Review of Ghoulies (1985) by Magill F — 01 Mar 2009

This movie is well-known for its poster art of a ghoulie popping out of the toilet, but that scene pretty much takes up a whole five seconds of screen time and was a last-minute insert by the filmmakers; apparently, they did not have the best communication with the marketing people and had to shoot this extra insert after sneak preview audiences wondered why the toilet scene they saw in the poster wasn't in the finished film.

In fact, for a film called "Ghoulies", the ghoulies really don't DO an awful lot except stand around in the background laughing; the creatures were clearly designed as a cheap cash-in on the success of "Gremlins", but pretty much play second fiddle to an uninteresting storyline about black magic and conjuring up demonic forces (along with a pair of midgets, who actually contribute more to the plot than the ghoulies do!).

The film is hilariously bad and has some camp value, but the misuse of their title creatures is horribly disappointing; this is one of those rare horror flicks that contain obnoxious, unlikable characters and doesn't even give the audience the pleasure of seeing them die horrible deaths!