The Ghouls - Cannibal Dead

Minutes after watching Chad Ferrin's newest classic, I was hit with the thought that this film, The Ghouls, could well be the best horror film of the past couple of years. It left me with a strange taste in my mouth. It begs to question "WHO really are the ghouls? Are they the monsters, hiding away in the dark, waiting to tear you limb from limb? Or rather, are the ghouls the men who feed you this mythology, the men who will go to any means to give you what they want you to see, to believe?" Chad Ferrin has created a true vision of horror, one that you will not soon forget. The story follows Eric, played with perfection by Timothy Muskatell, a "stringer" who videotapes crimes and sells them to the media for the publics consumption. One night, in a drunken haze, he witnesses what he thinks to be a rape taking place. He runs in with his camera, only to see that the woman is not being raped-no, she is being torn apart by "The Ghouls", people that live underneath the city who eat human flesh. Realizing that he missed his opportunity to film the act that would make him rich, he enlists the help of Cliff, another stringer, to hunt down and film the ghouls. Cliff is portrayed by Trent Haaga, probably the finest actor working the B-movie industry today. Trent brings along his quick wit, and ability to steal a scene, to make the character of Cliff a fun guy to watch. What happens over the next few hours will test Eric's faith, and make him question who he is-WHAT he is. Chad Ferrin decision to shoot the film on DV, giving the film an authentic, scary look, was genius- it's almost as if you are right there, watching as the horror unfolds. Ferrin's take on the demorilizing aspects of the media and the depths to which some men will go to capture the truth is a true testament to his ability as a writer/director. Scary, thought provoking, and utterly unforgettable, THE GHOULS should be required viewing for those about to venture into the world of low budget filmmaking. This is how it should be done. I love this movie. And the ending-well, the ending is one for the books. Who are The Ghouls? See this movie, and decide for yourself.

The plot: A parasitic bottom feeder stumbles into a horrific world, hidden inside the darkest alleys of the worst slums.

The Ghouls is basically a rehash of Clive Barker's 1984 short story Midnight Meat Train (which was adapted into a pretty good movie), but there are echoes of many other influences. Indeed, it seems to revel in making references to cult horror. Unfortunately, there really isn't all that much going on beneath the surface. This sort of story has been told many times. You get some despicable, scum of the Earth photographer/reporter, throw them in with a monster, compare and contrast, and then let the audience decide who's worse. Stephen King did it in The Night Flier, which used a vampire, and Clive Barker did it in The Midnight Meat Train, which used ghouls. I'm sure someone out there has done zombies or demons. Probably Poppy Z. Brite.

When I saw Trent Haaga and James Gunn were involved, I knew it was going to be low budget, but I didn't realize it was going to be quite THIS low budget. It was distracting at first, but I eventually got used to it. The directing, acting, and cinematography were all amateurish, but I guess I got used to that, too. The gore was actually kind of competent.

Unfortunately, much of the movie focuses on long, drawn-out scenes where nothing much happens, characters have repetitive flashbacks, or somebody ingests their drug of choice. I guess it sets the mood, but it's also a bit boring. Probably half of the movie feels like it's moody filler. Shaky, hand-held shots take up another chunk of the movie's runtime, as the film's protagonist is a cameraman. That doesn't leave a whole lot of runtime available to tell the story. Luckily, the story isn't really all that complicated.

In the end, the themes end up being more interesting than the story, and the gore effects maintain your interest more than anything else. If you're able to enjoy guerrilla filmmaking and indie horror, and you aren't looking for much more than a splatter movie with some interesting themes, then this movie can actually work for you. It's dark (metaphorically and literally), grim, and moody. However, it's also inept, amateurish, and kind of boring. It reminds me of Shatter Dead. If you found Shatter Dead exciting, different, and full of spirit, then you should give The Ghouls a try. If you hated Shatter Dead, then don't even think about trying to watch this.

THE GHOULS review

It's hard to fully immerse yourself in the latest low budget trend of DV filmmaking. Unless painstaking measures are taken to mimic the cinematic conventions of film, like depth of field and the crispness of the image, one can easily lose focus on the story and be distracted by the the quality of the picture, which is more along the lines of a cop corralling a perp or a father getting kicked in the balls by his kid. However, Chad Ferrin's latest offering (I saw his first film UNSPEAKABLE at Sundance in 2000) uses the DV format not in an aesthetic gimmick (like BLAIR WITCH) but to further the dread and grit of his subject matter...for what it's worth I was appalled and enthralled...and it scared the shit out of me.

