Ghoulies II 4K 1987 Extended Unrated Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Two men drive towards a car service center due to a car breakdown. Meanwhile, in the bowels of the service station, a priest is at war with ghouls. After collecting a sack of ghouls, he stuffs them into a barrel of horrible toxic substances. Soon the priest himself is there too. The only difference is that the chemicals did not harm the creatures in the slightest....

Review 4K Movie

Although this sequel was released under the same Empire Pictures studio, which later became Full Moon, like the progenitor of the franchise, it was directed by a different director, Albert Band, and became noticeably different. The original had glaring flaws in its pacing, that is, it frankly dragged on during the course of events, and it also suffered from a very low level of bloodthirstiness, which is simply necessary for a horror film about small demons, otherwise it unwittingly descends into semi-childish fantasy, and with a very modest budget, which does not do it any favors.

Here, first of all, there is a successful reinterpretation of the theme of goblins or ghouls, whichever name you prefer to use for the hellish creatures from the movie, in order to ultimately focus on the central conflict between humans and them, without getting bogged down in accompanying details, which essentially ruined the interesting idea of its predecessor. Consequently, most of the film takes place at a pulsating pace, with the viewer witnessing a constant series of monster attacks. On top of everything else, the level of on-screen violence has increased: demons attack in groups, bite, use improvised weapons, hide, and attack from unexpected places, such as one of the series' signature moments—from under a toilet seat! In general, there is some suspense and discomfort, albeit not in an elegant form. Ah, yes, the setting itself has shifted and closed in on the carnival, where there are plenty of people and, incidentally, a lot of different devices in the “Chamber of Horrors,” so all kinds of torture devices and bandages for turning living wretches into helpless mummies will clearly not gather dust without being used; the goblins will put them to good use! The magical part with spells from a witch's book will not be forgotten, when ordinary weapons are no longer effective in the fight against ghouls.

Touching on the purely technical aspect of the production, which is important, since animatronics are used here, I can point to the elaborate degree of “animation” of the creatures on the screen, albeit in a particularly inexpensive way, which is characteristic of the production studio mentioned at the beginning of the text. The appearance of the little monsters remains the same, but their number has been reduced to five. However, now there are no repeating characters, and their sphere of activity is broader and more distinctive: a meowing demon wields a dangerous razor, a rat-like creature spits sticky liquid, and so on. In the finale, we are shown a huge monster, a kind of Goblin Eater... To sum up my overall impression, I would note that for a B-grade horror film with moderate financial investment, the effect is not bad.

If we consider the work as a whole, then, of course, one showing of the bloody antics of ghouls, spiced with black humor, will not suffice. There is a story about various circus performers who are devoted to their work but, by chance, meet their boss's pragmatic son and are forced to face the prospect of being dismissed due to financial losses. At this difficult moment for the community of artists, small monsters invade, causing problems when there are already enough of them.

Of course, the film is a representative of the simplest humorous horror genre, not pretending to be thoughtful, but only intended for entertainment, and on a moderate scale. But for its imaginary subgenre about the invasion of small monsters with an original appearance (for which this studio is famous) in the style of the late 1980s, with somewhat naive props and visual effects framing a simple story, the film is successful and may deserve attention from fans of this genre. And if you look at it purely as a sequel trying to be better than its predecessor, it's pretty good.