MVD Rewind: Ghoulies (1985) & Ghoulies II (1987) – A Double-Feature Review of the New Special Editions

 

All Images Courtesy: MVD Rewind/MGM

Earlier this summer I wrote about the history and the legacy of Empire Pictures, the 1980s B-movie studio founded by producer Charles Band, when I reviewed Arrow Video’s box set Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams, which offered a five-film retrospective of the studio’s output. Empire produced some of the most fun and memorable B-movie horror and sci-fi of the 1980s, including the five films collected in that box set as well as other cult favorites like Re-Animator, From Beyond, Troll, Trancers, and Ghost Town. But if you’re an 80s or early-90s kid of the right age (likely in your mid-30s to mid-40s now), then one Empire Pictures film you are especially likely to remember – or at least remember its iconic VHS box – is 1985’s Ghoulies. One of the first films produced by Empire Pictures, and certainly the first huge hit which really put them on the map, Ghoulies was Charles Band’s contribution to the mini-monster subgenre made popular by Gremlins. And in classic Charles Band fashion, he actually managed to get it into production while Gremlins was still shooting, staying one step ahead of the accusation that it’s a Gremlins rip-off – although he admits in the extras that he was absolutely aware of Gremlins while they were making the film, and it is pretty clear that he was trying to ride Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante’s coattails with the creative decisions behind the project.

With its memorable box art featuring a slimy creature popping out of a toilet, and the tagline “they’ll get you in the end,” Ghoulies was tailor-made to appeal to horror-loving teenagers and pre-teens, and since it was PG-13 it was one that kids could actually rent. As such, it was many kids’ first foray into the world of Charles Band’s particular brand of lovably schlocky B-movie horror (this was certainly the case for me). While it hasn’t particularly endured across generations in the way that Gremlins has (for reasons we will get into shortly), if you are the right age, Ghoulies is a legit cult-classic, as are Ghoulies II (which is superior to the first, as far as I’m concerned) and Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go To College (what a title!).

Ghoulies and Ghoulies II were previously released on blu-ray in 2015 by Scream Factory, in a very nice double-feature package which boasted excellent special features, especially considering that it wasn’t billed as one of their collector’s editions. But that disc has been out of print for years, and is extremely rare. Now MVD Rewind have resurrected Ghoulies and Ghoulies II once again, and rather than putting them together on another double-feature package, they have given each film its own swanky standalone collector’s edition, complete with slipcovers, posters, and more extensive new extras. Ghoulies is even on UHD, in a brand-new 4k restoration, although sadly they were unable to secure the rights or elements to do a matching 4k restoration of Ghoulies II. So let’s do a double-bill and look back at these two creature-features and their new MVD special editions, and see if they still hold up as worthy cult-classics, or if you kind of had to be there as a kid in the late-80s or early-90s.

THE FILMS:

Ghoulies (1985):

In the original Ghoulies, college student Jonathan (Peter Liapis, who looks a bit like off-brand Kyle MacLachlan) inherits a spooky old mansion from his estranged father (Power Station singer Michael Des Barres), who – unbeknownst to Jonathan – was an evil warlock who used the house as a site for occult rituals. Soon Jonathan discovers his father’s books and tools of black magic, and starts dabbling in the dark arts himself, unknowingly reawakening his father’s evil spirit who begins to pull him down a dark path. Things fly out of control when Jonathan summons the titular gaggle of little demons to be his familiars, but they aren’t as obedient as he had hoped, and they terrorize him, his girlfriend (Lisa Pelikan), and their eccentric group of friends at a house party. It’s a solid enough premise for a horror film, with a spooky old house, antihero main character being corrupted by black magic, and an evil warlock reaching out from beyond the grave in a way that feels inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. One definitely could make a good movie with that premise. But as you may have noticed even if you haven’t seen the movie, the ghoulies themselves are kind of tacked on to that premise as an “oh, by the way” at the end – and that is where this movie (which is, after all, called Ghoulies and marketed like a mini-monster creature feature) has some problems.

