Ghoulies II

Royal Dano ("Go back to the hell that spawned you!") is Uncle Ned, a sweaty old drunk who operates a spook house called "Satan's Den" at a traveling carnival with his teen grandson Larry (Damon Martin) and dwarf sidekick Sir Nigel (Phil Fondacaro). When an @$$hole businessman takes over and threatens to close them down, Ned uses a satanic book of magic to call up five little mutant monsters (gator, cat, rat, fish, bat) to help with business. They do, but naturally being the demons they are, can't help themselves in the killing department as characters bite it with a pendulum, switchblade, carnival ride, electric wires, bumper cars and other toned-down PG-13 silliness. A giant monster that looks like a rejected extra from HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP shows up at the end to burp and explode.

Dennis Poali's script attempts to create sympathetic characters, but there's too much juvenile humor and other than some brief stop-motion, the creature FX are cheap rubbery puppets. If you recognize names like Mickey Knox, Romano Puppo and Anthony Dawson, it's because this was, surprisingly enough, filmed in Rome.

Grade: 3 out of 10

Before you watch this flick, don't expect much from it. It's a sequel to "Ghoulies", which should, respectively to the series, lower your standards of what to expect. It's unrealistic. It's cheesy. But it's damn ENTERTAINING! What you get is some rubber puppets, who take over a ghost house in a carnival, attracting visitors who think they're part of the attraction. It starts off with some lovable characters, namely Nigel the dwarf. Anyway, the ghoulies start killing some people who go in there. Then, near the end, they come out and there's a carnival massacre. Some mean killings here, such as death by being run-over by a bumper car. That's about it. This flick, the only "Ghoulies" movie I currently own, rests easy in my collection. Overall: 9/10

GORE BONUS: You wouldn't expect this, but there was actually some gore in this movie, which was edited for both the US PG-13 rating and the UK '15s' rating. The two scenes were, when the girl who is leaving the carnival goes in to the ghost house, she is tied to the floor and the ghoulies stab her before pulling the ropes. And, when the left over teenager gets lost in the ghost house, and the axe is lowered, it shows his stomach being opened and (fake looking) blood spurting out for a while. In the cut version, you just see the axe being lowered. "0m55s" was cut from the original UK video release, but the TV version is completely uncut.

Rated 15s for horror violence and mild gore, and some language

You normally think of cinematic greats such as the Godfather 2, Terminator 2, Empire Strikes Back and Aliens as 'superior' sequels. Not many people ever mention the eighties horror 'Ghoulies 2' in the same breath as any of the affore-mentioned films. However, it is head and shoulders about its predecessor. Although, that's not saying much.

The original was about a wannabe sorcerer who conjured up a load of evil little critters, aka, 'ghoulies' only to have them turn on him. Sadly, the first film centred on the – pretty bland – humans, whereas the real stars of the show were the nasty little puppets who terrorised people. I'm guessing this was more to do with budget constraints, but, this time round, they seem to have learned from their mistakes. The ghoulies are the stars.

They're in it pretty much all the way through. Yes, the human characters are still pretty bland, but at least you don't really notice when the monsters get going. You could naturally pick faults in the film by saying how the ghoulies are about two feet tall and would probably find it difficult to actually hurt someone (let alone savage them to death), but we'll just skip that one and assume they are capable of killing tonnes of people.

It's hardly scary. There's not an awful lot of tension of scares in it (unless you're that afraid of rubbery-looking monsters) and you have to majorly suspend your disbelief to imagine that creatures can walk around a packed fairground and not be seen until it suits the script's needs. But, if you like cheesy eighties horror/monster movies, then give this one a go (and ignore the sequels – the series truly peaks here – and that's saying something!).

Those hostile little beasts are at it again in this adequately entertaining sequel. It takes quite a while for it to really get started, but the final half hour is worth waiting for. It's actually played fairly straight for a while, with comedy elements getting introduced more and more as the movie goes on. The Ghoulies themselves are definitely cute in an ugly sort of way, and are a genuinely amusing bunch. Fortunately, some of the human characters manage to be almost as interesting.

After an attempt to kill the Ghoulies fails, they hitch a ride with a truck carrying the contents of "Satans' Den", a house of horrors for a travelling carnival. They hide out inside Satans' Den for a while, intermittently killing people, until the big finale when they finally break out. The place has been hurting financially, but when patrons get a look at the Ghoulies and assume them to be part of the act, business starts booming.

I have to be partial to any movie featuring the following elements: an appearance by old Hollywood pro Royal Dano, who's in fine form as drunken old Uncle Ned, a song by the metal band W.A.S.P. ("Scream Until You Like It"), old school effects (puppeteering, stop motion animation, etc.), a role for Italian exploitation veteran Romano Puppo ("2019: After the Fall of New York"), and a carnival atmosphere (even if done on a budget). Production design, by Giovanni Natalucci, and cinematography, by Sergio Salvati, are both well done.

The enjoyable cast features familiar faces from other horror films: Kerry Remsen ("Pumpkinhead"), Sasha Jenson ("Halloween 4"), Starr Andreeff ("Dance of the Damned"), William Butler ("Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"), and Donnie Jeffcoat ("Night of the Demons" '88). Damon Martin ("Pee-wee's Big Adventure") is our likable young lead, Phil Fondacaro (who played the title role in "Troll") the engaging Sir Nigel Penneyweight, and J. Downing the appropriately odious money man Mr. Hardin.

Overall, agreeable entertainment for genre fans; produced and directed by Albert Band, veteran director and father of Charles Band of Empire Pictures and Full Moon fame.

Six out of 10.

Larry (Damon Martin) and Uncle Ned (Royal Dano) are driving a truck to an amusement park with their attraction Satan's Den. They have to stop in a repair shop and four demons sneak and hide in the truck. They arrive at the carnival and hide inside the Satan's Den. The arrogant owner of the carnival P. Hardin (J. Downing) threatens to fire the employees if their attractions are not profitable and assigns the dwarf Sir Nigel Penneyweight (Phil Fondacaro) to work with Larry and Ned in the Satan's Den. He also hits on Larry's girlfriend Nicole (Kerry Remsen). When the audience sees the demons in the Satan's Den, they believe that they are part of the attractions and the entertainment becomes a sensation. But when people are attacked by the demons, there is panic in the carnival. Now Larry, Nigel and Nicole try to use an incantation to get rid of the creatures.

"Ghoulies II" is a funny and cheesy franchise similar to "Critters" and other "evil toys" in the late 80's and early 90's. The plot is silly with one dimensional characters and gruesome scenes, but entertains and is cult. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available