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14 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
A must-see for fans of campy, cheesy horror, 12 January 2005
7/10
Author: Brandt Sponseller from New York City

As an infant, Jonathan Graves is absconded from his father, Malcolm (Michael Des Barres), the leader of a black magic cult, when Malcolm almost sacrifices Jonathan in a ritual. 25 years later, Jonathan (Peter Liapis) learns that his father has passed away and he has inherited his estate, including a large home that is now in disrepair. He moves there with Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan), and soon after begins acting strangely, instinctively following his father's footsteps.

If you're a fan of campy, cheesy horror films, as I am, Ghoulies is a must see. Everyone else should probably avoid this film. This is a Charles Band production. Charles Band means Empire/Full Moon, and Empire/Full Moon is almost a guarantee of some campiness/cheesiness. Not many of Band's films, however, approach the sublime ridiculousness of Ghoulies. We're almost in Troma territory here, but Ghoulies is played much more seriously than the typical Troma production, and in this case, it works to increase the entertainment value.

Since Ghoulies was made in 1984, it features most of the mid-80s horror film clichés. Shortly after moving in, Graves throws a party, so we get big hair, tight miniskirts, skinny ties, recreational drug use, and so on. We also get our eventual fodder for our body count, although in this case, it is worth noting that writer/director Luca Bercovici introduces a "twist" near the end that significantly decreases the body count.

Liapis is the focus of the film, though, and without him, Ghoulies might be more boring than campy. His absurd overacting, often in solo scenes, takes up a majority of screen time. Still, just the brief presence of two demonic minions, Grizzel and Greedigut, would alone make Ghoulies a must see, especially given how everyone continues their attempt to play the film seriously when they appear. And I haven't even mentioned the other ridiculous minions, which are obviously puppets and "dead props" (Band seems to love puppets), and were the beginning of a horror industry attempt to cash in on the success of Gremlins (also seen later in such films as the Critters series and Munchies). We also get zombies, a Star Wars-like battle of wizards, sunglasses as a major plot device, an evil doll, an attack with a 5 foot long tongue, and some probably unintentional homoerotic subtext. Who could pass all of that up? The film gets a 7 out of 10 from me--an 8 out of 10 would have been in order, except for the inexplicable absence of gratuitous nudity.

Note that while Ghoulies is tagged "comedy/horror", it's very unlikely that it was intended to be a comedy in any way. Even if Band applied the label to the film prior to release, it was probably because even he realized how ludicrous the film turned out. At any rate, it would be misguided to watch it expecting intentional humor.

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
This is worth watching, 9 January 2005
5/10
Author: Mark Rice from United States

I thought this movie was entertaining. Especially, if you like beautiful girls in sexy heels and tight dresses. It truly captures 80's fashion and hair styles and I love the 80's. The Ghoulies themselves looked incredibly life-like with grossed-out slobber and nasty sharp teeth. However, I thought the battle between good and evil could have been played out over a longer period of time. This monk comes from nowhere and saves the day in a matter of minutes. The evil guy's son was also drawn to the dark-side too quickly. He moves into his new mansion and begins practicing the dark arts in the same evening during the first party. How uncool. He yells at his guests and quits school the very next day. He should have at least heard voices for a few days first.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
GHOULIES (Luca Bercovici, 1985) *1/2, 5 October 2008
2/10
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

This is another revisit from long ago but, instead of time having added to its luster a' la my recent screening of GORILLA AT LARGE (1954), it has only revealed it as the silly piece of junk it always has been. Sporting several of the same crew members who would later be reteamed for TROLL (1986; see my comments above), it deals with the Satanic goings-on in an abandoned Italian villa perpetrated by the long-lost son of a Cult leader (whose demise occurs at the film’s very start) to the eventual indifference of his goofy, pot-headed group of friends (including Mariska Hargitay, the daughter of Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield, who had escaped unscathed in the freak car accident which took the life of her actress mum).

Unfortunately, unlike the preceding Gremlins or the later Trolls, the titular creeps don’t have much of a personality; they are the handiwork of John Carl Buechler who later stepped behind the camera to inflict on an unsuspecting world such works of dubious artistry as TROLL (which, actually, wasn’t half-bad), Friday THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD (1988; which has already receded irretrievably into my subconscious) and even GHOULIES III: GHOULIES GO TO COLLEGE (1991)!!

Apart from a mercifully brief but equally embarrassing turn from David Lynch mascot Jack Nance at the start and end of the film, the cast is peopled by obnoxious characters – from the hero who turns green-eyed when in the throes of Satanic possession to the clumsy, lock-jawed Morrissey-lookalike hunk of the party. Not that it matters but, for some reason, the end of the film reverses most of the evil that had happened throughout, making this a singularly pointless venture in the annals of screen history (and its being followed by three sequels all the more baffling)!