Rewatching Ghoulies as an adult rather than a horror-obsessed pre-teen with a less-than-critical eye for film, the movie’s dominant characteristic is how messy and confused and all-over-the-place the tone is. It feels like a movie that was written as one type of horror film, and was awkwardly turned into a totally different kind of horror-comedy partway through production, and never quite committed to a tone. Specifically, it feels like it was envisioned as a much darker and more serious, occult-focused gothic horror story which had monsters in it but wasn’t really about the monsters, and then somewhere along the way was retrofitted into Charles Band’s answer to Gremlins. Indeed, in the special features director Luca Bercovici confirms that this is the case: that he intended it as a more serious and frightening film where the monsters were supposed to be scarier and nastier, and henchmen of the warlock villain rather than the stars of the show themselves, but all of that changed about two weeks before shooting started, when he first saw the ghoulie puppets and realized that they were so goofy and camp that the film would only ever work as a horror-comedy. And why were the ghoulies designed as campy, comedic troublemakers rather than the more serious demons that the script called for? One can only assume because Charles Band had heard the industry buzz of what Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante were doing with Gremlins and wanted to do the same. 

It is very striking how, despite the film being named after them, the ghoulies themselves are completely secondary to the actual plot of the film. It is obvious that more inserts of the creatures doing various antics were shot and added throughout the film in an attempt to make them feel more central and justify the title, and they are frequently added to the periphery of scenes that otherwise don’t involve them, but even so, the ghoulies basically feel like an afterthought. They just don’t get very much to do, and only get to take center stage for a few minutes at the top of the third act. This creates a weird disconnect, almost a bait-and-switch, between what the movie is marketed as, and what it actually is, which it is never able to quite overcome. The film could overcome this disconnect and succeed on its own merit if it was successful at being either scary or funny, but unfortunately as both comedy and horror, it is very tepid and never really works. Learning from Bercovici that the film was pretty much reworked on the fly, this makes sense, but is unfortunate.

What it does have is a weird camp energy which, depending on your taste for schlock and 80s nostalgia, is pretty fun and watchable at least in moments, even if the whole is a mess. It is frustrating in how it never quite manages to pull the pieces together, but set-pieces and large chunks of it are a sufficiently good time, and offer moments of genuinely fun wackiness that almost realizes its potential, that it makes for a decently enjoyable Halloween-season party movie and isn’t altogether a waste of 80 minutes. In particular, it really comes alive during the two party scenes that bookend the film: the one at the beginning which introduces the wacky friend-group and features the ghoulie-summoning ritual, and the one at the end when the little creatures finally cut loose. Jonathan’s friend group has enough odd characters in it, collectively chewing the scenery, that it is hard to not smile during their scenes. We’ve got the manic goofball stoner who feels like a predecessor to a Matthew Lillard character, the awkward nerd who suddenly breaks into weird voices, the horndog with the Morrissey hairdo who delivers the unforgettable pick-up line “my name’s Dick, but you can call me… DICK,” and topping it all off, a before-she-was-famous Mariska Hargitay in one of her first roles.

There’s also Jack Nance – Pete Martell and Eraserhead himself – in a small but important role that allows him to chew the scenery like nobody’s business, and he is an absolute delight. Whenever he shows up, he elevates the movie tremendously with his weird chaotic energy. Michael Des Barres also competes with Nance to see who can chew the scenery the most, bringing his glam-rocker energy and flamboyance to his villain role and just absolutely going for it. Both of these character actors absolutely understand what kind of film they are in, and so they are just having fun with it, and it translates to good fun for the audience as well. When they or the goofier members of the friend group are on screen, one can understand why Ghoulies has cult appeal. But in the scenes where it is just Jonathan doing occult stuff around the house, the lethally wooden starring performance by Peter Liapis has a way of grinding the fun to a halt.

The ghoulies themselves are cool creatures – clearly low-budget puppets, but well-designed with lots of personality by the always-great special effects maestro John Carl Buechler. I love the variety among the design of them: that they are several distinct breeds of monsters who all have unique looks and personalities, rather than being one species like Gremlins or Critters. Buechler specializes in giving his creations very expressive faces with personality and characterization, and the ghoulies are very successful in that regard. Again, when they are on-screen doing stuff, one can see why this became a cult classic among people who saw it at a formative age: the little beasts definitely make a strong impression. It’s just such a bummer that they get so little to do, and are pretty much an afterthought in their own movie. Fortunately the sequels correct this – but more on that later.

