The prolific cult director also talks about directing The Loss of Nameless Things

Fans of true cult cinema have a reason to rejoice this Halloween season, as Fred Dekker, the mastermind behind the hugely popular The Monster Squad, is finally bringing his elusive, long absent underground horror hit Night of the Creeps to DVD and Blu-ray on October 27th. To help celebrate the release, we recently caught up with the prolific director for a no holds barred interview that covers his whole career (including his own ruminations about the much maligned RoboCop 3 some fifteen years after its release). It's a great interview that you can read below in our DVD section. While discussing Night of the Creeps, Dekker spoke more about his plans for a sequel which would reunite the entire cast some twenty years after the events of that faithful night in 1986. He also discussed the upcoming Rob Cohen remake of his beloved The Monster Squad, and the project he is currently working on, which is a feature length adaptation of the Bill Rose documentary The Loss of Nameless Things. Here is what he had to say:

Is Night of the Creeps or Monster Squad any closer to seeing a movie theater screen again?

Fred Dekker: Rob Cohen is talking about doing a remake of The Monster Squad. Which I think is a catastrophic idea. Night of the Creeps? No one has talked about it. I would love to sell enough DVDs and Blu-rays to make a follow-up. I have spoken with Tom Atkins about it. I have spoken to the kids about it. I do have a notion of doing a sequel. It would be a very real, low budget sequel that takes place twenty years later. The movie is already a remake and a rip-off of so many other things. Making a remake of a rip-off is just plain ridiculous.

I wouldn't call your film a rip-off. It's more of an homage, as it were. It has its own very distinct feel to it. But if a sequel went into production, you'd direct it?

Fred Dekker: Yes. There is an attempt to introduce new audiences to old ideas by simply redoing them. I think that is really misguided. Very rarely is a remake better than the original film. Look at James Gunn, God bless him. He is a Facebook friend of mine, but Slither didn't necessarily knock the box office on its ass. I think there is an argument to be made that audiences don't want to see movies about zombies with slugs in their heads.

I've read that you are working on a scary end-of-the-world thriller. Can you enlighten us on the advancement of that?

Fred Dekker: I would love to talk about that. Unfortunately, it is no longer alive. It was called the Invaded Man, and I first developed it with Jim Cameron at Lighstorm. Then I developed it with producers Paul Anderson and Jeremy Bolt. Then I developed it at Gold Circle with producer Eric Newman. Ultimately, it was my attempt to do I Am Legend with a different antagonist. Because I loved the Matheson novel. In the final analysis, we just didn't get it up and running before the Will Smith movie came out. It was just ultimately too similar. No one would be able to look at it and not say, "Oh, I haven't seen this movie before." But it was good. I was really pleased with the script. There were no vampires and there were no zombies.

Do you think its something you'd come back to in five years, when people have forgotten about I Am Legend?

Fred Dekker: Sure. Absolutely. But your lips to God's ears.

What are you working on now, then? Are you solely concentrating on doing A Night of the Creeps 2?

Fred Dekker: Certainly. If that opportunity arose, I wouldn't say no. But I have been trying to reinvent myself for many years. There is a documentary film that is a complete left turn from comedy and horror. It is called The Loss of Nameless Things, and it was directed by Bill Rose. I have been asked to write and direct a narrative feature version of this. It is a really touching story about a playwright. He was a very charismatic playwright in the 60s that started this own theater company, and he created this commune of theater workers. And he was doing really great work. Then he fell off a bridge and suffered brain damage. The movie is about him trying to resurrect himself. The documentary is really good, and I think the script is the best thing I have ever done.

Night of the Creeps finally hits DVD and Blu-ray on October 27th. Don't miss your chance to own one of the most amazing cult movies of all time. And don't forget to check out our full-length interview with Fred Dekker in our DVD section (the stuff on RoboCop 3 is especially great).