LITTLE CREEPS (2012)

Directed/Written by Brad Leo Lyon
Check out the trailer here!!

I try to be as nice as I can with low budgeteers, especially horror ones since I know a lot of heart goes into making these films. Though some might think it grand to rip apart films, I often find it hard to tear too hard into low fi horror. I could tell early on the folks behind LITTLE CREEPS have the intention of making something akin to late eighties schlockers like GHOULIES (which in itself is a pretty bad movie), but even though I can enjoy schlock from time to time, I can’t find it in me to recommend LITTLE CREEPS.

The film is pretty amateur on most levels which I could let slide for the most part, but it has one of the most bizarre casts I think I’ve ever seen and given the amount of effort to fill this film with z-name talent, there is a curiosity factor here making this a film of interest. Not one but two SAVED BY THE BELL alum (Dustin Diamond & Lark Voorheis) show up, along with Aurelian Smith who most will know as Jake the Snake Roberts from WWF, a puffier than ever Robert Z’Dar, and Joe Estevez (brother of Martin Sheen) whose idea of acting is screaming every line. If as much effort was put into the direction and script as it was the stunt casting of z-listers, something great could have come from this.

As is, LITTLE CREEPS serves as your typical Necronomicon flick with weird little robed creatures in Halloween face paint causing mischief and killing folks occasionally. Blood is splattered on the walls and runs across the floor, but most of the effects budget seems to have gone to buying the cast lunch more than anything else. Joe Estevez plays an obsessed college professor in search of the “Demonicon” while there’s a subplot of a new kid in school trying to impress his dad. The film ends weirdly as the star/writer/director Brad Leo Lyon seems to live out a fantasy by donning wrestling togs and fighting a demon beast in a wrestling ring in front of a crowd of extras.

Clunky writing, shoddy sound, low fi visuals, and poor acting permeate this film. The heart is there. I’m sure Brad Leo Lyon set out to make a fun flick and I have to say it looks like they did have fun doing it. But save those with a sick curiosity of what 80’s stars look like today; there aren’t going to be too many impressed with LITTLE CREEPS. I wish the cast and crew good things to come to them in the future. The writer/director/actor behind the film should be proud of doing this when so many have tried and failed. I can’t recommend it though, but this might be a great schlocky candidate for the Riff Trax/MST3K treatment.