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Late to the Party – Ghoulies

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I am a grown ass man and I’m sitting in the dark at four in the morning watching Ghoulies. It’s at this point that one is given pause to ponder upon the decisions made in life. Then it hits me – Ghoulies is giving me an existential crisis? OK, so we won’t go all that far, but it has made me question my choices. I gladly volunteered to tackle this edition of Late to the Party – one of my favorite segments to cover here – and I had the option to review either Phantasm II or this… I chose Ghoulies. I’m almost ashamed of myself.

Oh boy, where to start? So I have not ever seen this movie until now, but (like most people) I know this movie from it’s infamous cover it – which upon reflection should have qued me in to what I could expect from this film. That being a little green Ghoulie rising out of a toilet. Somehow I used to think this was such a cool design. I was also seven at the time. Back then you could go to any movie rental, trick your parents that you were going to go check out Nintendo games and then sneak your way over to the horror aisle. There among all the Friday the 13th and Freddy movies you would see Ghoulies in all its toilet goodness. Something about that little green monstrosity was amazing to my little naive mind.

 

Ghoulies was also a product of the infamous Satanic Panic era that ran wild in the 80’s. If you grew up in a church-going home back then you’re probably well aware that Satan wanted nothing more than to rip out our little kiddie souls. According to the ultra conservative crowds NOTHING was safe. Smurfs were evil, He-Man figures were dragging us to Hell, and Saturday Morning cartoons were the portal to Satanism. You younger readers may think I’m over-exaggerating this a bit, but oh no. It was really that bad. Let my buddy the Cinema Snob tell you more about it right here:

 

 

The Satanic Panic was a very real thing. So naturally movies about demons and Satanism were all the craze, and a lot of times they went a little too far (little demon popping out of a toilet for example).

 

image via giphy

 

Ghoulies is all about Satanic practices. Our lead character Jonathan (Peter Liapis) inherits an old house from his father. Come to find out dear ol’ dad was deeply involved in the Occult, so much so that he nearly killed little baby Jonathan in a botched ritualistic sacrifice. Now, years later (and with no memory of nearly being a burnt offering as a babe of course) Jonathan discovers his dead father’s Satanic paraphernalia. What do you do when you find an old moldy book of black magic demon summoning spells? Why you throw a party and summon yourself some snotty nosed little demons right in front of your friends of course!

 

image via ComingSoon

 

 

Demons – oh sorry, Ghoulies – are raised from Hell. Jonathan is impressed by his own demonic awe and makes it rain in his basement. He runs around in some really silly looking robes and uses an elementary-school theater prop as a trident of power! I’m sure this sounded absolutely killer on paper when the screenplay was hot off the press. What we get though is pure silliness as evil shenanigans take place in the house of goofy Hell. And they all play it so fucking seriously.

 

I know this movie is categorized as horror/comedy, but we gotta be honest here. American Werewolf in London, Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Ghostbusters, Snakes on a Plane are all examples of how that genre works. Ghoulies feels like it falls into this category by default and not intentionally. The movie does feel like it could exist in the same universe of the Troll movies. Just as silly.

 

We are treated to some of the greatest over-acting imaginable as Jonathan grows in evil power, so much so that his eyes glow lime green. His evil Satanic dad is resurrected from the grave (I think completely by accident too) out in the back yard and it becomes a battle of the necromancers!  I mean just look at this nonsense.

 

 

This is a movie I had way too much fun watching. I wish I could divide the film up into sections and just review or comment on each fragment. If ever a film deserved the Manic treatment it’s this one right here. So this has been you pal, Manic Exorcism. Thanks for joining me as we waded along the green stinking sewers of horror’s history. I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving. Safe travels to everyone, eat up, make memories and be safe on Black Friday. And once you’ve filled up on all the turkey or pumpkin pie Thanksgiving provides and make your way to the bathroom…be sure to check your toilet. This movie promises that they will get you in the ‘end’.

 

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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