Finnish director Marko Mäkilaakso is well-known to horror and genre fans. From helming features like War of the Dead, Deadly Descent and It Came from the Desert, his diverse career has led to directing music videos for popular artists like Uniklubi, Indica and Robin Packalen, and episodes of Netflix’s acclaimed series, Bordertown. For his latest feature, The Creeps, he pays tribute to the 1980s movies and TV shows he holds most dear, and assembles a cast of fun cameos including Joe Dante (director of Gremlins and The Howling), William Daniels (Knight Rider) and Christopher Lambert (Mortal Kombat, Highlander).
In The Creeps, when a mysterious gateway between dimensions unleashes a horde of nasty little creatures into Vuokatti Ski Resort, Zach and his friends’ dream holiday takes a turn for the terrifying. What was supposed to be an epic party—filled with sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll, and Hollywood legend Christopher Lambert—spirals into pure chaos as the Creeps run wild. Now, Zach must rise to the occasion, battle the pint-sized terrors, and prove that being a hero isn’t so different from the ‘80s movies he worships.
Marko tells us more about his ambitious, retro-inspired throwback movie, which makes a fun and gory alternative this holiday season…
As the writer and director, how did the idea for The Creeps first come to you?
It was late in 2020, the pandemic was underway and the world was in a pretty miserable place. I decided to write something for myself, just something nutty and funny. I pitched it to a couple of producers and, to my surprise, they said “let’s do it” and wanted to shoot in the next few months! So it all happened very quickly, but my actual process of writing the script wasn’t that different from how I normally work.
The film features some very fun cameos, such as Joe Dante. Was this planned all along, or a surprise that came later?
I’ve been friends with Joe [Dante] for a long time and he was supposed to be in a previous movie I made, but we couldn’t make it work. However, this time we had the pandemic, so there were complications in a different way! Since our main character, Zach, is having a birthday, it made sense in the script that he’s receiving calls and messages, so we were able to include Joe there, which was amazing.
My film pays tribute to a lot of movies, and a big one is Joe Dante’s Gremlins. In fact, I’d say our film is more like Gremlins 2, a nuttier version! [laughs] Those were hugely inspiring to me but, looking at our budget, I knew we’d have to work in a different way to achieve sometime vaguely similar within our story.
A major highlight is Christopher Lambert, playing himself! What was your experience working with him?
That was amazing, and there was no backup option, I really wanted Christopher Lambert in the film, so we had to have him! [laughs]. I contacted his team and he said yes! It was such a joy and, of course, it’s actually very important in the story because Highlander is Zach’s favourite film and then we get to have Christopher say the line, “there can be only one”. He was very nice and friendly with all the cast and crew, so we got along very well.
Another great cameo is beloved character actor William Daniels (KITT in Knight Rider) and it’s lovely to hear his voice [he’s 98 years old]. How did that come about?
It’s a funny story. In the script, it was originally going to be the Bullitt car, which is a 1968 Ford Mustang GT fastback, from Steve McQueen’s classic film. Then after we were scouting in Finland, desperately looking for one, the team stumbled upon a replica of KITT, which was crazy, but I loved the idea. Then, once you change the script, you need to have the voice of KITT, otherwise it doesn’t work! I contacted William Daniels’ agent and he said yes! Of course, it’s a fun parody, so we’re not trying to seriously recreate anything, it’s just a little nod to a show which I have a lot of love for.
How did you discover the young ensemble cast?
I found Chris Cavalier on YouTube. He has a channel and I saw a video where he was humorously talking about different cameras and lenses, and I realised he had exactly the right tone and delivery to play Zach. I contacted him with the script, and fortunately he was interested.
For Natalia, Veronica Jarvis came to us through the producers. She’s a Fin but living in Canada, and she was fantastic. For the character of Joe, we were casting in Finland, looking at lots of different tapes, and found Kheba Touray who was perfect. For Jaakko, I really wanted a stand-up comedian, ideally someone from Finland, and we found Matti Paalanen who did a wonderful job. Then I also assembled lots of my buddies and actor friends, so it was a great mix of people. The cast had strong chemistry, and they got to know each other throughout the shoot of course, but I think the tone really worked. Everyone understand what we were going for from the start.
What was your inspiration for the visual effects and creating the monsters?
For the visual style, the inspiration was Gremlins, Critters, Ghoulies, even Roger Corman’s films. We only had budget for one real puppet, so we used that very creatively, and there are times where it looks like we might have a couple onscreen. I would have loved to do the whole film practically, but it just wasn’t possible. Then, we used CGI selectively around that. I knew we couldn’t do complicated animatronic faces and things like that, it’s more like a Muppet show [laughs]. But I thought, let’s enjoy that and not be afraid or ashamed of it, so that was the tone.
With the 1980’s now being trendy and hip (with shows like Stranger Things), what do you think is the appeal for this era?
I’m now a middle-aged man, which I can’t really believe, and I find myself looking back at this era fondly. I think it was a special period for movies and television. So, The Creeps is my love letter to the 80’s and while any callbacks might be nostalgic for anyone who lived through it, I think it’s fun for young people to discover these movies, maybe things their parents told them about, and they’ll always see it in a different way. Stories and characters are basically the same now as they were back then, it’s just that the world has changed.
When we were shooting, I showed the cast and crew Gremlins, Highlander and Back to the Future, for tone and inspiration. Some of them were young, so they were watching them for the very first time!
What do you hope audiences take away from The Creeps?
I just hope they have fun with it! I’ve seen it with festival audiences on the big screen, and I feel it’s a great one to watch with friends in that shared environment. Maybe it also inspires people to go back and rediscover something, go and seek out some of the movies or TV shows we pay tribute to!
Dazzler Media presents The Creeps out now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download
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