As previously announced with great joy, Night of the Creeps is finally getting a DVD release from Sony this year. Amazon.com is inviting the public to vote for one of the following DVD covers:
Excuse me, but What. The. Hell.
The original theatrical poster, which was used for the VHS box, is remembered fondly by the fans of this movie — you know, the people they want to buy this thing:
There were a couple of other designs at the time, too:
…any of which is better than the current proposed design, which look like they’re for a different movie entirely which just happens to have the same name.
Unless Sony backtracks and uses one of the classic designs, I’m gonna have to print one of the original posters and swap out the DVD cover art. It’s just that bad.
#1 by Thomas on June 30, 2009 - 11:48 am
Quote
Do they honestly think that any of those will help sell the movie? Actually, they probably do. The new covers make it look like a recent film, which, given the fact that most teenagers refuse to watch older movies, and teenagers are the primary market for this sort of thing, makes sense… in a horrible and depressing sort of way. It’s a reasonable gambit but doesn’t explain why they wouldn’t then design a modern-looking cover which doesn’t suck.
Even so, the midget one is certainly creepy and intriguing in a “Future Sound of London album insert” sort of way.
#2 by The Mud Puppy on June 30, 2009 - 12:28 pm
Quote
A few things:
1. Am I just blind or is there absolutely no difference between Options 1 and 3? It’s like playing “Spot the Difference in the Picture” only they forgot to change anything.
2. The current Photoshop DVD Cover craze irks me as well. It was bad enough when Sony ditched the awesome original Japanese poster for Godzilla: Final Wars that had every monster in the film battling for space on the page for a puke-yellow photoshop job that only showed Godzilla, Mothra, Keiser Ghidorah, and not-Neo. But the one that still really offends me is when Alligator finally got released on DVD and not only did they not use the (awesome) original poster, the photoshopped cover was a crocodile! It’s like they deliberately went out of their way to offend me personally!
3. I just realized we’d all be screwed if the Creeps ever teamed up with the Tingler. The only way to stop the Tingler is to scream, but if you open your mouth to scream…
#3 by Nathan Shumate on June 30, 2009 - 12:56 pm
Quote
Whups, my bad — I reproduced #3 twice. I shows the real #1 now.
#4 by The Mud Puppy on June 30, 2009 - 1:19 pm
Quote
I kind of assumed–but at the same time I would not at all have been surprised if you told me that those were the actual options presented.
Oddly, that first option is probably the best of the 3–which is a sad statement right there. It’s ugly as all Hell, but it at least seems a slightly more accurate representation of the fim than the other two.
Quite frankly, I’m almost surprised they didn’t just blatantly copy the Slither poster in some way. Turnabout is fair game and all.
I’m still personally just excited for the chance to see the film again. When I actually saw it I was not yet in the mindset that could appreciate it and thus I hated it. Now I feel fairly certain I’d love it.
#5 by GalaxyJane on June 30, 2009 - 3:10 pm
Quote
Wow 3 completely inaccurate portrayals! #1 makes it look like a straight up horror spoof (not quite), #2 makes it look like a Frankenstein rip-off (even less right) and #3 makes it look more like a straight alien invasion story than a zombie flick (um, OK).
BTW that original poster, with the zombie boyfriend, not only sums up this film perfectly, it scared the crap out of me as a teenager. My only excuse is that I was traumatized by the original NOTLD at about 13 and couldn’t stand to see anything to do with zombies for YEARS. Consequently it was only a few years ago that I finally saw this gem in it’s entirety. Still creeped the hell out of me, even with the high level of black humor on display.
#6 by GalaxyJane on June 30, 2009 - 3:19 pm
Quote
Oh, and ditching the original blood-dripping font? Tragic!
#7 by KeithA on June 30, 2009 - 4:09 pm
Quote
Ugh. I mean, small potatoes compared to finally having the movie on DVD, but really? I guess I’m not surprised. As I’m sure many of you do as well, I often sit around and bemoan the dreadful state of poster/cover design. I swear 99% of movie posters these days are slapped together by an intern who took a half hour “Intro to Photoshop” course and has no concept of perspective and scale. I have a good friend who was an illustrator in the 70s, and he gets even crankier about it than me.
#8 by ProfessorKettlewell on June 30, 2009 - 6:35 pm
Quote
I blame the onset of CD. I mean, the durability and portability is nice an’ all, but the world really lost a big incentive to design and compose nicely when the 12″ gatefold album went away (although maybe it was a price worth paying to rid the world of vile Hipgnosis airbrushing.)
#9 by Anrkist on June 30, 2009 - 6:54 pm
Quote
I’ve seen this movie several times and I don’t recall alien midgets (#3). Can anyone remind me where that particular part is in the movie?
#10 by Gavin on June 30, 2009 - 8:29 pm
Quote
The alien midgets are in the prologue. One of them releases the cannister that the slugs are in and sends it to Earth.
Apparently, they also make a reappearance at the end of the Director’s Cut.
#11 by The Rev. D.D. on June 30, 2009 - 8:54 pm
Quote
I’m thrilled to get this on DVD but MAN are those ugly. Why wouldn’t you use the poster? It’s so perfect!
I think I agree that #1 is the least ugly but that’s like choosing psoriasis over eczema and leprosy–they all suck and will get under your skin no matter what.
#12 by Paul on July 1, 2009 - 7:18 am
Quote
Wow… those are horrible designs! Intern with an afternoon on Photoshop, I agree.
FYI, the one with the hand coming through the door was used as a UK VHS cover design:
http://www.itsonlyamovie.co.uk/cover%20scans/night%20of%20the%20creeps.jpg
…and there’s another totally different one here as well:
http://itsonlyamovie.co.uk/COVERS%2011/NIGHT%20OF%20THE%20CREEPS.jpg
All superior to the options above.
#13 by Rel on July 6, 2009 - 5:39 pm
Quote
They’re good good, no… but the originals weren’t masterpieces of the craft either, and it’s not the cover that will sell this one, is it? It’s people like us grabbing everyone we know and the occasional passing stranger and shouting ‘You! This! Buy this! No questions!’
Later, they will thank us. Yes they will.