Ghoulies II

It's well documented that Charles Band loves dolls, of all shapes, sizes, and especially kinds. Some dolls, puppets, etc. The more grotesque and monstrous, though, the better he likes them.

The ghoulies of the first film are certainly given plenty of screen time, but the story is pretty basic: a carnival side show, a funhouse scare show called Satan's Den, is losing--no bleeding--money, its debt accruing to the point that the upstart son of the carnival's owner, Phillip Hardin, has decided to replace the Den with a mud rasslin' tent. Those involved in the Den need to recoup the loss and earn some money or else the show will be terminated. Phillip is one of those greedy, power-wielding pricks whose personality is flash and cash, with little substance or character, just all business and the bottom like. He's a self-important, capitalist "what's in it for me" type who is concerned with profit and profit only, just how he can reap the benefits of a company. He doesn't give a shit that those who work in the carnival are a dedicated bunch, lifers whose heart and soul (well, most of them) are in everything they do. Phillip doesn't see them as people as much as checks and balances. If you don't pull in a profit, there is no need for you. The Den is operated by an alcoholic old timer named Ned (Royal Dano), his nephew, Larry (Damon Martin, wearing the white shirt with rolled up sleeves, the earring in one ear, the jeans, you know the Marlon Brando, "Streetcar Named Desire" fashion trend of the edgy youth), and midget actor, Sir Nigel Penneyweight (Phil Fondacaro), who quotes Shakespeare and demands to be recognized as an actor not some sideshow attraction.

Dennis Paoli wrote screenplays for Stuart Gordon and some under Band's watch, contributing nothing extraordinary here, with Papa Band, Albert, directing Ghoulies II with a focus on trying not to show the hands operating the creature puppets, with a little stop motion effects allowing us to see them walk just a bit. One of the ghoulies is a bat, while another is a rat, a bald-headed monster with a mouth full of teeth the lead demon who appears on the posters for the film. One of the creatures looks like the spawn of a cat-rat, a nasty sight to behold. All of them are mostly shot close and the action involving them carefully avoiding how obviously limited their mobility is effects-wise. The Devil's Den, while looking like a cheesy carnival funhouse, is still rather a cool setting, elaborate in design; somehow, those involved in its look were able to give it a delicate balance of cheap, yet cool, definitely not an easy feat. I mean, we do get a pendulum, an electric chair, a guillotine, among other set-pieces within the Den, and its front entrance is quite an eye full. Many might associate Tobe Hooper's Funhouse with Ghoulies II, even having a double feature with the two films...a Frankenstein dummy has a mask that looks quite similar (practically identical) to the one the incest freak killer of The Funhouse wears. The violence is limited and not very graphic (a ton shot off screen) because of the inability to have the puppets and human victims on screen in full view without the picture becoming an even bigger laughing stock.

I think this little sequel really benefits from a fun cast, especially the late, great Royal Dano who just has a good ole boy charm that is infectious. He has a character who has become a pathetic drunk, once a magician now a slave to a tired funhouse show that no longer thrills contemporary 80s patrons used to movies in the cinema with the ability to deliver grislier thrills and gore, a relic from a bygone era too old fashioned to elicit much in the way of excitement. Two brothers, kids who are used to more realistic effects, find the funhouse a rather unfulfilling experience, until they see the ghoulies, immediately rushing out to tell others, soon The Den is raking in a profit, much to Phillip's surprise. He uses his power to take control of The Den, in turn, kicking out Larry and company, not even allowing them to return to their funhouse, posting a security guard with shot gun at the door.

 J. Downing has the look and timing of a yuppie scumbag who walks into company "investments", lays down the agenda on who goes and stays, often gloating on how this position gives him quite a bit of command as many are left in the ruins of his little takeovers. It is too bad we don't get to see in explicit detail the lead demon taking a giant chunk of his ass out when he sits to take a dump, the little monster inside the toilet awaiting its feast. Kerry Remsen of Pumpkinhead is Larry's love interest, one of the chorus girls for a barker, named Nicole, who helps him and Nigel try to rid the carnival of the demonic pests raising havoc. Ned gives his life trying to send them back to hell where they came from (or so he believes; Ned thinks he used a book of incantations to raise them from hell accidentally, and feels it is his responsibility to return them).

 Every type of defense against them fails because they are always able to avoid capture and the weapons of humans trying to stop them. Eventually, the ghoulies are out and about, participating is using bumper cars to run over innocents (we get to see the ghoulie and his bumper car thump-thump while running over a victim!), pulling the bolt from the car (holding a couple on a ferris wheel), causing it to fly out sending those in it to their doom, an insulting clown (sitting on one of those trap doors that sends him into a pool if a patron hits a bullseye) loses his arm, and other dangerous activities as the crowd chaotically herds in horror trying to escape from harm. Our heroes must look to Ned's book of spells to call a giant demon that eats the miniature ghoulies with relish, but soon discover that its voracious appetite doesn't just end with them; it's hungry and looks at Nigel as its next feast! That plays to a big finale where the beast eats a costume ape with a Molotov cocktail lit inside it, giving us quite an explosion.

 Many know some of the bit players who come in contact with the ghoulies, such as Sasha Jenson (Dazed and Confused; Halloween IV) and Starr Andreeff (Dance of the Damned) as the girlfriend of a smart-mouth punk in a leather jacket (it seems that leather jackets have a tendency to make youths nearing their twenties assholes), who refers to his boom box as his "tunes". Besides the principles, though, the other characters are colorless, either obnoxious or just in this to react to the ghoulies.

This was the poster I remember a giant cardboard sign advertising in a rental store as a youth.

Like other adults around my age (35), we knew all about Ghoulies II because of the giant cardboard advertisement that sat in a rental store back in the late 80s. Those are fond memories, even if such marketing was for a movie such as this. The giant demon sticking out of a toilet, I wax nostalgic.

"It broke my tunes!"

"Rats. Bats. Well, you're welcome to them! Philistines!"

"Look out! The Behemoth returns!"

"It's the fullest moon I've ever seen...it's a magic moon."