The Deadly Spawn (1983)

Slimy, sharp-toothed alien beasts crash land from outer space like The Blob on a small town and start eating people in ultra-violent fashion. And that’s IT, Daddy-O. Who could ask for more? It’s got more blood than plot and more screams than storyline, which is perfect. It’s also got a lot of wit and some amazing low-budget effects, which is what really puts this over the top. It’s all a 1950s creature feature homage, extra grisly but just as light, and director/co-writer Douglas McKeown knows exactly what he’s doing with it. The absolute highlight is the scene where the monsters invade a group of old ladies meeting at someone’s house for a tasteful vegetarian luncheon. When the creatures starting sneaking into the salads and biting into wrinkly faces, it’s one of the funniest scenes in gore film history, so gleefully does it fly against the expected teen massacre. The second best moments are everything involving the creepy neighborhood kid who doesn’t panic (or show much of any emotion) in the face of marauding monsters, comes up with clever plots to kill the aliens and just happens to keep an extension cord on him at all times. He’s about twelve years old, but he’s my new role model.