Goblin is not a fun movie to watch, as silly movies should be. If it didn't take itself as seriously as it did, maybe I would have considered rating it a 4 or 5. I can't honestly say that the movie is fresh in my mind, (having viewed it over 5 years ago), but a bad impression that lasts as long as this one warrants a warning to my fellow movie viewers. Watch out for the Goblin.
4 Reviews
Fear of Goblins, Fear of Men: Short Analysis of Todd Sheets' Goblin (1993)
picasims26 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Let me start off by saying that Goblin, directed by Todd Sheets, is not a perfect movie. It's quite unpolished and overall poorly executed not unlike many SOV movies. However, I believe that this movie does have a voice on gender and sexuality issues in horror movies. The same kinds of themes that Slumber Party Massacre (1982) introduced are also addressed in Goblin, in rougher and rawer ways. The main theme is the fear of men, or more specifically phallophobia.
In both movies(SPM and Goblin), the characters, principally the male ones, are very alike. They are mostly passive and occupy the stereotyped roles women are usually filling. This sparks new ways of interpreting the roles of both genders in horror movies. Apart from the fact that all men in Goblin are long-haired (and I even confounded the character of the "Lost hiker", played by Todd Sheets himself, with a short skirt-wearing woman at first), they act in a female manner, for a horror movie at least. Courageousness, usually showed by males, is actually more prominent in females, especially in the one who could be the easiest to be victimized, Sherry, played by Kim Alber, who is pregnant. Whilst one of the male character arduously does "kill" the goblin, it's the character of Tammy, played by Jenny Admire, that is the first one to help constructively her friends by calling for help in the police car. What is interesting to note is also the fact that the survival rate in this movie is high. Where we usually see one or two survivors in typical horror movies, in Goblin, there is actually five survivors, including three women.
Where in Slumber Party Massacre, the main character is afraid of losing her virginity, therefore projecting her fears into a driller killer (the fantastic nature of her fears are actually exploited in a less subtle manner in Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) ), in Goblin, fear of actual rape is exploited. First of all, the Goblin is a half-man, half-creature figure. It seems to be controlled by his instinct, acting in a very animalistic manner. But it could very well be a masked man. Because of that, his identity remains a secret and he could be any man, even one of the male characters. This Goblin figure becomes the symbolic rapist, that any male can become. Most of the death scenes in Goblin are similar physically and metaphorically to an actual rape. The multiple tools used by the killer imitate a penis. The most obvious reference is the death scene in the ladder where some kind of a scythe is used to impale the woman in her genital area. What ensues most of these scenes is the disembowelment of the body of the victims. The killer then fiddles with what came out of the body. The camera usually and closely lingers on the flesh. The ritualistic manner in which these scenes take place, combining them with the way the victims are killed (by impalement), seems to imitate a rape, both physically and psychologically. Rape victims often describe a great feeling of emptiness after their traumatic experience. The disembowelment seems to represent physically this feeling and the way the killer fiddles with the remains recalls the degradation and profanation of the raped body.
Sexuality and nudity is often overbearing in horror movies, especially is recent films. A horror film seems to not be one without showing boobs or sexual intercourse. In Goblin, we get neither. Moreover, what could lead to a scene of a sexual nature is cut short or desexualize. For example, when the character of Jodie, played by Tonia Monahan, decides to change her clothes in the bathroom, the viewer, used to see female nudity in a horror movie, will expect to see breasts. However, none of that happens and the character only changes her shorts (that will later be torn by the killer). The main couples in the movie neither engage in a sexual activity or even kiss. What remains of some kind of sexuality in the movie are the murder scenes that, as I said, represent rape.
Gender and sexuality issues as social issues are nowadays very present in foreign or independent American horror movies ( A Serbian Film (2010), Anatomy from Hell (2004), Otto; or, Up with Dead People (2008) )But this analysis shows that even if a independent obscure movie of a mediocre quality can have something to say on many issues. I'm waiting for the release of Goblin on DVD, I think it deserves to have a better distribution.
