Ghoulies (1985)

Director:

Luca Bercovici

Writers:

Luca Bercovici (written by)
Jefery Levy (written by)

Release Date:

2 March 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

They'll get you in the end.

Plot:

A young man and his girlfriend move into thre man's old mansion home, where he becomes possessed by a need to control ancient demons. |

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Occult | Ghoul | Boy Strangling | Supernatural

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Nov. 25

6:00 AM

MAX

Cast

Peter Liapis	...	Jonathan Graves
Lisa Pelikan	...	Rebecca
Michael Des Barres	...	Malcolm Graves
Jack Nance	...	Wolfgang
Peter Risch	...	Grizzel
Tamara De Treaux	...	Greedigut
Scott Thomson	...	Mike
Ralph Seymour	...	Mark (Toad Boy)
Mariska Hargitay	...	Donna
Keith Joe Dick	...	Dick
David Dayan	...	Eddie
Victoria Catlin	...	Anastasia
Charene Cathleen	...	Robin
Bobbie Bresee	...	Temptress
Jamie Bronow	...	Jonathan Graves, as a child

Also Known As:

Beasties (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Australia:M | Norway:15 (video premiere) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | West Germany:18 | Spain:18

Company:

Empire Pictures

Trivia:

Jeffrey Combs auditioned for the role of Jonathan Graves.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: At the end when Jonathan summons a rainstorm in his basement, a microphone pokes into view from the right side of the screen.

Quotes:

[Mike falls over while trying to breakdance]
Mike: I think I broke my head.
Eddie: [standing over Mike] Oh, thank God. I thought that you actually hurt yourself.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Ghoulies" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Surrender

GHOULIES (Luca Bercovici, 1985) *1/2

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)!