MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: GHOULIES (1985) (MVD Rewind Collection 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Review with Screenshot Comparison)

GHOULIES (1985)

Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Label: MVD Rewind 4K LaserVision Collection #2

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: PG-13

Duration: 80 Minutes 58 Seconds

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English, Spanish and French Subtitles

Video: 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Luca Bercovici

Cast: Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres, Scott Thomson, Mariska Hargitay, Jack Nance, Tamara De Treaux, Peter Risch, Ralph Seymour, Keith Joe Dick, Victoria Catlin

In the Luca Bercovici (Rockula) directed Ghoulies (1985) college student Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis, Ghost Warrior) cannot believe his good fortune when he inherits a sweet but dilapidated mansion that once belonged to his estranged father Malcolm Graves. He moves in right away with girlfriend Rebecca (Lisa Pelkin, Jennifer) with plans to renovate it, but he becomes increasingly obsessed with the occult and black magic following the discovery of his father's journal - turns out that Dad was something of a Warlock. Jonathan's new found interest in the occult disturbs Rebecca but he secretly continues to dabble in the dark arts without her knowledge down in the creepy old basement where there's an altar and a magic circle on the floor. When the couple host a housewarming party Jonathan suggest to his friends that they should hold an occult ritual in an effort to summon a demon, which sounds like a great idea to a roomful of fun-loving drunks. Gathered in the basement Jonathan draws a pentagram and other ritualistic symbols on the floor, but it doesn't seem to summon much of anything... at least at first. It turns out that the spell casting was a success after all, having conjured not just gaggle of demonic ghoulies but a pair of pint-sized minions named Greedigut (Tamara De Treaux, Rockula) and Grizzel (Peter Risch, Something Wicked This Way Comes), who seemingly set out to help Jonathan master his nascent occult powers.

Not long after Rebecca and Jonathan host yet another party and invite the same group of friends, an anthology of '80s stereotypes, the drug-addled burnouts (Scott Thomson, Frightmare), the nerdy "Toad Boy" (Ralph Seymour, Killer Party), a horny rockabilly beefcake (Keith Joe Dick, Tapeheads), and two young female companions( Victoria Catlin, Maniac Cop) and the lovely Mariska Hargitay, who is blonde-bombshell Jayne Mansfield's daughter and the star of TVs Law and Order: SVU, in her very first onscreen role looking so young and sexy. The group fall under the control of Jonathan, who is now much stronger, his eyes now glowing neon-green with satanic power, coercing them into performing another ritual, but it turns out that he has been duped by his diminutive minions who only helped him perform the ritual to resurrect their true master, Jonathan's deceased father Michael Graves (Michael Des Barres, Mulholland Drive) who emerges from his grave to reap a terrible vengeance upon the party goers with some help from his ghoulie demon-spawn.

Viewers might be thrown off by the fact that the creatures take a back seat to Jonathan's exploration of occult in the first film, only coming out to play from time to time in short bursts before receding back into the shadows for long stretches. I still love the creature design though, my favorite has feline cat-like features, while another has the appearance of a rat, and then there's the iconic ghoulies recognized from the advertising campaign, the slimy green-skinned water-demons seen emerging from the crapper and apparently scaring young children away from proper potty training, if the stories Charlie Band tells in the extras are to be believed. The effects team that worked on this included Howard Berger, John Carl Buechler, and John Vulich, for a low-budget creature feature the slime-covered ghoulies look pretty great.

Peter Liapis is solid if a bit wooden in my opinion as the apprentice warlock but he's fine, as is the porcelain-skinned Lisa Pelkin who is quite a beauty - you just know I had a crush on her a kid! Poor David Lynch alum Jack Nance (Wild at Heart) just looks lost during his scenes as the mansion's caretaker Wolfgang, but I love seeing him here, and he looks cool with a beard. Michael Des Barres (one time singer of '80s rockers Power Station) is so much over-the-top fun as the reanimated master of the occult, a blue-skinned specter who at one point transforms into a horny blond babe (Bobbie Bresee, Mausoleum) to seduce a young man before strangling him with an elongated tongue. As a young teen I found this sexual switcheroo to be quite disturbing, now it's just a turn on, just kidding! In one of the more genuinely creepy moments a young woman is terrorized by a clown marionette, a gag seemingly borrowed from Poltergeist (1982) but with a green-ooze twist, it's good stuff. I also enjoyed the riff on the "What have you done to his eyes!?!" line from Rosemary's Baby. Even though Jonathan seems to be the one in charge initially he is quite unaware that his friends are being killed off one by one, and when he becomes aware of that fact he must face off against his father in a battle of the black arts.

The finale is a bit of bust unfortunately, a ridiculous eye-zapping laser light show that is the most '80s and dated sequence in the entire damn movie. I freely admit that the scares are few and far between throughout and that my own love for this one is largely based on overwhelming nostalgia I have for it, something I have always been able to muster with relative ease. Your own mileage may vary depending on your own level of nostalgia and love of cheesy b-movies, but if you enjoy other Empire Pictures/Full Moon Entertainment titles I think it's safe to say you will have fun with Ghoulies.

