Ghoulies

1984 Directed by Luca Bercovici

They'll get you in the end.

A young man and his girlfriend move into the man's old mansion home, where he becomes possessed by a need to control ancient demons.

Peter Liapis Lisa Pelikan Michael Des Barres Jack Nance Peter Risch Tamara De Treaux Scott Thomson Ralph Seymour Mariska Hargitay Victoria Catlin Bobbie Bresee

Alternative Titles

Beasties, Ghoulies I, 鬼食人

horror fantasy comedy

81 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by gremlinsgal69 14

Unpopular horror opinion: while all are unbearably cute, I wouldn't fuck any of the ghoulies from the movie Ghoulies!
Review by Tony the Terror😼🏳️‍🌈 👻 ★★★½ 6

Listen I wish I could tell you how I have managed to never see a single entry in this series, but I haven’t, I admit it, and I’m sorry. I am righting this wrong now.
I’ve always known about them because that VHS poster art was the stuff of legend. Parent groups detested it and that always accomplishes little else but drawing attention to something and making people like me love it even more. I remember being drawn to it out of fascination and also a little bit scared of the thought of watching a monster come up out of the toilet and maybe that’s why I always initially passed it over to rent something else then by the time…
Review by Bob McCully ★★★★ 18

So tomorrow I start back at work, which will be the first time I've left my apartment for more than 2 hours in the past 3 months.
It's been a really bizarre experience, like one incredibly long weekend that was riddled with as much anxiety as it was undeniably relaxing.
I got to spend a lot of time with my fiance who is now also on Letterboxd (@StephCarpanini) and wrote a review of The Amityville Horror where she said she found it so anticlimactic that she recommended jerking off afterwards. So there's that.
I wish I could go back on a much higher note. With the world in turmoil and extremely upsetting images popping up almost every minute, it's made…
Review by adamov10 ½ 11

Ghoulies is f***ing awful, Designed to cash in on the success of the one year earlier smash hit Gremlins, its a cheesy, campy, 80's PG horror. The best thing about this film is the poster, which would lead you to believe this movie would be awesome, but its not, no fun at all, There's no real plot to this, the ghoulies are hardly in the movie, when they are they don't do fuck all, one of the reason its so damn boring. the acting is awful and can sometimes be amusing, the effects are terrible and look silly. Defiantly a contender for the worst film I have ever seen.
Review by robyn ★★★★ 8

From the poster I was expecting a Gremlins rip off about cute slimey things fucking everyone's shit up but what I got was so much more! I love me a good satanic ritual, man.
Also how much do I love Jack Nance though? A MILLION.
Review by Tears_in_Rain ★★★½ 3

This is trash... but it's good trash. Although, most stuff released by Charles Band's Empire Pictures was good trash.
I'm pretty sure the last time I watched this was when VHS was still the dominant format, and video stores still reigned supreme.
When I was a kid, you couldn't walk into a video store without seeing the poster for this on the wall. I was aware of these little guys long before I got around to watching the movie. For a good chunk of my childhood, I couldn't sit on a toilet without being reminded of that poster. When I finally got around to watching this, during my full blown teenage horror obsession, I was a bit disappointed. The puppets…
Review by Kodiak ★★★★ 11

VHS HELL #60
77

“Your eyes...what have you done to your eyes??”
Wow I didn’t realize the hate for this movie until I looked at the ratings - y’all really despise these cuties! I, on the other hand, love ‘em. This movie’s a blast! Satanic rituals, magical midgets, and cackling ghoulies; just some of the things I love most in life. And how iconic is that poster art? Also, you already know I can’t get enough Jack Nance, so of course he’s my favorite here. I feel like maybe the Ghoulies are a distant relative of his baby from Eraserhead. Why do the Ghoulies have nipples though? Who knows, but they’re better for it.
“They call me Dick, but you can call me...Dick.”
Review by Marna Larsen ★★★★★ 9

Stuff about this movie:
Definitely my favorite movie where gross, toothy puppets are lobbed at people's faces.
There actually IS a Ghoulie in the toilet in the actual movie. You guys not seeing a toilet Ghoulie (tho I admit, I haven't been taking down names) are either experiencing a different reality than me or not paying attention.
I really either am just extra creeped out by cat looking Ghoulie or I want to take him home and pet him.
I still do not have what I would consider to be the right sunglasses for that awesome of a party and this saddens me.
I'm also really aggravated that there wasn't just a learning demon summoning type magic training montage, especially…
Review by Christian Ryan ★★ 13

For decades I’ve managed to trust my instincts and avoid this one, but last night, curiosity finally got the better of me. About an hour in, I was kicking myself for eschewing my finely-calibrated cinematic intuition, and recalled this scene from Revenge of the Sith, where Obi-Wan and Anakin find themselves trapped in a ray shield, cursing their grievous (😉) lapse in judgment:
Obi-Wan: Wait a minute, how'd this happen? We're smarter than this.
Anakin: Apparently not.
(Title #5 of The Eleventh Annual October Scare-a-thon!)
Review by belial_carboni ★★★½ 2

You want to ensure a rip roaring Friday night?? Well you start er off with a good ol dose of GHOULIES!!! thats how you do it. Thats how you start a Friday. Friday initiated!
As far as puppetploitation goes Ghoulies is top tier. A real highlight of Empire Pictures and Charlie B. I hadn't seen it in a few years so my brain needed a glorious Ghoulies refresher so that I can be happy not sad. Rad not mad. Glad not bad. And so on.
Things I like about the Ghoulies: they're mischievous and cute, shiny rubbery texture, small and travel sized, there's different varieties, they pop out of toilets, they're vulnerable yet confident, anyone can cast the spell and summon them, controversial party guests, one has a mad underbite, and they would all be my friends and none of them would say no to being my friend.
Don't be one of the foolies... watch Ghoulies!
Review by belial_carboni ★★★½ 4

