Ghoulies

Ghoulies (1985)

Runtime: 81 minutes

Directed by: Luca Bercovici

Starring: Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, various random actors, plus Jack Nace… for only a few scenes

From: Empire Pictures

Featuring both the best and worst breakdancing ever committed to celluloid.

This Charles Band production another film viewed years ago where only parts of it were seen. No, not almost 30 years ago like Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, but it was before joining Letterboxd in early 2013 (!) so I am happy to discuss this now, even if the movie is low-budget poppycock. It wasn’t the plan going in to see many horror-comedies this Spooky Season but I can’t complain that’s the path I ended up on. Not all the requests for films to be seen will be fulfilled-that’ll be fulfilled next fall at the latest.

A baby is saved from a Satanic sacrifice (done by his father!) by Jack Nance; baby Jonathan grows up, inherits his late dad’s estate, and falls under the occult spell. Oh, and the titular Greml… excuse me, Ghoulies occasionally appear. The movie is utter nonsense; Jonathan and his gal Becky move into the house and they have an 80’s party where out of nowhere, Jon decides to conduct a ritual in the spooky basement.

However, what REALLY came out of nowhere the first viewing all the years ago: early on, the movie suddenly cuts to a goofball character breakdancing. Note that this party is lily-white and this dude Mike especially so; perhaps “having a seizure” is a better descriptor of his dancing! I uproariously laughed then and still did so now. The others are around him in a circle, cheering him on as if his cutting a rug was actually good. There was plenty that amused me this time, from the presence of a young Mariska Hargitay in a supporting role to a weirdo that calls himself TOAD BOY & a lead dude that looked like a Brundlefly combination of Kyle McLachlan & Harvey Keitel… or Kyle and Martin Donovan, to steal a line from a mutual.

The movie is never all that scary-that presumably wasn’t the point. Sure, it is a bit chilling to see a goofball guy easily be seduced by dark forces and for a woman to be controlled by being hypnotized but there are plenty of comedic moments… in case you couldn’t tell from hearing about a random breakdancing scene. They did find a great spooky-looking mansion in Hollywood to film at-The Wattles Mansion, famous enough to have its own Wiki page. The puppets & other effects from John Carl Buechler and others were good and helped make Ghoulies fun. Just don’t scrutinize the plot too hard.

Yes, I know this has three sequels. There’s not any desire to check those out-still, never say never.