In both movies(SPM and Goblin), the characters, principally the male ones, are very alike. They are mostly passive and occupy the stereotyped roles women are usually filling. This sparks new ways of interpreting the roles of both genders in horror movies. Apart from the fact that all men in Goblin are long-haired (and I even confounded the character of the "Lost hiker", played by Todd Sheets himself, with a short skirt-wearing woman at first), they act in a female manner, for a horror movie at least. Courageousness, usually showed by males, is actually more prominent in females, especially in the one who could be the easiest to be victimized, Sherry, played by Kim Alber, who is pregnant. Whilst one of the male character arduously does "kill" the goblin, it's the character of Tammy, played by Jenny Admire, that is the first one to help constructively her friends by calling for help in the police car. What is interesting to note is also the fact that the survival rate in this movie is high. Where we usually see one or two survivors in typical horror movies, in Goblin, there is actually five survivors, including three women.
Where in Slumber Party Massacre, the main character is afraid of losing her virginity, therefore projecting her fears into a driller killer (the fantastic nature of her fears are actually exploited in a less subtle manner in Slumber Party Massacre II (1987) ), in Goblin, fear of actual rape is exploited. First of all, the Goblin is a half-man, half-creature figure. It seems to be controlled by his instinct, acting in a very animalistic manner. But it could very well be a masked man. Because of that, his identity remains a secret and he could be any man, even one of the male characters. This Goblin figure becomes the symbolic rapist, that any male can become. Most of the death scenes in Goblin are similar physically and metaphorically to an actual rape. The multiple tools used by the killer imitate a penis. The most obvious reference is the death scene in the ladder where some kind of a scythe is used to impale the woman in her genital area. What ensues most of these scenes is the disembowelment of the body of the victims. The killer then fiddles with what came out of the body. The camera usually and closely lingers on the flesh. The ritualistic manner in which these scenes take place, combining them with the way the victims are killed (by impalement), seems to imitate a rape, both physically and psychologically. Rape victims often describe a great feeling of emptiness after their traumatic experience. The disembowelment seems to represent physically this feeling and the way the killer fiddles with the remains recalls the degradation and profanation of the raped body.
Sexuality and nudity is often overbearing in horror movies, especially is recent films. A horror film seems to not be one without showing boobs or sexual intercourse. In Goblin, we get neither. Moreover, what could lead to a scene of a sexual nature is cut short or desexualize. For example, when the character of Jodie, played by Tonia Monahan, decides to change her clothes in the bathroom, the viewer, used to see female nudity in a horror movie, will expect to see breasts. However, none of that happens and the character only changes her shorts (that will later be torn by the killer). The main couples in the movie neither engage in a sexual activity or even kiss. What remains of some kind of sexuality in the movie are the murder scenes that, as I said, represent rape.
Gender and sexuality issues as social issues are nowadays very present in foreign or independent American horror movies ( A Serbian Film (2010), Anatomy from Hell (2004), Otto; or, Up with Dead People (2008) )But this analysis shows that even if a independent obscure movie of a mediocre quality can have something to say on many issues. I'm waiting for the release of Goblin on DVD, I think it deserves to have a better distribution.
This needs to be higher!
BandSAboutMovies20 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I really like Todd Sheets, because he seems like someone just as willing to passionately discuss his favorite Fulci movie as he is someone ready to make something astounding like Moonchild. He may not be the biggest fan of this movie and sees a lot he could have done better - or so he says - but I had a blast watching it. It made me feel like when I was a teenager and all I cared about was reading Fangoria and driving to other towns to find mom and pop video stores with different libraries of horror movies than the ones I'd exhausted around me.
This movie is exactly what I was looking for.
The plot is simple but that's just to get the creature into our world and killing everyone he can. A farmer named Romero once wanted his crops to do better so he tried some magic and ended up with, well, a goblin. So he dropped it in a well and years later, when a young couple buys the place, they accidentally unleash it, as you do, and things go wrong for everyone and right for you, the viewer.
So yeah, I would have been 21 when this came out and that was the perfect time for me to enjoy Fulci references, heavy metal soundtracks and people just randomly showing up and trying to speak dialogue that they are ill-prepared to deliver and they still end up sounding like every art school party I ever attended with the cheapest bottle of vodka in my hand.
Now, wondering like why a goblin needs a drill to take out someone's eyeball is the kind of thing that people wonder about when they get too intellectual about movies like this. Other questions would be why is there so much genital mutilation and why do zombies just show up? These are dumb questions no one cares about. Stop asking questions. Stop making sense.
The goblin looks great, the music is pretty solid and the video quality is absolutely horrible. The guts look like real animal parts which is how they do it in Texas on productions big and small, but this was made in Kansas City. They have good barbecue in both places and I guess the sloppiness of the sauce on the meat translates to how grimy the guts look in horror films too. Why is this movie making me hungry instead of nauseated? Have I gone too far?