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Pure Garbage, 3 July 2000
1/10
Author: (tlv106@msn.com) from Tampa, Florida

Ok, I have to admit - I rented this film because of the cover of the box. It has a Ghoulie climbing out of a toilet with the caption "Everyone Gets It In The End" right above it. I thought that was sort of funny, maybe even clever and figured "what the heck - maybe it'll be funny".

Boy was I wrong. I love horror movies. From Child's Play, Wishmaster, Pumpkinhead, Friday the 13th, etc...But this was pure trash. The special effects were horrible and the plot was dull. It earns a rare 1/10.

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10 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
What a great ad campaign can do., 26 March 2003
3/10
Author: Aaron1375 from Alabama

This movie made a nice sum of 35 million at the box office, yet many consider it a poor movie at best. So how did it make this much money? With a good ad campaign, that's how. This movie was the first small creature attack movie to come out after the very successful Gremlins the previous year. Critters, which most consider the better film, came out a year later and made a lot less than this one. Then there was the famous scene of the creature coming out of the toilet. It made it look like a Gremlin type movie...funny with a bit of charm to it. It fooled my parents and we saw this dog in the theater when I was ten. We knew it wasn't quite what it was advertised as though as soon as it started as it has a scene where a guy rips out a woman's heart. It isn't all bad though as there are some scenes here and there that are good, but overall this one is just bad as it is not just about little creatures, but a bunch of other satanic stuff as well as this guy throws a party and does rituals and accidentally raises this one evil guy. Sounds better than it is though as there are no stars in this one and none of the actors in this one can act. You do though get to see the little person who played ET.

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10 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Cheesy and bad but amusing., 29 April 2004
5/10
Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada

Another movie of the 1980's to jump on the "Gremlins" bandwagon, this tells the story of Jonathan (Peter Liapis), who inherits the mansion his Satan-worshipping father Malcolm (rock singer Michael Des Barres) conducted rituals in. Jonathan's curiosity gets the better of him and when he starts conducting rituals of his own, a variety of tiny beasts and a pair of dwarves arrive on the scene.

"Ghoulies" is not exactly a quality horror / comedy, but it didn't suck badly enough for me to actively hate it. In fact, I thought that it was goofy enough to be amusing. The title creatures are a funny (if undeniably ugly) troupe of poorly manipulated puppets and unlike other films of its kind, "Ghoulies" does not go overboard in the gore department. Heck, the lead performances by Liapis and Lisa Pelikan, as his girlfriend, are actually better than I would have expected, and Des Barres' cameo is enjoyably (and not unbearably) hammy. It's also good to see Jack "Eraserhead" Nance in the film's other major cameo.

As long as you go in with low expectations, and do NOT take it seriously (then again, how could you?) it's possible to derive some entertainment out of it.

Followed by three sequels.

5/10

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Fun in a campy B-movie kind of way but its story is just too silly., 27 December 2008
4/10
Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

This really started off as a fine enjoyable, typical '80's campy horror/comedy but the movie unfortunately became worse and worse to watch as it progressed.

The movie realized it wasn't a brilliant one and it compensated this with it's silly fun and camp value. This however doesn't mean that the movie can just get away with everything, especially not when it throws away most of its fun and decides to turn into an occult horror movie, in which just nothing interesting ever happens.

What are even Ghoulies? And what do they want? This movie its story is so bad that it doesn't even bother to explain anything. Besides, it isn't being very original in any way and it 'borrows' a lot from different horror movies. But the foremost problem remains the story. It just doesn't seem to have a point in it and it isn't really ever heading anywhere.

As an horror flick it also is definitely lacking in some good horror. The movie isn't providing any scares and even though it has a decent atmosphere, it doesn't ever make the movie a tense, mysterious or exciting one to watch. Perhaps they could had spiced things up a little bit more with some good gore but the movie mostly remains on the clean and safe side. The special effects, make-up and puppets and all also aren't always too convincing looking, which adds to the camp-level of the movie but also is a killer for the movie its horror and just story in general.

The movie must had done something right though. It became quite a big box office success. It only had a 1 million dollar budget but the profit was 35 times that amount. After this they also made 3 more sequels, which supposedly are all even worse than this establishment, which is a real accomplishment on its own. I'm still gonna watch them though, being the nut I am.

Decent and entertaining first halve, pretty bad second halve, make an overall lacking horror/comedy.

4/10

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Pretty Bad., 25 July 2008
2/10
Author: Clive McGraw from Australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I like really bad horror, I really do. But not in the way this is bad. I actually like the start of the movie, not the intro with the escape of the baby so much as the introduction of the main characters and the party and stuff.

