In this hilarious "Gremlins" rip-off, a bunch of little green monsters go wild in attacking horny teenagers (whether or not we see them getting it on, you know that they're doing it!). The poster shows a ghoulie emerging from a toilet, and apparently some critics said that the movie belonged there. I wish to assert that "Ghoulies" is so hilariously stupid, that it deserves as much recognition as "Citizen Kane".

Anyway, this is one of those cheap horror flicks that you just gotta love. Aside from being an obvious "Gremlins" rip-off, the clown was clearly a "Poltergeist" rip-off. Thus, the movie's a really good time. Starring Mariska Hargitay (yes, Jayne Mansfield's daughter, now of the "Law & Order" spin off) in her debut.

Yes, you can call him Dick. And I still assert that the ghoulie on the cover resembles Truman Capote, except green.

A surprise hit in the horror film-drenched 1980s that spawned several sequels, GHOULIES was one ii a long line of puppet movies from the old Empire Pictures, the same folks who would soon bring us RE-ANIMATOR. In GHOULIES, a young man moves into an old mansion and before you know it, he is attempting to conjure up a bunch of hellish critters to do his bidding. Soon enough, he has them going after his enemies. The ghoulies themselves are hand puppets that look pretty ferocious for hand puppets. The conjurer, played by an insufferable actor named Peter Liapus, has been possessed by a dark spirit that resides in the old house. A little too much time is spent on the guy and his conjuring, but once the ghoulies get going, watch out! This comedy horror film stands out among many similar flicks from that era. It was obviously inspired by GREMLINS, but in the end it in no way resembles that now-forgotten classic. Worth a look if you can buy the idea of puppet monsters. PUPPETMASTER had the same theme and look, and was also an Empire Pictures job, if I am not mistaken.

GHOULIES was, I think, the first rip-off to come out after the success of GREMLINS. Many, many others followed, many of them stretching out into series of their own: we had CRITTERS, MUNCHIES, LITTLE DEVILS: THE BIRTH and many more besides, each of them films about ugly little monsters doing their best to hurt or kill people. In fact, producer Charles Band would go on to riff on this topic time and again with his Empire/Full Moon production banners; we had the likes of DOLLS, PUPPET MASTER and many more besides, but GHOULIES was there first. Does that mean it's any good? The answer is yes and no.

Fans expecting the quality of the Joe Dante film, a decent script, and intelligence should look elsewhere. This is a film that has none of that. What it does have is a low budget, some cheesy actors and the kind of special effects that have dated badly by today's Hollywood standards. It's a campy '80s horror film complete with those laser-eye special effects that were so popular after the debut of light sabers, and more bad acting than you can shake a stick at. It's a film where all the clichés are present and correct, from the assembled weirdos and nerds who made up the cast, to the spooky old house, the Satanist lurking in the basement and much more besides. The ghoulies themselves are almost incidental to the story, appearing in a handful of scenes as the minions of a black magician out to bump off the innocent teenagers who've gathered for the party from hell.

Although this is a film aimed squarely at kids, it's a pretty unpleasant ride with some cheap gore effects and evidence of heavy cutting, so one can only wonder what the uncut version would have been like. I enjoyed the look of the ghoulies, which were animated by John Carl Buechler, even though it's obvious that they were made on a budget, and at least the movie is fast paced, running through the usual clichés at speed. A few notable actors pop up, like Jack Nance (ERASERHEAD) as an old guy with a hidden secret and Mariska Hargitay (daughter of Mickey) as a pretty potential victim. There's a brief turn for scream queen Bobbie Bresee and a couple of evil dwarfs, although I do find it slightly repulsive when dwarfs are cast as evil folk purely due to their size, although I suppose their presence is played for laughs here and they are quite sympathetic.

Anyway, folk who watch this know what to expect, and as a trip down memory lane it serves as a fitting reminder of just how cheesy and campy the 1980s really were for horror films. Not a great film by any means, this is, however, quite a bit of fun and it did extraordinarily well at the box office, which meant that three sequels followed.