of everyone watching, including the puzzled Doctor Dan.

The next day Harry’s daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) arrives from Los Angeles to identify his body. The death of her father inspires Ellie to do some investigating and her research leads her to Silver Shamrock, a company that specializes in making Halloween masks that have become the year’s big seller. Apparently her father ran a toy store that did business with Silver Shamrock and he was gripping one of their masks the night he was brought into the hospital. Ellie decides to travel to Silver Shamrock’s headquarters in the sleepy town of Santa Mira and get some answers, but she needs the help of our hero Doctor Dan. He reluctantly agrees to take her there and once they have arrived our intrepid duo find Santa Mira to be a little strange and uncomfortable. For one thing, the entire town is under surveillance. The town’s citizens, all of whom either love the Silver Shamrock company or live in fear of it, are very suspicious of the new arrivals. In addition to Doctor Dan and Ellie, other visitors to Santa Mira include another toy store owner with a beef against the company and a toy salesman and his family who have been invited to the factory for a meeting with Silver Shamrock’s elusive owner Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy). It’s not long before Doctor Dan and Ellie discover that Cochran has devised a insidious plot to kill every child in the country with the Silver Shamrock masks. Can our heroes stop his evil plans in time? Are they too late?