Only the 80s could have given us something as glorious as Ghoulies. How iconic was that poster art back in the day?? So many memories of seeing it at video stores throughout the late 80s and early 90s.
This one has the usual 80s horror plot of "bunch of weird looking teenagers randomly have a seance at a party and bring back creatures from another dimension" plot. A plot that always delivers in these types of films I must say. Hilarity ensues and we are taken on a delightful ride through some serious hijinks.
Ghoulies be popping out of toilets, possessing people and causing pure mischief. And if that's not enough theres zombies and an ancient warlock guy running amok. Leave it to these zany 80s films to combine horror, comedy and fantasy into one strange little package.
Don't be one of the many foolies and make sure you watch Ghoulies!
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★

They call me Dick, but you can call me... Dick.
-Dick
Probably haven't watched this in a good 20 years, so I would have no reason to have noticed this back then because I didn't know who he was, but THIS time I noticed during the opening credits Executive Producer... Charles Band! It's before Full Moon Features even existed, but it's still funny to finally realize that the man who seemed obsessed with making horror films about all things small (Puppet Master, Demonic Toys, Dollman, The Gingerdead Man, ect) was an executive producer on Ghoulies.
It's your old classic story of guy-inherits-satanic-mansion/guy-conjures-up-demonic-muppets. It's as silly as it sounds but it has it's own trashy charm, besides the guy that our…

Recent reviews

Review by Daniel Zynda ★★★

Der erste "Ghoulies" Film, entstanden 1984.
Naja, nicht das gelbe vom Ei. Eigentlich sogar echter Trash, eine Story wie die eines Comic Strips. Typ erbt Haus, stoesst auf okkulte Buecher und macht sofort mit Kumpels eine Zeremonie im Keller. Die gelingt, das Boese wird freigesetzt, und ein Teil davon sind die Ghoulies, kleine Monster a la Gremlins und Critters. Allerdings erreichen sie nicht deren Klasse, "Ghoulies" war Low Budget Horror aus der B-Film Schmiede von Charles Band, war einer der ersten Filme seiner "Empire Pictures". Nun, und dann wird der Typ selbst kurzzeitig vom Boesen uebernommen und dann schaffen sie's und dann ist Feierabend. Der Film sieht zwar nicht billig aus, aber man merkt an der beschraenkten Story und Location…
Review by 🧍🏻 ★★★★★

me 🤝 jonathan
we’re holding hands
Review by dweeb77 ★★★★

This is just what I wanted from a cheesy, 80s “scary” movie. Would have appreciated more backstory on Toad Boy.
Review by ella ★★★½

the guy who does the weird voices kinda looks like chad donella
Review by Jesse Ortega ★½

This movie is awful, let us all be honest right now. And to call it a shameless ripoff of the Gremlins would be an understatement. Though, if I am being fair, thematically speaking, this film is COMPLETELY different to Gremlins. The elements of it that are a ripoff SHOULD be obvious. This was released a year after Gremlins came out, so you tell me whether or not that film's success had everything to do with this getting made. Having said all of that, despite being an awful movie, I was also entertained by this, particularly during the third act when it fully embraces the absolute absurdity. But, at the same time, the movie prior to all this craziness happening is…
Review by Jamie ★½

A mini monster puppet movie where, unfortunately, the puppets are so incredibly limited. This leads us to watching goofy puppets pop up from behind furniture and throw themselves at our "heroes", which of course still makes for an entertaining watch.
Review by g_conformity ★★★

This is like satanic garbage pale kids. I wanted to know about the monsters since they’re the real stars of the show!
Review by alex_carrie666 ★★★½

Very cute monsters. Silly plot.
Review by MoeMents ★★

Jonathan (Peter Liapis) tritt die Erbschaft eines antiken Anwesens an und verfällt zusehends der dunklen Magie, die sein verstorbener Vater im Keller hinterließ.
Als Okkult-Horrorfilm (mit Comedy-Einlagen) ist GHOULIES gar nicht mal sooo miserabel, doch schienen die Produzenten BAND auf der Gremlins-Wave mitschwimmen zu wollen und packten kurzerhand ein paar hässliche Handpuppen drauf. Allerdings rücken die titelgebenden Filzfratzen mitsamt des Humors erst später an und bleiben grundlegend NEBENSACHE. Die Ein-Meter-Zunge sollte man aber gesehen haben. ;)

Fazit: Kleiner Okkulthorror im nutzlosen Puppet-Mashup und somit ein klarer Fall vom verkannten Genre, bzw. fehlleitender Vermarktung. Aber schnurzegal - bleibt so oder so Durchschnitt.
Review by Ranae Lizdenis ★★★½

I liked it. Obviously not as good as Gremlins but fun.
"My name is Dick but you can call me, dick" - Dick
Review by Catmum ★½

A bit of silly fun!
Not exactly a good storyline but I do like the little ghoulies! They are such gruesomely funny lil things!
Good for a laugh 👹😨😈
Review by Oliver Elliott-Rye

Credit where credit is due (to me, not this film) I stayed awake throughout this entire movie and I was absolutely knackered!
Ghoulies hasn't got enough of the little critters in it, instead, it has wizards and dwarfs and teenagers and all I wanted to see were Ghoulies is that honestly too much to ask for?
Favorite Ghoulies were probably the gross water Ghoulies.