Ghoulies has its moments that make its cult-classic status understandable, at least among people who saw it at the right age and have nostalgia for it. And there is enough that makes it reasonably watchable and fun if you enjoy 80s schlock and aren’t too demanding, that I can understand why it continues to find appreciators, especially when it is used as a party movie with the right group of friends, and a similar level of intoxicants to what the characters in the film are enjoying. But it is a deeply flawed mess of a movie which is not very good. It’s a horror-comedy that is neither particularly scary nor particularly funny, and it clearly was forced to change trajectory mid-production in a way that stranded it in this weird tonal netherworld. But its main problem is that it is called Ghoulies, but just doesn’t have nearly enough ghoulies in it. It has a certain camp appeal that redeems it at least in places, but not enough.

Fortunately, this is a rare case where the sequel learned from the mistakes of the first film, and actually delivers on what the original promised but didn’t provide… so with that, let’s proceed with our double-feature and move on to Ghoulies II!

Ghoulies II (1987):

Aside from bringing back the titular creatures, Ghoulies II is completely unrelated to the plot of the first film – and given the first film’s massive narrative problems, that is probably for the best. This time we follow the staff of a down-on-its-luck travelling carnival, which is in serious trouble after being bought out by a soulless corporation threatening a wave of layoffs. In particular we follow twentysomething Larry (Damon Martin, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, giving off some serious Matt Dillon energy) and his depressed and alcoholic uncle Ned (veteran character actor Royal Dano, pouring personality and pathos into a genuinely very sad, if also very over-the-top, character), who run the carnival’s haunted house, Satan’s Den. At a truck stop along the way to their next city, they unknowingly give a ride to the ghoulies, who set up shop in the haunted house, and start terrorizing customers. Satan’s Den becomes a huge success with carnivalgoers who don’t understand that the horrors are real, and the sleazy head of the carnival sees dollar signs and takes on the role of Jaws-mayor bureaucratic villain. That leaves Uncle Ned, Larry, his girlfriend Nicole (Kerry Remsen, Pumpkinhead) and fellow carnie Nigel (Phil Fondacaro, WIllow) to fight the monsters.

Right off the bat, Ghoulies II feels like a major step in the right direction because it’s ACTUALLY ABOUT THE GHOULIES, allowing the little beasties to take center stage rather than being a neglected subplot in their own movie. In many ways, this movie delivers what the first one promised with its poster, but didn’t quite make good on: it’s a proper horror-comedy creature-feature that is about little troublemaking monsters running amuck and killing people, like a scrappier B-grade answer to Gremlins that’s a bit more explicitly for teenagers rather than the PG crowd. If, like me, you don’t really care for the first Ghoulies and you think it feels like a wasted opportunity that didn’t deliver on what you were looking for, chances are very good that Ghoulies II is what you wanted the first one to be, and you’ll like it a lot more.

Ghoulies II has a much more cohesive tone than the first, since it was actually conceived and written with this tone in mind (imagine that!), and written by quite a solid screenwriter, no less: Re-Animator’s Dennis Paoli. It very quickly establishes its tone in its opening scene: Royal Dano chewing the scenery and giving some tongue-in-cheek drunk philosophizing about magic and superstition, as he and our hero Larry drive the haunted house truck along a deserted road at night, before stopping at the gas station where we have just witnessed the ghoulies getting up to their first bit of mayhem. In these first few minutes it is immediately clear what kind of movie this is, and it is immediately clear that writer Paoli and director Albert Band (Charles Band’s dad) know exactly what kind of movie it is. It’s a fun opening scene which jumps right into the magical-creature-mayhem vibe of the film, and does so with an obvious sense of tongue-in-cheek humor. 

The idea of setting a horror movie in an endearingly-cheesy carnival haunted house is an inspired one, which hasn’t been explored nearly enough (leaving clown slasher movies aside, that is). Tobe Hooper used this setting for some genuinely menacing and creepy, much darker horror with his underrated 1981 gem The Funhouse, and this feels a bit like that movie’s much more camp cousin. The movie makes excellent use of the aesthetic of the carnival midway, with its neon lights against the night sky. Satan’s Den is a delightful setting, with its old-fashioned spooky vibes and Spirit Halloween props, and some of the most fun moments are the ghoulies just messing around in the environment like monstrous kids in a candy store, even before they start attacking people. And while the premise of the haunted house becoming a sudden hit because customers don’t understand that the monsters are real is deeply silly and absurd, it is deeply silly and absurd in a very charming way, especially since it is played deliberately for laughs.

