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.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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