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Visitors Review

Aaron1375 2012-05-21 01:47:10

What a great ad campaign can do.

This movie made a nice sum of 35 million at the box office, yet manyconsider it a poor movie at best. So how did it make this much money? Witha good ad campaign, that's how. This movie was the first small creatureattack movie to come out after the very successful Gremlins the previousyear. Critters, which most consider the better film, came out a year laterand made a lot less than this one. Then there was the famous scene of thecreature coming out of the toilet. It made it look like a Gremlin typemovie...funny with a bit of charm to it. It fooled my parents and we sawthis dog in the theater when I was ten. We knew it wasn't quite what it wasadvertised as though as soon as it started as it has a scene where a guyrips out a woman's heart. It isn't all bad though as there are some sceneshere and there that are good, but overall this one is just bad as it is notjust about little creatures, but a bunch of other satanic stuff as well asthis guy throws a party and does rituals and accidentally raises this oneevil guy. Sounds better than it is though as there are no stars in this oneand none of the actors in this one can act. You do though get to see thelittle person who played ET.

Mark Rice 2012-05-20 15:53:26

This is worth watching

I thought this movie was entertaining. Especially, if you likebeautiful girls in sexy heels and tight dresses. It truly captures 80'sfashion and hair styles and I love the 80's. The Ghoulies themselveslooked incredibly life-like with grossed-out slobber and nasty sharpteeth. However, I thought the battle between good and evil could havebeen played out over a longer period of time. This monk comes fromnowhere and saves the day in a matter of minutes. The evil guy's sonwas also drawn to the dark-side too quickly. He moves into his newmansion and begins practicing the dark arts in the same evening duringthe first party. How uncool. He yells at his guests and quits schoolthe very next day. He should have at least heard voices for a few daysfirst.

silversprdave 2012-05-15 06:26:00

Entertaining hogwash

The trouble with this movie is the puppet - like specialeffects and the mumbo-jumbo black magic that permeates theplot.The movie isn't really that bad - its humorous and entertainingprovided that you can get over the embarrassment of havingtoadmit that you actually are watching such a bunch of hogwash.I rated it a "4 of 10"

sjrobb99-997-836393 2012-05-14 16:07:56

Puppets and midgets and Michael Des Barres!

I don't know why people claim to hate this movie, because I love it todeath. As a representative of the 80's teenage puppet horror schlockgenre, it has no equal. Plus it has -- in addition to the mostgratuitous midgets to appear on screen in the entire history of midgetcinema, and I'm including "The Terror of Tiny Town" in thatgeneralization -- a fabulous, frothing, scenery-gnawing performance byMichael Des Barres, who fancied himself an actor for quite awhiledespite being continually proved wrong.The movie opens with a group of robed satanists preparing to sacrificea baby in the basement of a mansion. As the head satanist raises hisknife, a woman darts out of the crowd and shrieks "No! Not our child!"thus revealing the head satanist, Malcolm (Michael Des Barres) as thebaby's father. Malcolm gives the woman a poisonous look with hisglowing green eyes and summons puppet demons to eat her for herintransigence; in the mêlée, no one notices as Wolfgang (Jack Nance,the artist formerly known as "Eraserhead") gathers up the baby andspirits him away.Fast forward 20-something years. The baby has grown up to be Jonathan(Peter Liapis) and has inherited the mansion where he was once almostkilled on an altar and where, presumably, his mother was eaten by evilpuppets. He must not know the history of the place, though, because hemoves right on in with his girlfriend Rebecca (the cat-faced LisaPelikan) and begins to clean the place up. They appear to be collegestudents with the usual quota of "wacky" friends without whom no 80'smovie would be complete: the slutty girl, the nerd, the stupid hunk,etc.During the cleanup, Jonathan discovers a pentagram on the basementfloor and opens a trunk full of his father's satanist regalia. Thisfrees his spirit to leap headlong into the wholesale worship of evil,despite the fact that he has never shown a tendency toward black magicbefore in his life and was, up to this moment, known as a pretty decentchap.At a housewarming party, Jonathan shows his friends the basement set-upand, having ascertained that he needs seven people to actually do anyuseful evil, he chants a spell in front of them. They make fun of himand he takes it badly, but the end result -- unknown to his friends --is the summoning of a dozen ugly little demons of the sort who ate hismother. Oedipus? Can you hear me calling you, son? When Rebecca catches him swanning around the basement in satin robes,she stomps off in disgust. He woos her back, only to scare the crap outof her with some impromptu satanistic S&M action in the bedroom. Whenshe leaves again, he decides the only way to get this party started isto get him some minions. Accordingly, he zaps Rebecca with Satan mindcontrol, invites all his friends to dinner, hypnotizes them so theywon't notice the puppet monsters drooling in the soup, and "completesthe circle". When next we see his friends, they are wearing long whiterobes and sitting around the pentagram in the basement. For an amateur,Jonathan is pretty good.Suddenly there is a flash! and a bang! and two tiny, ugly creaturesappear in front of Jonathan, ready to do his bidding. Thus do we meetGrizzel and Greedigut, surely the worst movie roles ever essayed bymidget actors (Peter Risch and the enchantingly-named Tamara DeTreaux). They promise everlasting devotion and gambol off to doJonathan's bidding, while his friends, freed from their spell, wanderaround the house smoking doobies and screwing in the bushes as thedemons pick them off one at a time.Unfortunately, Johnathan reckoned without Malcolm. As the ghoulieshappily disembowel his friends, each "sacrifice" gives the spirit ofthe Decadent Marquis a little more strength. Eventually he bursts outof his grave on the mansion grounds and strides into the house --rotting as he goes -- to do battle with the punk kid he should havedispatched years ago in the basement. Hijinks ensue, Jonathan defeatsMalcolm at his own game (much to the detriment of poor Wolfgang), hisdead friends come back to life, and everyone flees the mansion at arun. Predictably (because there were sequels) the back seat ofJonathan's car is revealed to be full of puppet ghoulies.A couple of things. First, who was Peter Liapis and why didn't I knowabout him before? He's really hot. I mean, really, really hot. Second,Lisa Pelikan has a place in my heart because she appeared in theschlockiest ever Movie of the Week, "I Want To Keep My Baby!" withMariel Hemingway. Third, Michael Des Barres was NOT an actor, andshould never have let his wife write "I'm With The Band" because thewhole time I was watching Ghoulies I was thinking, you slept with aPlaster Caster? The Hell? On second thought, maybe this movie wasn't so great after all.

