The body parts of Chinese labor workers "melded together" thanks in part to a witch's curse (one of the miner's wives was a witch), and this "vengeance spell" has created quite a "gold monster" (an accidental detonation caused a part inside the cave to collapse, not only pinning them inside but destroying them) that is set free when a couple of local yahoos decide to try and get gold deep within it. The mine had been closed for some time, but greedy Billy Butler (Michael Badalucco), allowed to deprive whatever resources might be waiting inside due to his horrible ancestors who owned it for generations, needs financial properties that could exist. When the monster (it emanates a mist-like, gold-colored odor that paralyzes victims before it tears them apart) goes on a killing spree, it will ultimately be left up to a deputy with panic attacks and bad nerves, Todd (Robert Belushi, son of James Belushi!), and a coroner, Theresa (Cathy Shim), a Chinese-American beauty who has been helping him cleanse himself of his issues with falling prey to the incoming stress, to stop it. Jennifer Ruben (Nightmare on Elm Street III) and Marion Ross (of Happy Days) have paycheck bits as a mine health inspector (who can be bought as is the case when Billy offers her gold in exchange for her silence in regards to several off-the-code issues with the mine) and cantankerous speeding old bitty respectively. Both are victims of the creature (which looks like a walking mouth with teeth; its appendages are heads adding to its misshapen grotesque appearance), while the sheriff, Tatum (Carl Savering), begins to realize that stopping it won't be easy. When Billy realizes the monster "bleeds gold", his greed overtakes his common sense, and he decides to try and trap it. Tatum wants it dead, and so Billy will make sure (thanks to handcuffs) he doesn't interfere in his insane plot to capture the creature for its gold blood. Meanwhile, Todd's voluptuous teen sis, Veronica (Evie Thompson), her best friend (and Theresa's sister), Tracy (Olivia Ku), and their boyfriends (one is the sheriff's son, of course) all decide to go up to the other side of the mine for some beer-drinking and necking, not expecting a couple of posse hunters (brought on to help the sheriff kill the creature) to hold them hostage, awaiting the creature.
Badly edited monster mayhem, some variable effects sequences of the creature, and dumb characters fit perfectly with the kind of formula often found on the syfy channel. Todd is a fun character, with his debilitating condition that often requires him to use a sack for breathing while his sheriff boss makes fun of him and ridicules him. Lucille Soong also has a rather entertaining part as the Chinese mother of Theresa and Tracy, under the impression that the creature has awakened, but hoping she's wrong about her bad feelings. Her "language barrier" proves to be amusing when Todd realizes she isn't as limited as he was led to believe. She is key to understanding the creature's existence and back story. The back story, I must confess, intrigued me and its tragic components are perfect for the kind of creature that derives from a spell cast by someone with revenge on her heart. Too bad the film is too lo-fi and cheaply made to truly do anything remotely interesting with that back story. Good for a few laughs, but ultimately, Heebie Jeebies falls into the same category of many of its kin: it has lame characters, lame kills, and lame special effects. Butler is your real villain of the film, an unsavory lech with gold on the brain 24-7. His fate is a nice bookend to a film which shows a gold "spiritual mist" representing the souls of those trapped Chinese workers being freed
the absurdity of this whole film is amplified by such an ending.
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