The first time I tried watching "Spookies" was on a rough looking ex-rental video tape and I barely got through the opening sequence due to its bad quality. So in the bin it went, and my hunger for seeing it only grew. Until recently I luckily happened upon a DVD copy of it.
A group of young adults driving around looking for a place to party stumble across old mansion in the woods. Unknowingly to them it's occupied by an evil sorcerer and one by one they're picked off to help revive his dead bride.
"Spookies" is downright crazy, senseless and spontaneous low-rent 80s sludge, which is so goofy it's too much fun to pass up. Everything about it is hysterical. I guess you just have to go with its unhinged tone and take it as a creaky haunted house ride, where you don't know what awaits you at every turn. Since it's a patchwork of two films, some executed passages might be clunky and never truly capture its imaginative concept and ideas, but at least the original (but not perfect) screenplay makes for an enjoyable, if confounded monster mash. While heavy on things going on, the short running time breezes by until it comes to it's somewhat eccentric, but dragged out climax. Also it breathes some striking atmospheric touches and positional placements -- especially the use of lighting within the creepy rundown mansion. What I did like is that while it can seem silly, still it has a cruel, grim side that's perfectly pitched by the opening sequences involving a young teenage boy.
Although where it actually caught me off guard, was with its use of visual effects and make-up FX. The low-budget shows within the set-designs and props, but the creations (a whole bunch of ghouls) and effects (optical lights and splitting heads) are vividly creative and extremely well delivered. Not so the erratic music score talk about random and kooky. But then again it should fit its style. The performances are gawkily over-the-top (with Felix Ward taking top honours) or woodenly blank with the typical character fodder evident, but the script while amusing remains muffled and daft.
Cheapjack, but mindlessly entertaining 80s horror comedy, where anything goes.
A group of young adults driving around looking for a place to party stumble across old mansion in the woods. Unknowingly to them it's occupied by an evil sorcerer and one by one they're picked off to help revive his dead bride.
"Spookies" is downright crazy, senseless and spontaneous low-rent 80s sludge, which is so goofy it's too much fun to pass up. Everything about it is hysterical. I guess you just have to go with its unhinged tone and take it as a creaky haunted house ride, where you don't know what awaits you at every turn. Since it's a patchwork of two films, some executed passages might be clunky and never truly capture its imaginative concept and ideas, but at least the original (but not perfect) screenplay makes for an enjoyable, if confounded monster mash. While heavy on things going on, the short running time breezes by until it comes to it's somewhat eccentric, but dragged out climax. Also it breathes some striking atmospheric touches and positional placements -- especially the use of lighting within the creepy rundown mansion. What I did like is that while it can seem silly, still it has a cruel, grim side that's perfectly pitched by the opening sequences involving a young teenage boy.
Although where it actually caught me off guard, was with its use of visual effects and make-up FX. The low-budget shows within the set-designs and props, but the creations (a whole bunch of ghouls) and effects (optical lights and splitting heads) are vividly creative and extremely well delivered. Not so the erratic music score talk about random and kooky. But then again it should fit its style. The performances are gawkily over-the-top (with Felix Ward taking top honours) or woodenly blank with the typical character fodder evident, but the script while amusing remains muffled and daft.
Cheapjack, but mindlessly entertaining 80s horror comedy, where anything goes.