Ghoulies

Laughs and seriousness are both in this movie, I think. It holds the attention but demands complete suspension of logic. A young man and his girlfriend move into an man's old mansion home, where he becomes possessed by a need to control ancient demons. This does remind me a lot of Ghoulies II. The comparisons are obvious, and just like that film, I like it enough, but I don't think it's great or all that really good. I happen to know places and people, some that might pass for the world in Ghoulies. That said, the directing, music, editing, etc. are not focused on at all. If you can find it on DVD or Bluray for under $7, buy it, but it won't be worth much more than that to you because it's a bit outdated.

This movie was made by Charles Band, before he retreated into bad direct to video and then straight to DVD movies, he did theatrical releases. This film means to capitalize on the popularity of "Gremlins" by showing small, mischievous puppets doing terrible things to people. Only two problems. Not as much money for the animatronics, so they really looked more like cheap puppets, and a plot that made not a lick of sense. A baby is saved from a Satanic cult, and grows up to inherit the house of the cult leader. He then proceeds to repeat Dad's ritual magic, summoning small demons to do his bidding. Look for a young Mariska Hargitay of "Law and Order:SVU Fame", playing one of the Interchangeable Big-Haired Bimbos the monsters proceed to pick off. I'm sure she's really proud to have that on her resume.

Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) inherits his Satanist father's mansion. He throws a party and starts conjuring up Ghoulies, which are sort of demonic goblin things. This is a garbage Gremlins knock-off with no humor, charm, or entertainment value. The best thing about it is that it has one of the coolest movie posters of the 1980's, with the Ghoulie coming up out of the toilet. It's just not a fun movie at all. It's nasty and cheap. Avoid this mess. See Gremlins instead. Or you can just skip this one and watch the better Ghoulies part 2. But yeah, Gremlins is better than that too. So just watch Gremlins or even Critters over this dreck.