This is not to say that the script and story are great – it is very broad and very cheesy, and I would definitely describe it as charming and fun more than I would describe it as either genuinely scary or laugh-out-loud funny. The plot with the sleazy corporate villain buying the carnival and then being an unknowing accomplice to the ghoulies is fairly predictable and formulaic (it literally is just the mayor from Jaws all over again), and the movie absolutely wears its Gremlins-knockoff origins on its sleeve. But it gets away with all of this much more easily than the first film gets away with its shortcomings because Ghoulies II is consistently fun, has the right knowingly-campy tone, and is very creature-forward, delivering where the original was lacking. The script is good enough, and that is fine. 

It also helps that it is delivered with reasonably good performances by four likable leads. Damon Martin and Kerry Remsen make reasonably strong young heroes, with Martin especially doing a very good job, in stark contrast to the first film’s wooden lead. Royal Dano is as great as he always is: a dependable character actor who always elevates a film, and who makes Uncle Ned a far more sympathetic and real-feeling character than he might have been otherwise. And Phil Fondacaro steals many scenes as the frustrated carnie who constantly reminds everyone that he is a classically-trained Shakespearean actor, and who speaks in lines from King Lear, but no one takes him seriously because he’s a dwarf who works in a carnival haunted house. Royal Dano is clearly head-and-shoulders a better actor than anyone else, but by the standards of a relatively low-budget B-movie, this is a more than adequate ensemble.

But it is the ghoulies who are the real stars of the show, and once again John Carl Buechler deserves the most credit for why the movie works. The effects are quite a bit better in this film than the first: the ghoulies look more polished and refined, with touched-up and in some cases significantly overhauled designs. They are quite a bit more mobile, with more extensively animated faces. There are even a few moments that employ stop-motion animation to allow the ghoulies to walk around the carnival in wide shots, which was a surprising and very well-executed treat. There is also a new species of ghoulie in this film, which is very cool and impressively-designed. And since they get much more to do in this film, we get to see more of their individual personalities, and what kinds of chaos they can each unleash.

This may sound like I am heaping praise on Ghoulies II, but again, this is in the context of a knowingly cheesy and campy B-movie. This is no masterpiece, nor is it setting out to be; it is simply a fun and silly B-grade monsterfest that does what it sets out to do quite effectively, and is genuinely a good time if you dig movies like this. It still has its flaws, its narrative problems, and its places where it stumbles and is uneven, and how much you like it will definitely depend on your taste for cheesy 80s horror. But if you’re reading a review this long and in-depth about Ghoulies and Ghoulies II, I’m guessing you’re the kind of person who does enjoy cheesy B-movie 80s horror, so I feel pretty confident in recommending this one. It is definitely a tier down from the better monster movies of this era like Tremors and Critters, but it makes good on the Ghoulies premise in all the ways that the first one didn’t, and it is the film that I wish the first one had been. Now that I’ve reviewed this new disc of the original Ghoulies, I don’t think I ever need to see it again; Ghoulies II on the other hand I could see rewatching at future Halloweens, or showing during a horror-movie party at that time of year. To those with similar taste in 80s B-movie cheese, I happily recommend it.

THE MVD SPECIAL EDITION DISCS:

Ghoulies – UHD/Blu-ray Combo

Fans of Ghoulies will be thrilled with the major upgrade that MVD Rewind have achieved here, significantly one-upping the Scream Factory blu-ray which was already very nice and impressively thorough. Even though I may not love the film, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of checking out all that this disc has to offer.

The star of this release, of course, is MVD’s brand-new 4k restoration of the film from the original negative, making Ghoulies’ UHD debut. The scan and restoration looks fantastic. Detail is much sharper than on MGM’s previous 1080p scan as found on the Scream Factory disc, and the scan looks wonderfully filmic, with a healthy grain structure and no evidence of DNR that I noticed. The image is clean and free of damage or defects – an excellent scan all around. The color, saturation, and contrast for this restoration and color-grade are very vivid and intense, far more so than on the Scream Factory disc. If anything there were times when I felt like the color saturation had been pushed a little too far, to the point that it looks a bit stylized. Some might take issue with this, but ultimately it wound up winning me over: the intense colors enhance the way that the whole thing is styled a bit like an EC Comics horror yarn, and it works for what the film is. And hearing director Luca Bercovici say in the extras that he was inspired by the aesthetics of Italian horror like Argento and Fulci, the intense colors make even more sense, and I suspect that what MVD has done with the grade is to make it look more like it was intended to in the first place. Mileage may vary on whether you think the colors look good or a bit too saturated, but there is no argument about the detail and overall quality of the scan: it looks great. Overall I would say this is an excellent transfer.

