Ghoulies [The Original] was a weird movie that had no business really being made. So they made a sequel and well… then there were two Ghoulies movies.
Picking up some unknown period of time after the events of the first Ghoulies movie, a man is being chased through town. He holds in his arms a undulating, cloth bag that sounds like it has some sort of living thing inside it. He is being pursued by people dressed all in red while holding clubs. The unknown man quickly ducks inside a closed gas station garage. As the men in red move further into town and away from him, he steps up to a (comically) large vat of “very corosive” and smoking liquid in the middle of the room. After saying a prayer he drops the bag into the drum. Thinking that his troubles are over, he lets his guard down only to have himself knocked into the liquid.
A truck hauling items for the local fair/circus is heading down the highway. Emblazoned on the side of the truck is “Satan’s Den” the name of the house of horrors in the show. The driver, Larry, and his Uncle, Ned, are trying to get their truck to set up in the next town before the show opens in the morning. The truck is having some mechanical issues and has to pull over in the very same station that the unnamed man just met his untimely end. As they attempt to make repairs, four small creatures emmurge from the vat and sneak their way into the back of the truck.
After a long trip in a broken truck, Larry and Uncle Ned arrive on site to set up their attraction for the evenings festivities. That same day the son of the circus’ owner “P. Harding” has arrived with them. He brings news that unless they come up with a load of money the entire circus will have to shut down or be bought out to continue. Uncle Ned and Larry scramble to find something, anything, that will bring in paying customers. Little do they know that a new attaction is about to open up inside their own. And it will be more popular than they could have ever imagined.
Gremlins came out, and everyone wanted to make a “small monsters” movie of their own to jump on the money train. The difference is that Gremlins was good, and had heart. These knock-off films, Ghoulies, Critters, and even Hobgoblins, are just out to ride the coat-tails of a movie well out of their league. The first Ghoulies was okay but I still don’t think it ever deserved a sequel, let alone FOUR sequels.
There is so much of this film that made me laugh in ways that were probably not intentional. From the over-the-top antics of the “teens” in the film to the way that the score attempts to put feeling into scenes just after or just before a rubber hand-puppet attempts to murder severl people. To be honest, I was only half paying attention to it at any time. I probably should have watched closer, but really, it didn’t warrent that kind of love. I know there are folks out there that think all FIVE of these movies are great, and maybe in a different frame of mind I might too. I just don’t think they are personally worth my time.
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