This was shot under a full moon with a video camera. That's as perfect as life gets.
Say no to drugs. Get high on horror!
This movie is exactly what I was looking for.
The plot is simple but that's just to get the creature into our world and killing everyone he can. A farmer named Romero once wanted his crops to do better so he tried some magic and ended up with, well, a goblin. So he dropped it in a well and years later, when a young couple buys the place, they accidentally unleash it, as you do, and things go wrong for everyone and right for you, the viewer.
So yeah, I would have been 21 when this came out and that was the perfect time for me to enjoy Fulci references, heavy metal soundtracks and people just randomly showing up and trying to speak dialogue that they are ill-prepared to deliver and they still end up sounding like every art school party I ever attended with the cheapest bottle of vodka in my hand.
Now, wondering like why a goblin needs a drill to take out someone's eyeball is the kind of thing that people wonder about when they get too intellectual about movies like this. Other questions would be why is there so much genital mutilation and why do zombies just show up? These are dumb questions no one cares about. Stop asking questions. Stop making sense.
The goblin looks great, the music is pretty solid and the video quality is absolutely horrible. The guts look like real animal parts which is how they do it in Texas on productions big and small, but this was made in Kansas City. They have good barbecue in both places and I guess the sloppiness of the sauce on the meat translates to how grimy the guts look in horror films too. Why is this movie making me hungry instead of nauseated? Have I gone too far?
This was shot under a full moon with a video camera. That's as perfect as life gets.
Say no to drugs. Get high on horror!
A far better shot-on-video effort than it has any right to be
kannibalcorpsegrinder21 August 2022
Arriving at a new house, a newlywed couple and their friends preparing to move in find that a strange demonic creature has been released from a special protective force nearby by its previous owner and must try to stay alive from the creatures' continuous attacks.
Overall, this one was quite the fun shot-on-video effort. Like most films in the style, taking into account the low-budget origins here is the most important hurdle to get over. Realizing that the nonsensical plot is filled with plot holes involving how the creature carries out a rampage without anyone noticing, the utterly ridiculous actions that focus on someone randomly running into the creature while everyone is preoccupied, or the technical aspects on display are all part of the charm. The homemade effects, repeat usage of props that come from friends of the filmmaker and trying to pass off the over-the-top reactions as logical is a fools' errand here that would be wasted on viewers looking for state-of-the-art practices or styles. That these are in play like most genre efforts means they're something to be aware of going in and are all problems to knock this down. For those with a tolerance for this kind of film, this one has a lot to like about it. Graced with a fantastic pace that moves things along quite quickly, the multitude of quick, indie-style ambush encounters here generate some solid encounters from the opening attack in the garden shed, to the attacks in the kitchen where it rips the victims to pieces in quite graphic means or managing to kill off the various interlopers across the area throughout the night. The indie-styled gore here, consisting of practical wounds or putting meat on their bodies which are pulled or ripped away as if being dismembered, all helps to enhance the enjoyment of this one. Given the highly ridiculous nature of the storyline involving the creation of the creature and how it comes to be as well as how to stop it, this one has quite a lot to enjoy overall here.
Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
Overall, this one was quite the fun shot-on-video effort. Like most films in the style, taking into account the low-budget origins here is the most important hurdle to get over. Realizing that the nonsensical plot is filled with plot holes involving how the creature carries out a rampage without anyone noticing, the utterly ridiculous actions that focus on someone randomly running into the creature while everyone is preoccupied, or the technical aspects on display are all part of the charm. The homemade effects, repeat usage of props that come from friends of the filmmaker and trying to pass off the over-the-top reactions as logical is a fools' errand here that would be wasted on viewers looking for state-of-the-art practices or styles. That these are in play like most genre efforts means they're something to be aware of going in and are all problems to knock this down. For those with a tolerance for this kind of film, this one has a lot to like about it. Graced with a fantastic pace that moves things along quite quickly, the multitude of quick, indie-style ambush encounters here generate some solid encounters from the opening attack in the garden shed, to the attacks in the kitchen where it rips the victims to pieces in quite graphic means or managing to kill off the various interlopers across the area throughout the night. The indie-styled gore here, consisting of practical wounds or putting meat on their bodies which are pulled or ripped away as if being dismembered, all helps to enhance the enjoyment of this one. Given the highly ridiculous nature of the storyline involving the creation of the creature and how it comes to be as well as how to stop it, this one has quite a lot to enjoy overall here.
Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
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