The extras on the disc are outstanding, and very comprehensive. For starters the disc ports over the 2015 Scream Factory extras: an excellent and very thorough half-hour documentary about the making of the film, featuring producer Charles Band, composer Richard Band, actor Michael Des Barres, and special effects artist John Vulich, and a very informative and thorough commentary by director Luca Bercovici. The documentary is great: Charles Band goes deep into the history of how the film and its marketing were conceived and what the project meant to the fledgling Empire Pictures, and actor Michael Des Barres is hilariously honest about what he thought of working on the schlocky and absurd project. Luca Bercovici’s commentary is a fascinatingly honest warts-and-all telling of the tale of making the film, very affectionate towards it, but very honest about its flaws and why the movie is what it is.

The new extras flesh out the history of how the film was made, and what it was like to work for Empire Pictures, even more. A new half-hour interview with Bercovici dives even further into the making of the film, again with disarming honestly – he even gets into the thorny history of how he had to sue Charles Band after Band failed to pay him any of the royalties he was owed, despite the movie being an enormous hit that basically built Empire Pictures. He also talks a lot about his vision for the film, how it differs from the final product, and how he feels about it, looking back on it with years of perspective. It overlaps with the commentary quite a bit, but also offers some new insights. A similarly lengthy interview with actor Scott Thompson is also quite fascinating, as it not only covers the production of Ghoulies, but also takes on a larger context as a profile of his career as a B-movie actor. Finally, another half-hour interview with Ghoulies editor (and Subspecies series director) Ted Nicolau would have been right at home on Arrow Video’s Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams box set. While it does deal a lot with the editing of Ghoulies, most of it is a wide-ranging interview about his whole career working for Empire Pictures and then Full Moon, first as an editor and then as a director. He too is extremely honest about the ups and downs of working for Charles Band’s studios: the creative freedom and supportive environment to develop projects thanks to Band being a genuine genre-film lover, but also the recurring challenges of actually getting paid, and frustrations that would come with working in Band’s low-budget world. If you are an Empire or Full Moon fan, whether you love Ghoulies or not, it is a fascinating and valuable interview.

This is an absolutely excellent disc. Ghoulies may not be a great film, but MVD Rewind have given it a great special edition, with a beautiful (if potentially flawed) transfer and a stellar slate of extras. Even if they don’t bring you around to loving Ghoulies, the extras will really make you appreciate and understand Ghoulies, and are worth checking out for any Empire Pictures or Full Moon fan. If you haven’t seen Ghoulies before, I would not recommend blind-buying it until you’ve seen the film and you know whether or not you like it. Personally I don’t think it lives up to the cult-classic reputation that it has. But if you disagree with me and love the film, then absolutely pick up this disc. It is a phenomenal special edition – MVD have outdone themselves.

Ghoulies II – Blu-ray:

When MVD’s disc of Ghoulies II was announced, they were very up-front about how they had hoped to do a new 4k scan of the negative and 4k restoration for UHD, as they had for Ghoulies, but they were unable to secure the rights and the elements to do so. They posted on their Facebook page:

“I would have loved to announce this on 4K Ultra HD today but due to unforeseen circumstances we are just announcing the MVD Rewind Collector's Edition Blu-ray of Ghoulies II. Do know, I am working diligently behind the scenes to procure the best materials for a future release of Ghoulies II on 4K Ultra HD format, and in fact, I am keeping the "#3" spot open in the 4K LaserVision Collection for Ghoulies II once we are able to move forward. I've always been 100% transparent sharing as much information as I can because as a fellow collector I know how frustrating these things can be. Believe me, I feel your pain. But these title licenses have a ticking clock and it has been a massive undertaking to get "Ghoulies", "Swamp Thing", "Rain Man" and others prepped for release, and truth be told, we have to at least get this out while I continue to work behind the scenes on a 4K release of this title. For now, I won't be addressing this in the comments and I humbly and politely ask you for your patience. But as it is, "Ghoulies II" is not currently scheduled for release on 4K in 2023. The moment I have more news, I'll post here immediately.”

