Day 21: Ghoulies / Ghoulies II

Ghoulies is your typical boy - born - to -Satanists story, with Papa wanting to make him into a sacrifice and Mama thinking that's probably not the best idea she's heard this week:

She puts some kind of amulet on him that makes it impossible for Papa to touch him without getting some kind of electrical shock, so Papa orders Junior to be taken from his sight, and he's rescued by fellow Satanist and caretaker of the family's property, Wolfgang (played by the late great Jack Nance).

Then, boom, we're treated to a voice over from Wolfgang saying he only felt comfortable bringing Junior back years later after his father 'suffered a horrible death'.

Which leads to all kinds of questions regarding where Junior's been, who raised him, etc, - but this is the 80's, man! Who gives two craps about the plot! It's time for a PARTY!

Calvacade of 80's Awesomeness:


Pretty soon all Junior wants to do is hang around the house, paint weird symbols on the floor and do rituals and stuff. Must be in the blood, because he's pretty nonchalant when he manages to wrangle some lil demons from the other side. And I do mean 'lil'.


Do you think it might have been a budgetary thing?

Later he decides that the lil' demons aren't enough, so he calls in the big guns:
Oh YEAH.
(This was also the point that Papa Cash came in the living room, looked at the TV, looked at me (my sickly self curled up on the couch with cats and blankets) and said, 'Napping to bad movies today?' LOL

And soon we find ourselves having another party - a sunglasses party, it seems.

Getting down with the Git Down:

And then things progress from there, with the partygoers turning into Ghoulie Chow and Papa joining us from beyond the grave:

I wasn't scared by Ghoulies when I was a kid, but I was fond of it. I have to admit that it hasn't exactly held up through the years- it's more amusing to me as a time capsule of the 80's than anything else. There are some fun things to be seen here - the cameo by Bobbie Bresee (watch out for that crazy tongue action!), the goofy guests, the over the top performance by Michael DesBarres as dead Papa, - and I'm always a sucker for good old fashioned Devil raisin'.

I didn't remember being overly impressed with the special effects when I was a kid - even then I thought the Ghoulies could have been improved - but I was surprised just how kind of crappy they are.

The Ghoulies are slightly improved in Ghoulies II - which I ended up watching just because it came packaged with Ghoulies I. I just assumed I had seen it at some point - but I didn't remember this 'Ghoulies Join the Carnival' kooky thing. However, I am a sucker for movies that take place at the carnival (Freaks, The Funhouse, She -Freak, etc) so it was somewhat amusing for me from that perspective.

The Ghoulies hitch a ride on a bus called 'Satan's Playground' which is the haunted house attraction on the carnival. They hide out and for a while become part of the attraction itself, which the patrons actually enjoy and think is just part of the show. Sales increase and for a while, all is well.
The Ghoulies apparently like it too:
Ghoulies High-FIVE!!!

But nothing good lasts forever, and eventually the Ghoulies get ticked off and quit playin' nice. Then we have the you-knew-it-was-coming wacky rampage through the carnival. Ghoulie HiJinks for Everyone!!!!

Ghoulies II wasn't awful - it's nothing I'd buy by itself and I probably would never have watched it if it weren't on the B-side of Ghoulies I.
I'm certainly not dying to check out the next episode in the Ghoulies story: Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College (!) It goes without saying that Ghoulies IV is probably not going to be in my DVD player anytime soon either. I'll just have to live with the unknown......

Going back to my couch,
Mother Firefly

Day 20: Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Even though I watch this film every October, this wasn't what I had planned on doing today. But since I ended up coming down with whatever Papa Cash had last weekend (and is still getting over), I didn't do a whole lot of anything today. Drinking juice and watching H3 was really all I wanted to do.


I love this movie - it's so flawed but it's also so FUN.

I'm too tired for a full review - instead I'll just touch on some of the things I adore about this film and why.

Let us explore its awesomeness, shall we?


1. Tom. Tom Atkins in a lab coat. Yum.



2. Creepy F**kin' Masks.



3. Robots! That bleed orange!


4. THAT dang song. You know you love it!


5. Creepy staring townspeople. (Check out Shamrock Savings!)


6. Going undercover as a married couple so they can investigate the mask factory!


7. And then taking going undercover a little too seriously.......
"If you'd feel more comfortable, I could sleep in the car.....be better than this floor, anyway."

