Editorials
[It Came From the ‘80s] The Satanic Mischief of ‘Ghoulies’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
Raise your hand if you ever rented and watched Ghoulies based solely on the cover box that featured a little green goblin-like creature sporting suspenders and hanging out in a toilet. I did. Growing up, I accompanied my dad every week to the video rental store and hung out in the horror aisle while he perused the new release wall, and my child brain made selections entirely based on the cover box. There was really only one major criterion in my choices; did it have monsters? That little green monster with pointy teeth clearly indicated there would be monsters, and I really needed to know why it inhabited toilets.
Watching the film meant the first real lesson that cover boxes could be deceiving, even if that little monster did make a toilet appearance at some point in the movie (which was only added in during reshoots). More disappointing was that the little ghoulies were second fiddle to the cult plot involving lead protagonist Jonathan Graves and his seduction to the dark side by his Satanic dead father Malcolm. Even still, they were in it enough to keep me entertained and on board for the much better sequel that followed.
Released in 1985 under Charles Band’s distribution company Empire Pictures, the company’s first box office success, it was initially intended to be filmed in 3D. The complexities of dealing with 3D proved to be more difficult than anticipated, so after only two days of filming in 3D it was switched back to a 2D film. It’s a fun tidbit that explains why the characters in the movie like wearing sunglasses at night.
Ghoulies was also initially conceived as a project titled Beasties, which Band himself would have directed and the creatures to be created by Stan Winston. As things shifted, including the plot, the directorial reins were handed over to Luca Bercovici and special effects makeup and ghoulies design by John Carl Buechler. Thanks to those little monstrous puppets, Buechler deserves a lot of credit for shaping the series.
The sequel, directed by Band’s father Albert Band, and starring Royal Dano fresh off his run as Gramps in House II: The Second Story and Farmer Gene in Killer Klowns from Outer Space, placed the eponymous ghoulies as the central focus. The tone shifted firmly into humor and camp; these little demons from hell have escaped their cult masters to hang out in a carnival haunt house aptly named Satan’s Den. They high five, play carnival games, and terrorize the paying patrons until the big finale the introduces a monstrous sized demon with a voracious ghoulie appetite (a clear rubber suit, but still).
It’s fitting that the guy who created the ghoulies would return for part three, Ghoulies Go to College, to direct. Because ghoulies need a higher education too, of course. The puppets we grew to love wouldn’t return for the final sequel, Ghoulies 4, though, in a move that likely doomed future sequel potential. Between Empire Pictures distributing the earlier films, and Buechler’s aspirations to direct, there’s a fun connection between Ghoulies, Troll, and The Dungeonmaster, the latter two of which Buechler helmed. As Torok the Troll slowly takes over the apartment building young Harry Potter’s family has just moved into in Troll, a lot of the creatures appear to be recycled puppets from Ghoulies and The Dungeonmaster. Actor Phil Fondacaro is the other link between the films, too.
Ghoulies is the perfect example of how creature design and effects can transcend a film beyond its silly concept and transform it into a multi-sequel series. Clever marketing certainly helped. By critical standards, they’re not great films. But then again, they’re not meant to be taken seriously, either. We don’t really care about the humans in this series, we just want to see the ghoulies run amok.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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