As such, the new MVD Rewind special edition blu-ray of Ghoulies II is inherently a bit limited, in a way that is not the studio’s fault, but is slightly frustrating, as the studio freely admitted. That said, it is still quite a nice disc that I am more than happy with – it is just a somewhat minor upgrade over the previous Scream Factory blu-ray, rather than the major upgrade that the first film was. But considering how rare and pricey the Scream Factory disc is these days, it is very valuable just to have a good disc in print again. 

Since they could not source a new transfer or remaster of the film, this disc uses the same MGM 1080p transfer of Ghoulies II which was featured on the Scream Factory disc in 2015 (I compared the two, they are in fact identical). Overall it is a good-to-very-good transfer though, with fairly sharp detail and very strong colors and contrast. It definitely looks like a 1080p scan that is most of a decade old, and when watched back to back with the 4k restoration of the first Ghoulies you will notice its deficiencies, but it looks very good for what it is, and is more than adequate. It has a very filmic look with healthy grain levels and no sign of DNR, and the colors especially are impressive, particularly in the nighttime scenes.

The one place where it leaves something to be desired is that it has quite a bit of noticeable scratches, dust, and dirt on the image throughout, as though MGM made very little effort to clean the 35mm element itself before doing the scan, and then did no work to clean up the defects during the remastering process. For the most part it isn’t too bad or distracting, but it is certainly noticeable – and there is one moment of outright bad print damage which is distracting. This is the one area where this scan really shows its nature as an outdated scan done by an apathetic studio rather than a loving boutique label. However, this is ultimately outweighed by how the color, contrast, and detail are all quite strong, and so while it is a flawed transfer, it is one where the positives outweigh the negatives. It is a shame that MVD was unable to do a new restoration, but this is certainly good enough that Ghoulies II isn’t in dire need of an upgrade.

The special features on the disc are quite good, although they are sadly not as plentiful as they were for the first film. Again the disc ports over the existing Scream Factory extras, which are once again good, but much more sparse. This includes a 16-minute making-of, which is good but feels more like a featurette than the first film’s proper half-hour behind-the-scenes documentary. It also includes some unrated extended scenes cut at the request of the MPAA to avoid an R-rating. These are very cool to see, as they are often talked about online, and fans had hoped that this disc might include an unrated director’s cut. However, I found that they did not live up to the online buzz: they aren’t really THAT much bloodier, and they would have simply changed the film from a solid PG-13 to a relatively mild R, so I honestly don’t think the film is missing much without them. The one and only new extra on the disc is a half-hour interview with writer Dennis Paoli. Much like the interviews on the first Ghoulies disc, it is an excellent, in-depth, wide-ranging interview, which spends a lot of time on the larger context of his life, his history as a writer, his friendship with Stuart Gordon, and his approach to screenwriting, before it goes similarly in-depth into the writing of Ghoulies II in particular. If you are a fan of his films, regardless of how interested you are in Ghoulies II, you’ll find it fascinating. It is an excellent interview, and an excellent addition to the extras. I just wish there was more.

Overall this is a very good special edition of Ghoulies II, although the recycled 2015 transfer and the limited extras hold it back from being great. The fact that the transfer and half the extras are ported over from the out-of-print Scream Factory disc also makes it one that I have to recommend with a caveat. If you do not have the Scream Factory disc, then I absolutely recommend that you pick this one up. Unlike the first film, which I advised watching before buying because I don’t think it lives up to the cult hype, I would say that if Ghoulies II sounds like fun to you, and you enjoy campy 80s creature features, you can pretty safely buy this disc and know that you’ll find the film to be a decently good, enjoyably campy time. However, if you do already own the 2015 Scream Factory blu-ray, I don’t think it’s worth a double-dip. The only thing you’re getting that isn’t on that previous blu is the half-hour Dennis Paoli interview, and unless you’re a huge fan, I’m guessing that isn’t worth a double-dip in itself. However, while it may not break new ground with its transfer or provide a ton of new extras, it is very nice to have a solid special edition of this film available again, after years of being very rare in America. This will be plenty of collectors’ first chance to buy this one without spending an arm and a leg, and MVD did a good job, given the circumstances.

Now if only that long-rumored Vestron blu-ray of Ghoulies III: Ghoules Go To College would actually happen, to complete the trilogy…

- Christopher S. Jordan

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