THE GHOULS follows a down-on-his-luck video muckraker (Ferrin sets up the main characters moral decent in a shocking prelude that will be a true litmus test for any viewer...not giving anything away but if you can survive the opening moments, you're in for a ride) as he prowls the streets, a stringer looking for a lead to both pay the bills and support his crank habit. To be frank, our protagonist Eric (Timothy Muskatell) is a piece of s**t that Travis Bickle would scoff at; We see him drown his sorrows in drink after coercing a man to murder while he shoots the "exclusive" footage, moments before the cops burst in. Yet with the over-saturation of media bloodhounds also scanning the street looking for a good lead and a juicy shot to sell, our hero is mostly plopped in a bar booth, killing brain cells and wallowing in his inner pain.

Nice horror in-joke: Cast as the TV news producer who sometimes buys Eric's footage but mostly berates our hero, Joe (DAY OF THE DEAD) Pilato is in fine form and, with Ferrin being an obvious Romero fan, gives the actor great lines and exploits Pilato's ability to make the word "fuck" seem evil again, like it was when you weren't allowed to say it in public when you were a kid.

However, things change suddenly as Eric drives into the depths of Downtown L.A. one lonely Christmas eve, where he stumbles upon a gruesome, cannibalistic murder that happens right before his eyes in an alleyway, and from here the film goes full tilt boogie. Using his camera and the help of another video freelancer/"vulture" (Trent Haaga, who is by and large one of the best actors in the low-budget horror scene right now and used effectively as both comic relief and the "young sage competition" cliche), Eric returns to the scene of the crime to hopefully capture another murder, which could be the shoot of his career, but of course, like every good horror film, our hero is pulled into the darkness...and comes face to face with THE GHOULS, and himself.

Honestly, I don't want to give anything else away mainly because when I was watching this, it was hard to take in, especially since the main character is so unlikable. But as the plot progresses he is faced with strange phone calls at night, bodies piling up around him as well as his own demons. Plus, the film boasts the most disturbing performance from a Down's Syndrome actor EVER.

On that note, along with Pilato mentioned before, all of the performances are effective in a low-key way. There is little "acting" here, mostly reacting and silence that says so much. Haaga is great as the "sidekick" but doesn't use the usual trappings to illicit a laugh; rather he serves as a humorous light is the depths of scum that surround this film

The film, shot on digital video, looks very good for it's limitations, and Ferrin knows where the camera needs to go to feel "real", and once the film gets into gear I never once got taken out of it because of the medium. However, the sound design and the sets, for example the ghoul's lair and the cavernous pipelines and sewer systems, are AMAZING, especially after finding out there were mostly created and not found locations! The sound effects, which most filmmakers either take for granted with "scare stings" or neglect all together, make this film SCARY. The makeup effects are also effective and are a notch above TROMA quality but Ferrin is not afraid of a little splatter (thank god).

I wish i could say something negative to balance out this review but I was very happily surprised with this. When I heard Ferrin was doing a digital feature, I was dismayed because I tend to not have the ability to enjoy a film on video unless it has an obvious contextual reason. Yet THE GHOULS inspired me to say "fuck film" and tell a story with whatever you have available, and Ferrin scares and disturbs with great style.

I can't say enough for this movie. You can tell it's low budget, but it doesn't disappoint. The acting, cinematography, editing and the directing never strike a false note. How many films can you say that for? I rented this movie at Blockbuster, and even though I'm a horror fan, I have to say, Blockbuster has become a maven for low-budget bad horror films. And, for some reason, horror fans seem to accept less than other movie-going audiences would accept in terms of budget, plot, direction, cinematography and character (maybe because gore is a category in and of itself, as is being bad in all above mentioned categories). Anyway, this movie has it all...good character development (give the first 30 minutes time), good acting (dispicable characters that you somehow feel for), good editing (flawless, actually), good cinematography (wait for that alley car scene), a good script to unite it all and, to make it all come together, I have to give credit to the director. Really an excellent, although low-budget, horror film.

Independent fear-maker Chad Ferrin's, low-fi, high die, superlatively-splattery, gut-swingingly grisly subterranean snuff sensation 'Cannibal Dead: The Ghouls' is certainly not for sensitive Sally's, timorous Timothy's, or the frequently faint of fart! Something far worse than a City Load of septic sewage fulminates evilly beneath the mean streets of L. A. And preternaturally perverse paparazzi Eric Hayes (Timothy Muskatell) shall certainly grue the day he deigned to opportunistically film these deranged denizens of the dark that cavort cannibalistically upon the ferociously flayed flesh of all those who foolhardily descend into their diabolically dank domain! Old school ghouls, sinister splatter mad-hatters, gruesome gore gourmands, morbidly-minded morgue maniacs, grisly graveyard gawpers, and brain-dead zombie freaks will dig gravely upon the gloriously ghoulish, salaciously sick-headed shenanigans of Ferrin's locomotively lurid, voluptuously visceral, deliriously dismembering blood feast! Like Gorefather H. G Lewis hungrily buzzed on high grade hydroponic hemp, this moonshine mental, membrane-slinging murder movie is the snuff of low budget legend!!!