Ghoulies II 4K Review (MVD Rewind Collection)

Ghoulies II is a 1987 horror comedy produced and directed by Albert Band (Massacre at Grand Canyon, The Tramplers, Doctor Mordrid, Robot Wars, Dracula’s Dog, Prehysteria franchise, and Face of Fire). It’s a sequel to 1984’s Ghoulies. It was written by Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon, Meridian, Spellcaster, Body Snatchers, and Castle Freak). It was produced by the legendary Charles Band (The Puppet Master franchise, Trancers franchise, Subspecies franchise, Evil Bong franchise, Demonic Toys franchise, Ghoulies franchise, Troll franchise, The Resonator, Pet Shop, Robot Wars, Tourist Trap, Laserblast, Beach Babes from Beyond, Castle Freak, Blood Dolls, Seedpeople, The Creeps, Hideous!, Head of the Family, Oblivion franchise, Dollman, Doctor Mordrid, Intruder, Prison, Sorority Babes in the Slimebowl-O-Rama, Creepozoids, From Beyond, ShadowZone, and TerrorVision). Charles Band sold the rights to Vestron after this follow up in order to get money to try to save Empire Pictures at the time. Two other sequels were made after this which includes Ghoulies Go to College and Ghoulies IV.The toilet-dwelling goblins are back! The Ghoulies manage to get a ride with a traveling carnival after being summoned. The small creatures end up hiding in an amusement park funhouse known as “Satan’s Den” ran by Larry (played by: Damon Martin from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Amityville 1992, and Freddy’s Nightmares) and Uncle Ned (played by: Royal Dano from Killer Klowns From Outer Space, The Dark Half, House II, and Twin Peaks) which becomes very popular when the crowd believes the little demons are part of the sideshow attraction. The greedy owner Philip Harden (played by: J. Downing from Viper and Robot Wars) has Sir Nigel Penneyweight (played by: Phil Fondacaro from The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Bordello of Blood, Troll, and Willow) supervise the profitable circus run. They let their guard down and they start getting killed one by one by the mini monsters!!!!Ghoulies II is very different from the original. This sequel is actually a little more fun and entertaining compared to the original. The first Ghoulies film kept the Ghoulies more of a surprise compared to this follow up. They have a much bigger role here. Empire Pictures took advantage of the popularity of Gremlins and Critters at the time with this lower budget version of the small creatures craze that was killing the box office. The script delivers a variety of so many different characters in this wacky set up. The main carnival location is basically one of the main roles in this. It has a little creepy atmosphere to it. Albert and Charles Band collaborations were always a blast. Producer Charles always made sure that his father Albert has some of the best crew around him for this Empire Pictures feature. So many talented names in all kinds departments worked on this that includes Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator), Sergio Salvati (The Beyond), Barry Zetlin (Friday the 13th: The New Blood), Giovanni Natalucci (From Beyond), Bruce Barlow (Critters 2), David Allen (Puppet Master franchise), John Carl Buechler (Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers), and Kenneth J. Hall (Critters). The cast was loaded with character actors such as Damon Martin, Phil Fondacaro, Royal Dano, Kerry Remsen (Pumpkinhead), Dale Wyatt (Spellcaster), Sasha Jenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Starr Andreeff (Out of the Dark), William Butler (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), Donnie Jeffcoat (Night of the Demons), Mickey Knox (Cemetery Man), Romano Puppo (Robowar), Michael Deak (Cellar Dweller), and Anthony Dawson (James Bond franchise). So many familiar faces in Ghoulies II, it really elevated the entire production. I feel like everything was amped up a little more here, wait for the wild finale. This sequel has more violence and gore compared to the original especially if you watch the director’s cut. They had such a skilled fx crew so it’s top notch for being the late 80’s. Ghoulies II has much more replay value compared to most of this horror franchise. It still holds up pretty good after all these years, RECOMMENDED!!!!Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from the MVD Rewind Collection! These 2160p (1.85:1) transfers with Dolby Vision and HDR10 from a newer 2024 4K restoration of the original camera negative from the MGM vaults. Both Theatrical (90 minutes) and the rare Rated R Director’s Cut (91 minutes 20 Seconds) on this UHD looks like a totally different movie than we all have all experienced over the years. It’s like night and day compared to the previous blu ray home video releases (Both Scream Factory and the original MVD). This is one of the most surprising upgrades that I’ve covered in a long time, I’ve seen this sequel so many times but it’s a whole different vibe here. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, this is the same audio as before. It still holds up really good for a late 80’s horror feature. It has English SDH subtitles. On the the actual UHD, it only has a few extras. It has both cuts of Ghoulies II here. It has a little over a minute “Introduction” from the iconic screenwriter Dennis Paoli. It has a “Theatrical Trailer” for Ghoulies II.The rest of the special features are located on the blu ray disc. “More Toilets, More Terror: The Making of Ghoulies II” is almost 17 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. It’s from the older Scream Factory release. They chat about the origins. They talk about the cast, the shoot, budget, locations, and so much more. They say most of the extras on the horror movie actually only spoke Italian. There’s lots of information and some really fun stories from the production here especially for it’s short running time. “Under the Magic Moon” is an almost 34 minute interview with writer Dennis Paoli. This is a fantastic chat with the iconic horror writer. This is from the previous MVD Rewind Collection home video release. He talks about Stuart Gordon. He brings up them discovering their talents in Chicago. He goes on to his college years, he was still working with Stuart back then in stuff like theatre. He says they were in a comedy group. He discusses the great mix of humor and horror. He says it only took 2 weeks to write Ghoulies II. He goes over his experience working with Charles Band. He gets very detailed about previous work and this Ghoulies II production. It has almost 3 minutes of “Deleted Scenes”. It has an almost 2 minutes of material. It’s mainly stuff that got trimmed from the original Rated R version. “Photo Gallery”. It has a variety of “Trailers” including the original film and MVD related releases. It also comes with a slipcover, reversible artwork, mini collectible poster, and a blu ray copy. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!