ctomvelu1 2012-05-11 11:17:28

Puppets with teeth

A surprise hit in the horror film-drenched 1980s that spawned severalsequels, GHOULIES was one ii a long line of puppet movies from the oldEmpire Pictures, the same folks who would soon bring us RE-ANIMATOR. InGHOULIES, 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 hisbidding. Soon enough, he has them going after his enemies. The ghouliesthemselves are hand puppets that look pretty ferocious for handpuppets. The conjurer, played by an insufferable actor named PeterLiapus, has been possessed by a dark spirit that resides in the oldhouse. A little too much time is spent on the guy and his conjuring,but once the ghoulies get going, watch out! This comedy horror filmstands out among many similar flicks from that era. It was obviouslyinspired by GREMLINS, but in the end it in no way resembles thatnow-forgotten classic. Worth a look if you can buy the idea of puppetmonsters. PUPPETMASTER had the same theme and look, and was also anEmpire Pictures job, if I am not mistaken.

2012-05-10 22:53:40

one of the worst flicks of all time

THIS WAS BORING AS HELL I ACTUALLY FELL ASLEEP HALFWAY AND WOKED UP 30 MINUTES LATER SAW THAT A GHOULIE WAS IN THE TOILET AND FELL BACK ASLEEP AVOID AVOID AVOID

darkneox119 2012-05-10 03:01:33

this movie blows

Ghoulies should be lost in the garbage because it is so bad. It is aboutsome stupid curse or something by a dark cult that is placed upon a house.Aboy boy grows up to move into his house and be obsessed by a lame magicbookand talks with stupid puppets and goofy midgets. First off, the guy lookslike he's 40 and he's trying to front like a college kid. The effects arecheesey and possibly the best effect of this movie is the video box causenothing in the movie resembles it. Unwatchable Zero stars

superprincevince 2012-05-09 10:15:58

Only for die hard 80s addicts

Having read a number of positive reviews on this movie, let me bebrutally honest and say that this is a pretty poor effort. The plot isnonsensical, the acting, though not all awful, is shoddy, the specialeffects look very dated nowadays, and the ending is truly ridiculous!I'm not even sure why the movie is called 'Ghoulies' seeing as they doso little throughout the film! Okay, for nostalgia fans of the 1980sthere are some awful haircuts, and amusing cloakroom choices, but thatis not a reason to watch a film. This spends huge amounts of timebuilding up to the ending, which is a total let down. honestly, howfilms like this got made I don't know - surely the actors must havebeen sat on the set thinking, 'Why am I talking to a moving piece ofsnot' (which is in large part all that the ghoulies look like - aboutas menacing as my nan without her teeth in - no hold on, she's farscarier!). Reviews might compare this film to Gremlins, but they are ina totally different ball-park - don't watch this movie, watch Gremlinsinstead... or even 'Critters' for that matter.

evil_dustmite 2012-05-07 14:58:37

finger sandwiches are good

this cheesey corny nonscary movie just makes you laugh instead of hiding in fear. qualtiy 80s horror movie. and guess what? i own ghoulies 1&2. haaa haaaa lol. im sure yall dont care. anyways, my fav. but i like the second one better.

tfrizzell 2012-05-07 04:12:23

Typical Inane Mess From the 1980s.

