Ghoulies (1985)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

GHOULIES was, I think, the first rip-off to come out after the success of GREMLINS. Many, many others followed, many of them stretching out into series of their own: we had CRITTERS, MUNCHIES, LITTLE DEVILS: THE BIRTH and many more besides, each of them films about ugly little monsters doing their best to hurt or kill people. In fact, producer Charles Band would go on to riff on this topic time and again with his Empire/Full Moon production banners; we had the likes of DOLLS, PUPPET MASTER and many more besides, but GHOULIES was there first. Does that mean it's any good? The answer is yes and no.Fans expecting the quality of the Joe Dante film, a decent script, and intelligence should look elsewhere. This is a film that has none of that. What it does have is a low budget, some cheesy actors and the kind of special effects that have dated badly by today's Hollywood standards. It's a campy '80s horror film complete with those laser-eye special effects that were so popular after the debut of light sabers, and more bad acting than you can shake a stick at. It's a film where all the clichés are present and correct, from the assembled weirdos and nerds who made up the cast, to the spooky old house, the Satanist lurking in the basement and much more besides. The ghoulies themselves are almost incidental to the story, appearing in a handful of scenes as the minions of a black magician out to bump off the innocent teenagers who've gathered for the party from hell.Although this is a film aimed squarely at kids, it's a pretty unpleasant ride with some cheap gore effects and evidence of heavy cutting, so one can only wonder what the uncut version would have been like. I enjoyed the look of the ghoulies, which were animated by John Carl Buechler, even though it's obvious that they were made on a budget, and at least the movie is fast paced, running through the usual clichés at speed. A few notable actors pop up, like Jack Nance (ERASERHEAD) as an old guy with a hidden secret and Mariska Hargitay (daughter of Mickey) as a pretty potential victim. There's a brief turn for scream queen Bobbie Bresee and a couple of evil dwarfs, although I do find it slightly repulsive when dwarfs are cast as evil folk purely due to their size, although I suppose their presence is played for laughs here and they are quite sympathetic.Anyway, folk who watch this know what to expect, and as a trip down memory lane it serves as a fitting reminder of just how cheesy and campy the 1980s really were for horror films. Not a great film by any means, this is, however, quite a bit of fun and it did extraordinarily well at the box office, which meant that three sequels followed.

The camp and cheese levels are off the charts with this effort from Charles Bands' Empire Pictures, one of a few movies (and subsequent franchises) to jump on the "Gremlins" bandwagon. This means combining comedy (which, in this case, is never really that funny) and horror (although the movie sure ain't scary at all) and trying to go for a playful approach. The result is a movie that does have some fun moments, but nothing special enough to make it compare to its inspiration.Eric Roberts lookalike Peter Liapis stars as Jonathan Graves, who moves with his girlfriend Rebecca (pretty Lisa Pelikan of the "Carrie" ripoff "Jennifer") into the mansion he's just inherited. Turns out his dad Malcolm (pop singer Michael Des Barres, in a hilariously unsubtle turn) was one of a group of Satan worshippers, and the mansion has been home to demons in the past. As any moron character in this type of genre movie would do, Jonathan lets his curiosity get the better of him, and he becomes obsessed with wearing robes and performing rituals. The title creatures show up to create mayhem, followed by an endearing pair of little people (Peter Risch, Tamara De Treaux).The Ghoulies themselves don't get to do all that much; they would be brought more to the forefront for the sequels. The human cast - including Scott Thomson ("Police Academy"), Ralph Seymour ("Just Before Dawn"), Keith Joe Dick, and Mariska Hargitay in her film debut - is amusing, but it's the Ghoulies who are the most fun. Jack Nance of "Eraserhead" fame is wasted as the wise old caretaker of the mansion. Bobbie Bresee ("Mausoleum") has a bit as a temptress. Special effects and makeup by John Carl Buechler and his company are generally pretty good. The score, credited to both Shirley Walker and Richard Band, is catchy."Ghoulies" is indeed pretty ridiculous, but this viewer doesn't see that as necessarily being a bad thing. Just don't go in expecting anything resembling a serious genre film.Six out of 10.

GHOULIES 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑 1.9This was a full moon production, and I've heard they've made worse, but I've seen them make better, so I wasn't satisfied with this boring movie. Not all of it was terrible, but much of the middle is. Which is too bad because the conclusion were the Ghoulies finally come out and do some damage has some cool effects and entertaining kills. The acting isn't great, and neither are all of the unnecessary side characters added in the second half of the film. I didn't actually find the PG-13 rating restricting, as there was still some blood and gore. I would only recommend this to hardcore full moon fans.

This is one of the first of the low-budget direct-to-video from Charles Band's Empire Pictures of the 1980s' VHS craze, and its about as silly and illogical as anything you'll see from that era. Peter Liapis (Kyle Mclachlan's evil twin perhaps?) moves into an old house, and in his attempt to restore it, he becomes obsessed with ceremonial black magic. In his rituals he manages to conjure up personifications of the demons; Vepar, Procell and Astaroth in the form of bogus-looking, puppet-like goblins. This is hopelessly contrived and laughable as the ghastly dwarfs hang around and wreck havoc on a group of unlikable, snobbish idiots after Liapis fulfills his final master ritual. Its typical Charles Band stuff as the cast takes the ridiculousness seriously, and one can only suspect that the idea was loosely ripped off from the incomparable hit, 'Gremlins' Its fun if you like to watch slimy, rubbery toys attack people, and some will get a laugh out of the most absurd and incoherent of plot-lines.