Ghost Fever (1987)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Alan Smithee strikes again. Yes, after watching "Ghost Fever" you'll see why this popular pseudonym (in placed for Lee Madden) was used. "Ghost Fever" is very corny and boisterous, but a very misguided slapstick low-budget horror comedy with little in the way laughs, but filled with constant annoyance and stupidity in the sketches. Well actually, I was somewhat amused by it. Not that I found it funny, but at least it didn't bore me. I guess that's got to count for something. Two cops, Buford and Benny are sent to a supposedly rundown southern plantation to evict the residents of the Victorian mansion. However to their surprise the occupants happen to be ghosts and they have no intention of leaving. Story-wise it's a slight, farcical and chaotic sideshow. There's not much of a story thread, as it's a one-idea joke with randomly staged set-pieces looking for nothing more than a laugh and to set-up the very next out-there, if clichéd haunted house situation to help move the film forward. But some things which do happen at the back-end, feel breezy and spontaneous with no real thought behind it but to simply to throw it out there. A vampire, zombies and a boxing match finds its way in the make up. Sherman Hemsley and Luis Avalos in the leads are comically silly in a very forced manner, but mildly agreeable. Also turning up is Myron Healey, Jennifer Rhodes and a cameo role for boxer Joe Frazier. The production looks cheap, as the special effects are gawky and filled with colourful lights to go along with the exaggeratedly decorated direction. Some moments do manage to install a bit of atmosphere. Plus you gotta love that catchy theme song."We dead people sure know how to live."

Ghost Fever is one of the greatest "awesomely bad" movies of all time. If you go into watching this movie thinking, "This should be good", prepare to be fantastically disappointed. I remember watching this movie as a kid on HBO. Nothing entertained as much as the "invisible man" dancing in the Grand Ballroom. Sherman Hemsley is definitely the stand-out in the movie. I love his sarcasm and frank humor. The only thing I don't like about the movie is the main antagonist (Beauregard Lee) turning into a vampire at the end. They could have left it out and it would have been a perfectly bad movie. It gets an absolute ten from me, for it's humor and nostalgia.

I agree with many other here that this movie is SOOOOOO BAD it is good. You will laugh unintentionally at the horrible trainwreck this movie is. Its shot badly, acted badly and the "script" is atrocious. They tried to jump on the Ghostbusters bandwagon but there are sequences in here that will make your jaw drop to the floor and then your jaw will try and leave the room. The break dancing scene is truly memorable and yes, lots of "groin" jokes. Wow!! There is also a long boxing subplot that comes out of nowhere. It is deathly unfunny. And horribly done. All the effects are lame. But....A great bad 1980s disaster. Just the kind of thing those recent great Slate podcasts highlight!

Sometimes a film can be so bad, it's totally enjoyable. God bless the abstraction of a director, Alan Smithee. The real director of the film "Ghost Fever", Lee Madden was too ashamed to take credit for this disasterpiece. It is a celebration in all that is bad in movies, but when it was on rotation in 1999, I couldn't take my pre-teen eyes off of it! There was an appealing creepiness about how truly awful the movie is. I've been waiting for it to air since, but I haven't been able to experience the wonder of a film so bad I ponder how it was ever produced. Sherman Helmsley keeps his head up through it all. You have to respect a man that gives it all in a film he must have known was a complete mess. His comedic performance is nothing new, but he is a good guide through a tangled web of a story that becomes completely lost in horrible direction. Look for the Mummy scene. It is a genuinely disturbing image that was supposed to be played for laughs. My question is, why didn't this movie have a cult following? Am I the only person on Earth who loves this messy treat?