Terrible little would-be-horror film about a young couple who inherit aspooky mansion and conjure up the titled beings using black magic spellswith their dim-witted friends. The film is cheap, dark, ugly, poorlywrittenand horribly acted. However the movie would be a minor box office successand spawn several equally bad sequels. Turkey (0 stars out of5).

2012-05-02 20:44:53

why did they make this movie?

Ghoulies was one of the stupid movie I ever saw. Please don't make a ghoulies 5! I thought this movie would be like gremlins but no! It's about dark magic and stuff.BOO!!!

Scarecrow-88 2012-05-02 12:16:11

Ghoulies

Bottom-of-the-barrel film-making has Jonathan(Peter Liapis), the son ofa powerful Satan worshiper, possessed by his dead father's spirit afterhe inherits the man's estate. Everyone, from his girlfriendRebecca(Lisa Pelikan)to his other seven friends..all will fall prey tothe ghoulies, a nasty group of puppet monsters. Jonathan, and his greeneyes, will seemingly bring his father's life back through the conjuringof spells and supposed sacrifices, but really figuring out what thehell is going on is anyone's guess since it's obvious the ones behindthe making of this so-called film seemed to have no idea. The storyitself is stupid, rife with obnoxious, idiotic characters like Jonathanwho act incredibly moronic. Jack Nance, oh boy, gets handed one rottenrole as the man who somehow rescues Jonathan(he and the infant's motherwho takes his place)from being sacrificed to Satan by Malcolm, thefather. There are two other demonic servants for which Jonathanconjures up that do his bidding as well.The film is loaded with silly death sequences and it's blatantlyobvious that the ghoulies are puppets guided around by puppeteers sothe film has no scares whatsoever. This film will only apply to thosewho adore the worst kind of bad cinema. Horrible, horrible horror film.May be of interest to those who watch the long-running detective seriesLAW & ORDER:SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT since one of this film's victims isMariska Hargitay..heck, everyone has to start somewhere even if it's inthis hunk of garbage.

Brandt Sponseller 2012-05-01 22:22:01

A must-see for fans of campy, cheesy horror

As an infant, Jonathan Graves is absconded from his father, Malcolm(Michael Des Barres), the leader of a black magic cult, when Malcolmalmost sacrifices Jonathan in a ritual. 25 years later, Jonathan (PeterLiapis) learns that his father has passed away and he has inherited hisestate, including a large home that is now in disrepair. He moves therewith Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan), and soon after begins acting strangely,instinctively following his father's footsteps.If you're a fan of campy, cheesy horror films, as I am, Ghoulies is amust see. Everyone else should probably avoid this film. This is aCharles Band production. Charles Band means Empire/Full Moon, andEmpire/Full Moon is almost a guarantee of some campiness/cheesiness.Not many of Band's films, however, approach the sublime ridiculousnessof Ghoulies. We're almost in Troma territory here, but Ghoulies isplayed much more seriously than the typical Troma production, and inthis case, it works to increase the entertainment value.Since Ghoulies was made in 1984, it features most of the mid-80s horrorfilm clichés. Shortly after moving in, Graves throws a party, so we getbig hair, tight miniskirts, skinny ties, recreational drug use, and soon. We also get our eventual fodder for our body count, although inthis case, it is worth noting that writer/director Luca Bercoviciintroduces a "twist" near the end that significantly decreases the bodycount.Liapis is the focus of the film, though, and without him, Ghouliesmight be more boring than campy. His absurd overacting, often in soloscenes, takes up a majority of screen time. Still, just the briefpresence of two demonic minions, Grizzel and Greedigut, would alonemake Ghoulies a must see, especially given how everyone continues theirattempt to play the film seriously when they appear. And I haven't evenmentioned the other ridiculous minions, which are obviously puppets and"dead props" (Band seems to love puppets), and were the beginning of ahorror industry attempt to cash in on the success of Gremlins (alsoseen later in such films as the Critters series and Munchies). We alsoget zombies, a Star Wars-like battle of wizards, sunglasses as a majorplot device, an evil doll, an attack with a 5 foot long tongue, andsome probably unintentional homoerotic subtext. Who could pass all ofthat up? The film gets a 7 out of 10 from me--an 8 out of 10 would havebeen in order, except for the inexplicable absence of gratuitousnudity.Note that while Ghoulies is tagged "comedy/horror", it's very unlikelythat it was intended to be a comedy in any way. Even if Band appliedthe label to the film prior to release, it was probably because even herealized how ludicrous the film turned out. At any rate, it would bemisguided to watch it expecting intentional humor.

