Ghoulies4

Ghoulies IV (1994)

Let me warn fans of the series that this movie has very little to do with the rest of the Ghoulies franchise. This is in spite of the use of footage from Ghoulies in the form of a flashback and that they bring back the character of Jonathan Graves, as well as the actor that plays him. The little buggers here are all that evil and they don’t create much mayhem. In fact there isn’t a single puppet to be seen in this bad boy (with the exception of the flashbacks).

The movie opens with a very attractive woman, who we later find out is Alexandra, in a black leather outfit breaking into a warehouse to steal a gem. After killing all the guards she uses their bodies to summon an evil entity, but manages to screw things up. So she has to track down another gem for the ritual. Of course Graves, now a cop has the only other one. She knows where to find him because they have a history together. In fact they were dating until she tried to kill him and summon his evil version from hell. Which is in fact what she is up to again. How do the Ghoulies come into play you might ask? When she screws the first ritual up she brings a couple of them into our dimension. But instead of the puppets of past films we get a couple of little people in makeup that are comic relief.

In spite of being disappointed in the way the movie treats the Ghoulie characters I have to admit the movie does have some funny moments. The dialogue and situations that they put the Ghoulies into can be funny in a cartoon like way. I did laugh at a bit with a can of Mace and the shotgun incident was amusing. The movie also works well at times as a parody of those cop movies from the 70s and 80s. This is especially true of the liquor store robbery that Graves stops with some very Cobra/Dirty Harry sort of moves. In addition to this the story is very cheesy and told on what appears to be a miniscule budget, which gives it a fun nostalgic direct to home video feel. On the other hand I did find the jokes to wear a bit and the movie drags towards the end. Also there isn’t any nudity or gore in the movie, which does drop enough language to get an R rating. What the hell man if you are going to get an R rating and have as many beautiful women as this movie boasts then go for it. Finally if I’m going to watch a movie called Ghoulies IV I’d like to see more Ghoulies in it. Otherwise maybe you call the movie Graves and his crazy ex girlfriends (which is really more accurate).

I’ve already said there isn’t much gores to speak of. But I did want to mention that the makeup on the two Ghoulies that are in the movie, Ghoulie Lite and Ghoulie Dark is decent. This is good because we get enough close-ups that it would have ruined any fun that the movie might have to offer. One more thing the shuffle backwards into the “vortex” at the end of the movie is one of the funniest things that I’ve ever seen and not in a good way. Trust me you have to see it to believe it.

Ghoulies IV is a mediocre movie that offers a few funny moments, but not much else. It’s biggest redeeming factor is that I can be had on the cheap. So if you don’t mind spending a couple of dollars it might be worth picking this one up for laughs. But be warned it lacks most of the charm of it’s predecessors.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer