Ghoulies (1985) Review

"I think I broke my head."
-Mike



Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) inherits a large mansion from his late father and moves in with his girlfriend, Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan).  However, a dark force starts to take over Jonathan putting them and they're friends in danger.  Magic and mayhem take over the house as the Ghoulies start to appear.


What Works:

This section will be brief.  I will say I really liked the designs of the puppets.  Sure, they're low budget, but they're creepy and have a unique look.  I just wish they had more to do.

I also appreciated Peter Liapis' performance and I'm surprised he hasn't done more work.  He has some range and he's especially good at yelling and acting all crazy.  The scenes where he screams and shouts are the best ones in the movies.


What Sucks:

Most of this movie was simply boring.  It takes forever for anything interesting to happen.  There are less than 25 minutes left when I finally got my hopes up for something engaging to happen.  It really didn't.  For an 80 minute movie, it sure feels long because nothing happens!

The best part of these b-horror movies are the kills.  I just want some creative and gory kills.  Is that too much to ask?  Apparently.  There is one half-way decent kill in the whole movie.  The rest are all off-screen and lacking blood.  Why even make a movie if you're not going to have awesome kills?

I got really excited when I saw Jack Nance appear on my screen.  I love him in Twin Peaks and I was hoping he would get to do some awesome character work.  That isn't the case.  He's only in about 5 scenes and has about 3 lines.  He doesn't get to do anything cool.  If you're going to get a character actor to be in your movie, let him do his thing.  It was really disappointing.

Finally, like I mentioned above, the Ghoulies looked cool, but didn't get much to do.  They're the whole point of the movie.  Use them for something!  The whole movie is just one giant missed opportunity.


Verdict:

I was really disappointed with Ghoulies.  I was hoping it would a fun b-movie and Gremlins rip-off.  It had so much potential.  The Ghoulies looked cool and Peter Liapis does a solid job, but the rest of the movie wastes every interesting element it has and ultimately we get movie where hardly anything happens.

 2/10: Awful 

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