callanvass 2012-05-01 07:04:18

piece of cow dung

piece of cow dung that is so boring i fell asleep and had to watch it in 3parts and the Ghoulies look awful horrible acting sleep inducing dialogueand just plain awful all around please i am pleading with you dont rentthisturkey BOMB Out of 5

lartronic 2012-04-30 10:55:45

A complete and total waste of time.

I can't believe some people actually like this! This was one of thestupidest, most boring films I have ever seen! Not one second of it wasactually interesting or entertaining. The filmmakers must have had somemoney to waste, because I don't think anyone would actually believe thistobe a worthwhile effort. Geez, just plain awful.

GimboTheGhoulie 2012-04-29 22:17:49

They'll Get You In The End!

Ghoulies is one of those movies that is just weird. When I first sawthis when I was a kid I found it to be very weird. 10 years later it'sstill an odd movie, but a great odd movie. You've got little ghoulies,midgets, and an ugly undead looking crazy zombie guy. The specialeffects are great and nothing looks cheap. The ghoulies are very wellmade puppet creatures. Some of them were pretty creepy looking. Onescene that really scared me as a kid was the part when this lady'stongue wraps around this guy. It's a great movie though and just weird.You'll laugh a lot at this movie too. It's mostly about this guy namedJonathan that moves in his dad's old house and becomes possessed thenunleashes these little demons and ghoulies. Did I mention there areeven midgets lol. If you enjoyed Ghoulies I highly recommend you checkout its three sequels they are ghoultastic! I give Ghoulies a 10/10

Kelsey Zsido 2012-04-27 04:17:07

The Best

Probably one of the best old films I have ever seen. The cheesy special effects, and the poor way that the ghoulies would move made me laugh so hard I cried. It reminds me of a Monty Python film. It has no point, is very poorly put together, and amazingly funny! A must see for all Monty Python/Kung Pow lovers.

