Ghoul

source: Ghoul

OK so Ghoul was the first book I read by Brian Keene, and it was intriguing, terrifying, thought provoking and dark in the subject matter. This movie took this awesome piece of literary genius and wiped its ass with it. I'll save you the time, the killer isn't the Ghoul, as it was in the book, there I saved you the disappointment of sitting through this made for TV garbage. On a lighter note I had a good laugh at the acting and "cinematography". I know I sound like I'm being cruel, many people will say "hey you mean lady, its made for TV what did you expect?" and to that I will say, "how about actually sticking to the story?" Please Brian don't let them butcher another one of your novels again, this was worse than Kubricks attempt at The Shining....0/10 stars seriously of you have actually read the book do not bother with this movie.

It's the summer of '84. Timmy Graco (Nolan Gould) has his two friends and an underground hideout. Tragedy strikes when his grandfather (Barry Corbin) dies. His mother (Catherine Mary Stewart) is worried. There is a local legend of a mine. The three friends discover an underground network of tunnels. This is pretty good. It's surprisingly good considering the user rating. I don't know anything about the book. Nolan Gould is a good child actor. I wish Barry Corbin would stay in the picture. The drunken father story turns out to be pretty good. As a horror, this needs more jump scares and a better creature feature. Still, this is pretty good low budget TV horror. It's relying on the kids, and they do a good job.

This is a perfect example of how NOT to adapt a book. What we have is a fantastic creature feature reduced to a pathetic Famous 5 film by removing the monster entirely and making it a criminal. Absolutely worthless as a film.

The true horror inspired by this film will be what you'll want to do to yourself after you wasted your time watching it. You'll want to claw your eyes out, scoop out your brains with a rusty trowel, and pierce your ear drums with roofing nails. This movie isn't just bad, it's stupefyingly bad. The acting is atrocious, and the direction is even worse. Barry Corbin has a small, uncredited role in this film, and after having watched it, I am convinced that he had a clause in his contract stating that his name would not overtly be linked to or associated with this putrid waste of celluloid. If I could have given this movie anything less than one star, I would have. To be honest, the main reason that I watched the movie was because Catherine Mary Stewart was in it. I loved her in "Night of the Comet", and "Weekend at Bernie's". After having seen her in those films, I was hugely disappointed by her performance in "Ghoul". She took cloying and maudlin to new depths. None of the children in this movie could act in even the most remote definition of the word. Take an episode of R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps"... ANY episode.. and it would seem like the remake of "Evil Dead" or "The Conjuring" compared to "Ghoul". I haven't yet read the novel that inspired this movie, but I am given to understand that it is a decent read. I don't know how closely the movie adaptation paralleled the book, but some of the elements of the movie were beyond any semblance of believability, particularly the closing scene between the "ghoul" and one of the child protagonists of the movie. The story behind the "ghoul" is that the evil, drunken, abusive father of one of the three children central to the plot was the foreman over a mining crew. One of the men under his supervision asks for the day off of work because his wife doesn't feel well. Greedy for a promised bonus if some assignment is finished early, the foreman declines the miner's request, which leads to tragic consequences. The miner goes home after work, and discovers that his wife killed their twin sons, and then herself. Apparently, driven mad by his grief, the miner becomes a recluse and goes to inhabit the now abandoned mine and tunnels. The evil, drunken, abusive father/former foreman is so wracked by guilt for what he has done to the miner's family that he helps the miner trap his victims. Here we have another clichéd horror movie plot... kill the males, kidnap the females. Gee, never seen that before. In another review, Brielyn Sexeny is mentioned. Yes, she is attractive, but her big scene in the movie is when she goes berserk and gets into a mixed martial arts brawl with the clothes on her backyard clothesline. By the way, Brielyn Sexeny's character kills more people in the movie than the ghoul does. If you haven't seen this movie... DON'T. It really is that bad.

