{"id":12977,"date":"2025-09-05T15:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12977"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:39:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:39:49","slug":"ghoulies-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/09\/05\/ghoulies-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghoulies II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ghoulies II <\/strong>(1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empire Pictures\/Horror-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violence, language, alcohol abuse)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Albert Band\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Dennis Paoli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Fuzzbee Morse\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Sergio Salvati\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 5, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Damon Martin, Royal Dano, Phil Fondacaro, J. Downing, Kerry Remsen, Dale Wyatt, Jon Maynard Pennell, Sasha Jenson, Starr Andreeff, William Butler, Donnie Jeffcoat, Christopher Burton, Mickey Knox, Romano Puppo, Anne Morton.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I actually like Ghoulies II<\/strong> better than the first one. This time, it\u2019s clearer that it\u2019s supposed to be fun. Director Albert Band (Dracula\u2019s Dog) tones down the whole Satanism thing ever so slightly. Aside from the opening sequence in which red-robed cult members chase the guy who demon-napped the Ghoulies with the intention of destroying them in a vat of acid, there\u2019s hardly any mention of this aspect of the tale until the end when the heroes try to send them back to whence they came by way of an impromptu, improvised ritual. The rest of Ghoulies II<\/strong> is an enjoyable horror-comedy that takes place in a time when foul-mouthed preteens went to seedy carnivals at night without adult supervision. Welcome back to the 80s when it wasn\u2019t uncommon for 12YOs to carry around Chinese throwing stars. It was all those Sho Kosugi ninja movies from Cannon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I saw Ghoulies II<\/strong> on my 21st<\/sup> birthday. I remember it distinctly. West Coast Video had a deal where you paid half-price if you returned your videos before 5pm the same day. It was a Thursday and I had no classes at community college that day. I decided to celebrate in my own way that day and rented three movies- Masquerade, Vice Versa and Ghoulies II<\/strong>. I wasn\u2019t expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be so enjoyable. No, it\u2019s not great cinema. It\u2019s from Empire Pictures, the same outfit that gave us such timeless non-classics as Troll, Eliminators and TerrorVision. I like their movies, don\u2019t get me wrong, but we all know they\u2019re junk. That being said, let\u2019s talk about Ghoulies II<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It takes place at a seedy traveling carnival about to undergo major changes thanks to yuppie owner Hardin\u2019s (Downing, Robot Wars) announcement that certain attractions, like the funhouse Satan\u2019s Den, will be closed down if they don\u2019t start showing a profit. For him, it\u2019s all about the bottom line, a mentality not shared by the carnies that work and live there. Satan\u2019s Den is run by Ned (Dano, House II: The Second Story), an alcoholic former magician ostensibly teaching his teenage nephew Larry (Martin, Amityville: It\u2019s About Time) the tricks of his old trade. They know their funhouse has been losing money for a long time and is in serious danger of closure. That is until the Ghoulies move in and start drawing crowds much to the confusion of Hardin who wanted to replace Satan\u2019s Den with female mud-wrestling. At first, the \u201cmarks\u201d (carny speak for attendees) think the little monsters are part of the show. That changes when they start killing people.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Apparently, there\u2019s a R-rated version of Ghoulies II<\/strong> with a little more graphic violence. I wouldn\u2019t mind checking that out someday. Meanwhile, the PG-13 version I just rewatched will do just nicely. Once again, the special effects are exceptional for the film\u2019s low budget. John Carl Buechler who did the effects on the first Ghoulies movie returns for the second. The combination of animatronics, puppetry and stop-motion is WAY COOL! It even has a man in a rubber suit at the end when the heroes conjure up a bigger Ghoulie to handle the little ones wreaking havoc on the fairway. A girl gets run over by bumper cars. A guy gets bonked on the head by a Ghoulie-occupied boxing glove. A clown gets his arm bitten off. And, of course, one guy gets in the end on the toilet, a nice connection to the first movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting isn\u2019t too bad. Dano is a great B-movie actor; he always brings a sense of dignity to these things. Kerry Remsen (Pumpkinhead), who plays Larry\u2019s love interest, a koochie-dancer named Nicole, is nice to look at. That her character is a former high-wire performer who developed a fear of heights after the falling death of her partner\/brother pretty much ensures she\u2019ll have to climb to a high spot by movie\u2019s end. Phil Fondacaro (Troll) plays Sir Nigel, a diminutive Shakespearean-trained actor reduced to wearing a silly monster suit to attract people to Satan\u2019s Den. He\u2019s really good in Ghoulies II<\/strong>; he too brings with him a measure of dignity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s my bottom line. I really like Ghoulies II<\/strong>. It\u2019s a fun movie. It\u2019s not the least bit scary; the Ghoulies may frighten some small kids but they shouldn\u2019t be watching this anyway. It is funny though. Some of the characters are a riot like the two local teens who act like a-holes; one has a boom box (his \u201ctunes\u201d) that he refuses to shut off. Let\u2019s just say that they both end up paying the piper with their lives (almost). Hardin is the kind of 80s yuppie that you just want to slap the living s*** out of. Luckily, he gets his in the end (you know what I mean, right?). I just think that Ghoulies II<\/strong> is a good flick, solid B-movie fun. It gives me faith in direct-to-video movies*. That, my friends, is a God-granted miracle.<\/p>\n

*= According to IMDb, Ghoulies II<\/strong> had a theatrical release, the only Ghoulies sequel to get one. Damned if I remember it ever playing at the movies. I would have been all over it. As far as I\u2019m concerned, it\u2019s a DTV flick.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ghoulies II (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empire Pictures\/Horror-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violence, language, alcohol abuse)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Albert Band\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Dennis Paoli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Fuzzbee Morse\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Sergio Salvati\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 5, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Damon Martin, Royal Dano, Phil Fondacaro, J. Downing, Kerry Remsen, Dale Wyatt, Jon Maynard Pennell, Sasha Jenson, Starr Andreeff, William Butler, Donnie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ghoulies-II-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12980,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12977\/revisions\/12980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}