Ghoulies II

This time the focus is much more on the ghoulies themselves. And they're all ready to have some fun at the carnival!

There's lots of fun to be had here. You get to see ghoulies eat off a clowns arm (hoorah!)and my favorite scene features a ghoulie running over a man with a bumper car. Priceless.

Oh yeah, one of the more subtle moments I had to rewind a couple of times was when the mummy pops up and the kid kicks it back and you can hear the mummy say 'ow!'

Sure these films can be laughed at, but I have a feeling the movies are laughing with you. It's all very tongue in cheek and not to be taken too seriously. The only moment I think that was to be taken seriously was the terrible moment where the girl is talking about an incident that happened when she was younger; ala Pheobe Cates in Gremlins.

Still, that moment passes quickly and is completely forgettable.

I find these 'Ghoulies' films to be completely charming. If you're into Gremlins and Critters and Munchies and the like, check'em out.

I was very young when I saw this the first time and it really gave me the creeps then. Now a few years later I saw it again and I think it´s cool. The little monsters are pretty funny and scary actually. I especially like the "toilette" scene. Ghoulies II is a 5/10

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

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!).

A paper-thin plot: Ghoulies II picks up a short time after the first movie, a few of the little nasties stow away on an amusement park ride and bring big bucks to a dying fair. The creatures are mad after an attempt to kill them, so the creatures go on a rampage through the fairgrounds, ultimately leading to an explosive conclusion.

Sounds corny? No matter what anyone says, this is utterly fantastic. I refuse to totally dismiss this, because I find it quite engaging, in a guilty pleasure sense. I have to say it blew me away! This might all sound corny, like a bad B-movie, but that is not the case. My rating: 7/10.