I dug the 80's-ness of this I guess, there were some really hot girls in this, which some GOOD horror movies lack. I can't believe that Marishka Hagity(sp?) from Law and Order-SVU use to be as hot as she is in this (I don't really like Law and Order, but will watch it maybe 6 times a year when I'm bored).

Once the Supernatural elements come into the main part of the story it just gets crap. Honestly it feels like a story a kid wrote, the way it flows, and the way things happen. Actually come to think about it, it does feel like a kids movie in a lot of ways.

The only thing this movie could be good for would be to play drinking games to it. Otherwise, avoid it.

2/10

(Reviewed after first viewing)

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Ghoulies, 17 February 2007
1/10
Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Bottom-of-the-barrel film-making has Jonathan(Peter Liapis), the son of a powerful Satan worshiper, possessed by his dead father's spirit after he inherits the man's estate. Everyone, from his girlfriend Rebecca(Lisa Pelikan)to his other seven friends..all will fall prey to the ghoulies, a nasty group of puppet monsters. Jonathan, and his green eyes, will seemingly bring his father's life back through the conjuring of spells and supposed sacrifices, but really figuring out what the hell is going on is anyone's guess since it's obvious the ones behind the making of this so-called film seemed to have no idea. The story itself is stupid, rife with obnoxious, idiotic characters like Jonathan who act incredibly moronic. Jack Nance, oh boy, gets handed one rotten role as the man who somehow rescues Jonathan(he and the infant's mother who takes his place)from being sacrificed to Satan by Malcolm, the father. There are two other demonic servants for which Jonathan conjures up that do his bidding as well.

The film is loaded with silly death sequences and it's blatantly obvious that the ghoulies are puppets guided around by puppeteers so the film has no scares whatsoever. This film will only apply to those who adore the worst kind of bad cinema. Horrible, horrible horror film. May be of interest to those who watch the long-running detective series LAW & ORDER:SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT since one of this film's victims is Mariska Hargitay..heck, everyone has to start somewhere even if it's in this hunk of garbage.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Total crap., 27 December 2006
2/10
Author: Paul Andrews (poolandrews@hotmail.com) from UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Ghoulies starts with Jonathan Graves (Liapis) being left his late Father's (Michael Des Barres) large house & he decides to move in with his girlfriend Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan). Things take a turn for the worse though when unseen supernatural powers start to possess Jonathan making him want to perform weird Satanic rituals like conjuring up a rain storm in the basement which Rebecca is understandably annoyed about. As Jonathan continues to dabble in the occult he calls up various small green demons that don't do much except stand around & two dwarfs (Peter Risch & Tamara De Treaux), making sense so far? Good. These dwarfs basically hold the key to all knowledge & power or something like that & eventually Jonathan's dead Father rises from his grave, which happens to be located in the garden...

Co-written & directed by Luca Bercovici I pretty much hated this cheap, unappealing & throughly rotten attempt at a Gremlins (184) rip-off. The script by Bercovici & Jefery Levy is real bottom-of-the-barrel stuff from start to finish, it's incredibly slow & boring, despite being called Ghoulies the said little creatures hardly do anything until the very end, they just sort of stand there because the terrible special effects won't allow them to do anything else. The entire film never leaves the confines of the same house which consists of a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen & dining room, it becomes very monotonous & dull. The character's are awful, why would anyone want to conduct a Satanic ritual for 'fun' & where are you going to find people stupid enough to join in? There's hardly any exploitation, there's no gore or any decent horror elements. Apparently Ghoulies is meant to be a horror comedy, well besides there being zero horror it's about as funny as haemorrhoid's. I can't think of one positive thing to say about it, I can't believe there's any people out there who actually like this.

Director Bercovici ruins anything the film could have had going for it with some truly awful special effects & puppet shots. Ther's no scares, there's no atmosphere & zero tension as a few lame brain retards are killed off at the end but to add insult to injury Bercovici has them all return from the dead in a hideous 'happy' ending that made me cringe. Also where did the slimy monster that came from the clown outfit go? Anyone whose seen it will know what I'm talking about. Forget about any gore as this is family friendly PG stuff all the way, it says on he IMDb that 12 minutes were cut to secure this rating & while I can't quite believe it's that much it's painfully obvious that it's cut & that this was probably intended to be stronger.

With a supposed budget of about $1,000,000 Ghoulies apparently did very well on VHS, I honestly can't think why as it's crap but there you go there's no accounting for taste. The acting is terrible which means it suits the film in general right down to the ground.

Ghoulies is crap, watch Gremlins again instead. This film has absolutely nothing going for it, definitely one to avoid folks. Followed by three further sequels, Ghoulies II (1987), Ghoulies III: Ghoulies go to College (1991) & Ghoulies IV (1994). Thankfully the series now appears to be dead, there is a god after all.

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