Ahhh, yes...the toilet monsters. One of many fond childhood memories involving roaming the horror aisle at the local video store is that great cover art. Yet somehow it took until last night to finally sit down and actually watch a Ghoulies, the second one to be precise.
Who would have thought you would actually need to see the original beforehand? I can only assume that the priest carrying a sack of monsters while being chased by red cloaked children(?) had something to do with it seeing as we never see them again after the first few minutes. The priest drops the ghoulies in a conveniently placed open canister of toxic waste, but they rise back up unaffected and hitch a ride with a travelling carnival to start a new adventure.
They end up developing a following while hiding out in the carnival's spook house which brings some much needed influx of cash to the proprietors though raises a question about the intention of ghoulies. They set out to savagely kill some people, but then are quite the little showmen for others. At the same time, I wonder why anyone would be drawn to the antics of ugly, rubbery creatures, but then it is the 1980's and these are the same people that voted for Reagan twice so...anyway, we eventually learn that only magic can hurt them, but as with all these movies, incantations performed by the uninitiated just tend to lead to bigger problems. In this case, a giant Fishboy that eats the other ones but then needs to be sent back to hell itself though he is disposed of easily enough (which was kind of a cop out, but whatever).
I did really like the variations of ghoulies. Aside from Fishboy, there was Upright Alligator, Hairless Rat and my personal favorite, Down Syndrome Mogwai. As well, the mix of comedy with far more brutality than expected works for the most part. Evil is always better when it has a sense of humor.
7/10
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