"Where do you want to sleep, Dr Challis?'

"That's a dumb question, Miss Grimbridge."



8. The announcement of the 6 oclock curfew. (time to take yer kittens in!)


9. Don't stick that bobby pin in the damn mask holy shit cut it out cut it out


told ya so.


10. Take this mask - it's been through FINAL PROCESSING.


Don't believe me? Take a look:


11. Yep, that's one big chunk of Stonehenge you're looking at. You wouldn't BELIEVE how they got it there! Nope, you sure wouldn't.....in fact, it's so unbelieveable, we're just not going to tell you at all....


12. Sequence that you shouldn't think too hard about:
Watch the magic pumpkin!


My shamrock is glowing and my head feels all funny...


The snakes are scary and all, but the real killing power lies in the crickets and roaches:


BEST. REACTION. TO. AN. EVIL-TAKE-OVER-THE-WORLD-PLAN. EVER!!!


13. This set of shots:


14. Weird backwards partially tied down arm somehow manages to whip the mask...


right on top of the camera...PERFECTLY.


15. Yay! You did a good job defeatin' me and all.


16. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


17. Pretend wifey turns out to be a Real Robot.




18.
Realizing today (after seeing this film fifty times) that if this had actually happened when I was a kid, I would have never been in danger of putting on one of these masks and having bugs and snakes eat my head.

Because I would have asked for one, and my mom would have said they were too expensive and " I am going to make your costume and you will be Wonder Woman and you will have HUMONGOUS fake boobs. Even though you are only eight."


True Story.

Ten more days till Halloween,
Mother Firefly

Day 19: Return to Sleepaway Camp

I heart the HELL out of the Sleepaway Camp films. I try to watch them every summer and I was really excited to hear that the director/writer of the original, Robert Hiltzik, was bringing back the series. (He also wrote part II and III). After all, it wasn't a remake, and I thought it was a series that had a decent shot of adding another film that would fit in with the first three.

Then it came out - and the word I heard wasn't good. added it to my Netflix and had planned on streaming it forever.

I guess I figured after Halloween II, it couldn't be any worse - and if it really sucked, I figured I'd just turn it off and pick something else.

But I ended up liking it - well, for the most part.

I thought it fit in well with the spirit of the first three films - the kills were weird with a touch of humor, and it was nice to see the return of characters such as Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) and Ricky (Johnathan Tiersten).
Ricky. Still angry. Still delivering every line like it was poison. I LOVE IT.
We still get cheesy special effects:
That somehow, in a movie like this, don't take away from the film, they just add to the fun.

One thing that's hard for me to review, and that's whether or not the identity of the killer is as transparent as it was to me- and whether or not that's on purpose. Unfortunately I knew a couple of spoilers that made it pretty obvious as to what was going on. We're also thrown the requisite 'red herring' as to who the killer might be - but when you compare that person's body type to the real killer (dressed in black, face hidden) it's painfully obvious that those two are not the same person. I couldn't tell if that was done with a purposeful sense of humor - or just a huge oversight on the part of the filmmakers.

The only real bone I have to pick with the movie is this dude:
That would be Alan (right) played by Michael Gibney. He's the kid everyone picks on - and I do mean everyone - including counselors. I would imagine we're supposed to feel some kind of empathy for this character - as we did for Angela in the first Camp.

But whereas Angela was a sad, withdrawn scapegoat for the mean kids - Alan is just a little creep. He bullies the smaller kids, he sasses the counselors, he plays mean tricks on everyone - and when he's called out on it, he whines and throws a tantrum. In short, he's an Asshole. Which makes it pretty hard to be sympathetic towards him when the other kids (and counselors) give him shit (even though they probably cross the line a couple of times). Was I supposed to hate him? Was I supposed to feel like he was just a misunderstood, socially inept, isolated kid?

Oh well. I still enjoyed the movie and I think it's a good addition to the first three. I see that Sleepaway Camp: The Reunion is being planned for a 2010 release, also written/directed by Hiltzik. No info is given except for this:

Following the events of Return to Sleepaway Camp, "Reunion" focuses on the long-awaited return of Aunt Martha as well as Ricky and Angela Baker.

YES! Aunt Martha ROCKS. You can click on the picture to watch the first ten minutes of Sleepaway Camp (Aunt Martha shows up around 6:15) and revel in her awesomeness:
Goodness, no. That won't do at all!

-Mother Firefly