slayrrr666 2012-04-26 11:29:36

80s cheese-fest, nothing more

"Ghoulies" is a classic example of prime 80s cheese.**SPOILERS**Having inherited a new house, Jonathan, (Peter Liapis) and RebeccaGraves, (Lisa Pelikan) decide to throw a party to celebrate theoccasion, and invite friends Robin, (Charene Cathleen) Donna, (MariskaHargitay) Dick, (Keith Joe Dick) and Mark, (Ralph Seymour) to do so. Asthe party goes on, they decide to start playing games and eventuallyfind an old spell book that allows them to perform a Satanic ritual,but are cut off before they can complete it. As they spend more timetogether and she notices how different he's been acting since hisinterest in the Black Arts has escalated, she learns of his plot tounleash a swarm of demonic beings upon them, and when their guestsbecome the victims of their vicious attacks, they try to find a way ofdealing with the deadly creatures and their true master.The Good News: There was some good stuff with this one. Perhaps one ofthe best parts is the fact that this one is so cheesy, it's hard toreally feel bad for it. From the look of the creatures, which rangefrom frog-like things to lizard-styled and several other rathercool-looking designs that are portrayed with really fake-lookingpuppetry just adds a charm to everything that makes it really hard tostay terribly negative for too long. Coupled with the overall feel andtone of the actions in here, this one just has a special 80s-esquecheesy charm about it that it makes for a fun time for those who enjoythose kinds of films. Another big plus is that there's some creepyimages here and there to give it an atmosphere which is missing fromthe cheesier moments and makes for some fun times. The opening séancescene with the cult is really good, due to the actions they take andhow they go about them, from targeting a mother and how they stalk heris really good. The resurrection of the creatures is also ratherwell-done, as they're done in a creepy basement and filled with allsorts of great images, from them coming to life and how they interactwith the surroundings and each other is pretty nice. The creatures getone big rampage through the house as they knock off the guests, andthat is perhaps the highlight since it's where they get into action andcan actually do some damage, which makes them look better and makes forsome creepy moments as they play around in the mansion. That's precededby a nice graveyard segue into it makes it all the better and reallyinteresting. That it's also the longest scene in the film is of nosurprise, which makes it so good because it has a chance to let looseand really go, which doesn't happen often. Also quite creepy is adisappearing-doll-gag that, while clichéd, does what it needs and doesit well. The last good plus is the finale, which is part cheese andpart fun, as it's a magic battle that takes place, which allows forsome pretty good action when it needs it. These here are the film'sgood parts.The Bad News: This one here is pretty problematic and bereft of severalflaws. One of the biggest here is the film's undeniable 80s-era lookand feel, which is very beneficial towards calling it cheesy. Thecharacters are all prime candidates for this, in look, appearance andoverall behavior, and they're all a big part of this, but the reasonwhy it comes here is due to the creatures. They are so obviouslyplastic puppets being manipulated by wires around the set since theylook very haggardly, display no real awareness of being in the scenerequired, and then there's their overall look. From the designs chosenhere, they look incredibly fake and quite obviously like puppets thatthere's nothing which sets them apart from dolls and other such figuresout there, and it's quite disheartening to see them. Another issue withthis one is the fact that this is incredibly short, barely lasting overan hour and not even cracking a hour and twenty minutes of runningtime. This is far too short to be of anything important, since it'sover quite quickly and without much of anything to really get intobefore that point, and as such there's a real feeling of disappointmenthere since it's so early into the film that this one just sort of stopswithout warning, and it's really jagged and noticeable. Another reallybig flaw in here is that the film just takes so long to get to thetitular creatures that it's nearly forever that we get to see them,since the beginning is filled up with the family's dinner party antics,which aren't in the least bit fun or exciting and just prolong the filmout even more. This one is just as bad on the other end, as the finalehardly features them at all and takes a back-seat to the magic-basedspecial effects. That is certainly fun, but they take away from thefact that it's a creature feature, and with the creatures appearinglate into the film and then having nothing to do but witness the finalewithout participating, it's almost as though they were an afterthoughtin their own movie, and therefore it's hard to take them as realthreats. That is the film's biggest flaw, and part of why this onefalls.The Final Verdict: As a true example of pure 80s cheese, this one ispretty good but as a horror film, it's not all that great because ofthe cheesy effects. Recommended viewing for those with a taste forthese kinds of films, while those interested should check it out andthe ones who aren't into it should heed caution.Rated PG-13: Violence, some Language and a mild Sex Scene

kclipper 2012-04-26 16:54:48

Silly nonsense from Empire Pictures' 80's knock-offs

This is one of the first of the low-budget direct-to-video from CharlesBand's Empire Pictures of the 1980s' VHS craze, and its about as sillyand illogical as anything you'll see from that era. Peter Liapis (KyleMclachlan's evil twin perhaps?) moves into an old house, and in hisattempt to restore it, he becomes obsessed with ceremonial black magic.In his rituals he manages to conjure up personifications of the demons;Vepar, Procell and Astaroth in the form of bogus-looking, puppet-likegoblins. This is hopelessly contrived and laughable as the ghastlydwarfs hang around and wreck havoc on a group of unlikable, snobbishidiots after Liapis fulfills his final master ritual. Its typicalCharles Band stuff as the cast takes the ridiculousness seriously, andone can only suspect that the idea was loosely ripped off from theincomparable hit, 'Gremlins' Its fun if you like to watch slimy,rubbery toys attack people, and some will get a laugh out of the mostabsurd and incoherent of plot-lines.

Prolox 2012-04-26 01:54:36

I loved this movie!

Young JOHNATHAN GRAVES inherits a mansion from his deceased parents, onhis 18th birthday. Moving in with his girlfriend, they throw a party tocelebrate. On the night of the party, Johnathan eager to find out moreabout his parents whom he never knew, decides to get his remainingfriends together after the party & do a ritual. Within time, Johnathansummons upon two ELVES whom are bound to serve Johnathan as payment fortheir release. Going in even deeper to the black arts, Johnathansummons upon evil little, slime drenched creatures called GHOULIES.Hoping to gain unimaginable powers, Johanthan performs another ritual,that resurrects his evil Father back from the grave & once out, turnsthe Ghoulies against Johnathan & orders them to murder his friends whomare staying at the mansion for the night. Now Johnthan has to find awayto put his old man back in the grave or die trying. Funny, slimy horrorhit, is a fun ride, coming from B movie king CHARLES BAND & company.Made to cash in on the success of GREMLINS, GHOULIES should please fanswhom understand it's sense of humor. It's worth a look! Followed bythree sequels starting with GHOULIES II **** (stars)