Audio/Video: Ghoulies (1985) arrives on region-free 4K Ultra HD from MVD Rewind Collection, featuring a brand-new 2023 4K Restoration (16-Bit Scan of the Original Camera Negative) of the film presented in its original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ration with the added benefit of the wide color gamut Dolby Vision/HDR10. This is a simply phenomenal 4K restoration of the film, the source is in immaculate shape and the fine film grain is uniform throughout. The 4K resolution offers a wonderful array of fine detail and filmic textures that are sure to be revelatory for fans who have never had truly terrific version of the film on home video, even the 2014 Scream Factory double-feature Blu-ray, which wasn't that great to begin with, looks absolutely horrendous by comparison. The Dolby Vision/HDR color-grading is certainly a highlight of this new UHD, the black levels are deep and inky, there's no crush, and shadow detail is rock solid. The WGC color-grading also highlight the terrifically atmospheric cinematography by the late-great Mac Ahlberg (From Beyond, Dolls, Hellnight), his multitude of colored lighting set-ups finally get their chance to shine on UHD, the flowing green eyes are noticeably more luminous, and colors just look more vivid and not so dang dingy as the SF release. The image is quite crisp and clean, plus depth and clarity are greatly improved. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and free of source related issues, dialogue sounds natural and defined, and the Richard Band (Laserblast) score is full-bodied. The accompanying Blu-ray is also sourced from the same 4K restoration in 1080p without the benefit of WCG color-grading but looks terrific and easily superior to the previous SF release - so if you are not 4K UHD enabled yet I would say this is still worth the double-dip for the improved video and the new array of extras.

The MVD release ports over all the extras that were present on the the Scream Factory release, we get half-hour "From Toilets to Terror:" The Making of Ghoulies featuring interviews with Executive Producer Charles Band, Composer Richard Band, Actor Michael Des Barres And Special Effects Makeup Artist John Vulich, all of whom paint a fun picture of the film and are very up front with what kind of film it was. We also get an Audio commentary with Director/Co-writer Luca Bercovici from which is a bit of a slog to be honest, he's low energy and it comes across pretty dry. We also get the Original Theatrical Trailer, plus a Still Gallery.

We also get a couple of extras that were not present on the Scream Factory release, though they are not new, they are new to me, so hooray! These include an Archival 2016 Audio Commentary by director Luca Bercovici moderated by Jason Andreasen of Terror Transmission. This is a much better commentary track, having Andreasen moderating the track and offering his own insights helps move things along. On a separate note, Terror Transmission was one of my favorite commentary podcasts that ended quite a few years ago, Andreason was a co-host, but they have over a hundred episodes and they are well-worth listening to so go add 'em to whatever podcatcher app you use, and thank me later. Also new to me are a trio of Andreasen produced interviews that I first noticed on the Australian label Umbrella Entertainment's double-feature Ghoulies/Ghoulies 2 Blu-ray; a brief Video Introduction by Luca Bercovici; the 28-min Editing an Empire: Interview with Ted Nicolau; the 22-min The Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Waste: Interview with Scott Thomson; and the 34-min “Just For The Chick Man” interview with Luca Bercovici - so we get quite a bit of content here that most of us probably have not seen before. If you own that Umbrella release hang onto it, it has some exclusive extras not available here (or anywhere lese that I can tell); that Australian release also contains Two Extended TV cuts with extra footage taken from archival VHS recordings plus the Ghoulies Unflushed: Audio Only Interview with Producer Jefery Levy.

The 2-disc UHD/BD arrives in a dual-hubbed black keepcase, the single-sided wrap features the original Ghoulies theatrical artwork, plus we get a Slipcover (first pressing only) with the same artwork, but with a twist, the slipcover artwork looks like a CED Video Disc with a warped label, that motif is also featured on the backside of the wrap. Inside there's a Fold-Out Poster featuring the same CED Video Disc style artwork but slightly expanded upon so that you actually see the CED Video Disc Cartridge - I absolutely love this attention to detail for this doomed home video format! Botht he slip and wrap have a numbered spine, this being #2 of the MVD Rewind's 4K LaservIsion Collection.

Special Features:

Disc 1 (4K Ultra HD):

- 2023 4K Restoration (16-Bit Scan of the Original Camera Negative) of the film presented in its original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio in Dolby Vision/HDR

- Archival 2015 Audio Commentary with director Luca Bercovici

- Archival 2016 Audio Commentary by director Luca Bercovici moderated by Jason Andreasen of Terror Transmission

- Collectible 4K Mini-Poster

- Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)

Disc 2 (Blu-ray):

- 2023 HD Restoration of the film presented in its original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio

- Optional English Subtitles

- 2.0 Mono DTS-HD Audio

- Archival 2015 Audio commentary with director Luca Bercovici