Ghoulies on Parade!

Horror Movie Marathon

Day 2, Movie 2

Ghoulies (1985)

Directed by Luca Bercovici

I don't think I'll have a hell of a lot to say about this movie because there's not a lot to latch onto. Yes, there's a bunch of small creatures. Yes, there are a lot of green eyes. Yes, there is an old mansion. This would seem like it would be a decent set up for a horror movie.

Not so much.

The movie starts off with a seance at a mansion and this old guy taking a baby away. We don't know the baby, we don't know much. The movie continues on to show this guy inheriting the same house from the beginning and he wants to quit college and remodel it because something is compelling him to do so.

He goes downstairs, finds these symbols on the ground and gets immediately drawn to the whole idea. He reads a book and eventually tries holding a seance to open a door to another world. He keeps saying how there will be something coming through and appearing in the middle of a triangle. Nothing comes out. He and his friends walk back upstairs. Just as they do, these really ugly creatures come out. These are the Ghoulies.

There really isn't a plot and I shouldn't be too upset about this. But, not only is there no real plot, there's no real drive to the movie. Evil Dead 2 really has no plot to it, but there's that inherent drive by Sam Raimi that pushes the picture to the limits and it's one of the most fun movies you'll ever see. This movie is just dead in the water. Sure, there are some throwaway jokes like one of the Ghoulies covering his eyes as someone gets gruesomely killed, but nothing really besides that.

If you look at a movie like Gremlins (which this movie obviously was made because of), the creatures had personalities and you cared about the humans. This movie you're just waiting to get over. I've watched this movie once before today in my friend Mike's basement pool room. I remember falling asleep to it that time. This time, I did the same thing and it was four in the afternoon. The movie couldn't even keep my interest. I had plenty of sleep last night, I shouldn't have been tired at all, but instead, I fell asleep like I was watching some four hour Biblical epic. This is an 81 minute horror movie with creatures and killing. There is absolutely no reason why I should have fallen asleep.

That being said, the DVD that I bought with it on it comes with the sequel. It's nine minutes longer. I would be lying if I were to say I wasn't the least big intrigued by watching the second one. Maybe someday.

Who knows. Could be some night when I really need to fall asleep...

There is always that part that the Ghoulie comes out of the toilet. That's something to latch onto. But it's not enough. The movie should have been a lot more fun. A lot more.