Hobgoblins (1988)

Boring

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Hobgoblins (1988) * 1/2 (out of 4)A group of young adults are doing young adult things when they must battle a group of small alien creatures known as hobgoblins. It turns out that these hobgoblins lure their victims by making their fantasies come to life and then they kill them. HOBGOBLINS was just one of many GREMLINS rip-offs that took place during the 80s and it's rather amazing to think that there was an actual market for stuff like this, TROLL and GHOULIES. This film here got more attention than it probably deserved after appearing on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 but this film has enough bad laughs on its own to where you don't have to watch it with the show.If you're going to watch this movie then you should obviously know that you're not getting some sort of masterpiece. The film can certainly fit into the "so bad it's good" style of picture because there's really nothing overly good here, although the entire idea is just campy. I mean, you've got a phone sex addict whose fantasy comes to life when the girl of his dreams knocks on the door. What follows is what you'd expect from an 80s film like this.The performances are decent for the most part but at least the cast are interesting and keep you entertained. The special effects are certainly laughable as the hobgoblins are just hairy little creatures that are certainly never scary. It seems whenever they attack someone the actor just wiggles them around ala Bela Lugosi and the octopus in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Still, HOBGOBLINS has some mild charm as long as you don't take it too serious.

I like to watch bad movies, in the hopes of finding ones that are so bad it's funny, considering the stuffed animal monsters and girl in pink underwear on the poster I had high hopes for this one.It starts out good, you have all the elements for a so-bad-it's-funny flick; the plot is a simple set up for a monster movie, the characters are mostly useless stereotypes, the acting is bad, the monsters are these silly looking stuffed animals, and the overall look and feel is sub par. As the story unfolds, it starts to get confusing, characters acting more stupid than the format demands and lots of unexplained events, like a guy leaving his friends to call a sex hot-line for no reason. There are also lots of unnecessary scenes of people parking their car and such, which makes the movie kind of boring. This flick is teetering right on the edge to that wonderful world of unintentional comedy but the boring scenes and confusing push it over the edge into simply bad territory, without the funny.

I know the most common version Is The MST3K one But I saw not only that Version but the Original. There are a few parts edited like MCcreedy's bosses scenes were cut Kyle's first phone sex call Kevin telling him that he's got a ton of phone bills for the sex hot-line not knowing Kyle is the reason and Nick suiting up for his grenade throwing spree. This is just to weird to understand it has so many plot-holes a pointless rake fight that seems like it goes on for ten minutes The Hobgoblins don't appear in till 20 or so minutes into it. The movie just makes no sense 1 person dies in a very cheesy way maybe two Nick's sergeant gets blown up but he could have been an illusion. The Hobgoblins can cause people to see things but other people can see someone else's illusion which is solid to other people to. This is easily one of the cheesiest movies i ever saw The beginning is weird the middle is Boring and unintentionally funny and the End has to be seen to be believed MCcreedy could have blown up the vault at any time so he's responsible for the whole movie. If that isn't enough there a part were some one is being fanned with a bottle acting like there getting hit an extra tipping there table over to make a chase look more wild.

I do agree Hobgoblins is a terrible movie. But the worst movie ever made? Not for me. However, that isn't saying much, it is a milestone in film-making but not in a good way. If you want every single thing that makes a bad movie bad, look no further than Hobgoblins. Look for the ropey effects. Look for the poorly designed Hobgoblins, who aren't scary or funny in the slightest. Look out for terrible dialogue. Look out for incoherent storytelling. Look out for non-existent direction. Look out for bad pacing. And to add further insult to injury, look out for horrendous acting. Hobgoblins has every single one of those. In conclusion, terrible and one of the nadirs of the 80s along with Garbage Pail Kids Movie. 1/10 Bethany Cox