This movie is aimed at a tame audience, but has taken from a much less tame story. So I'm essentially writing this review so that people who feel closure is important and do not have the time to actually read the novel. I suggest you go to the Ghoul novel wikipedia page and read the plot. I promise closure...and also a little sadness. But in the whole of it I found the movie to be very watchable, while a lot of questions were left open, and the ending was abrupt, the movie throughout was an entertaining experience I was happy with the acting, I may be alone but I believe the characters (Especially Timmy and Barry) to be placed perfectly in what it was obviously asked of them to play

As I read the synopsis for "Ghoul," my expectations for a great film that would make me feel nostalgic about my childhood love for monster and action movies began to build up. High expectations aren't always a good thing when going into a film. Unfortunately, that was the case here. I wanted to like it, but something got lost along the way. Timmy, Doug, and Barry are the best of friends. As if life for three 12- year old boys at the edge of puberty isn't hard enough, things get very tough when they are forced by circumstances to confront the urban legend of a creature which lives underneath their local cemetery. Are there supernatural forces at work or are the disappearances of several local teenagers tied to someone in the town with unknown motives? I have to hand it to director Gregory M. Wilson and writer William M. Miller. This was made as a low-budget TV-movie for Chiller TV. As far as that goes, it looks great. The creature makeup is genuinely creepy and the sets look good. They never quite convinced me that I was watching something happening in 1984. The lack of a soundtrack effectively reflecting the era and misplaced pop-culture references were definite hindrances in the process. It didn't help when characters exclaimed, "Eat my shorts" and "Don't have a cow!" These two catchphrases were coined by Bart Simpson in "The Simpsons," which didn't even gain real popularity until late 1989. "Ghoul" boasts at least two veteran actors which are familiar to children of the 1980s. Barry Corbin portrays Timmy's grandfather. He was a supporting actor in several movies and TV shows from the decade like "WarGames," "Dallas," and "Critters 2." I'm sure tons of boys who were teenagers at the time will identify with my crush on Catherine Mary Stewart. I was captivated by her in such films as "The Last Starfighter," "Weekend at Bernie's," and "Night of the Comet." She plays Timmy's mother and adds a bit more legitimacy to the movie. One thing that gave me a sense of appreciation for "Ghoul" was the Behind-the-Scenes featurette. It did a great job of highlighting the hard work and conviction poured into the movie. It's hard to completely hate on something that someone put so much effort into. I have a deep respect for the set builders and makeup artists. "Ghoul" tries very hard to capture the magic of films like "Super 8," "The Goonies," and "The Monster Squad." It's a shame it didn't accomplish what it set out to do successfully. Viewers who aren't looking for a walk down memory lane may enjoy this, but filmmakers missed their target market in my opinion.

This started off as a good movie. Set in the eighties I thought it would be like all the other cheesy movies, maybe kind of like Goonies but instead I got a lot of different directions this movie could go in and not one of them resolved. First they introduced child molestation and then domestic violence and alcoholism. All of these scenes were more intense and in fact scarier than any of the scenes involving "the Ghoul" which I'm still not quite sure existed. At the end of the movie the three children escape the mine shaft where the ghoul has been killing people with the help of one of the children's father that works at the cemetery. This man has been helping the ghoul by letting him have his way with whoever happens to be unfortunate enough to enter the old mine that is located under the cemetery. Does that make sense in the first please. Well anyways in a scene while drunk off his keester he yells down the mine shaft, to the ghoul, that he's not going to do it anymore that what he (the ghoul) gives him is not enough. Later the kids stumble upon a box near the shaft that has a lot of jewelry that used to belonged to the deceased buried at the cemetery. Was this his pay and if so couldn't have the child's father taken the deceased valuable possessions without the help of the ghoul which lives underground and as we find out later maybe cannot live in the sunlight so he stays underground. However none of that was as important to me as the issues surrounding the physical and sexual abuse of two of the children that were never resolved. I'm sure the directors or writers probably had some scenes in there that eluded to something or nother, a line that was said that wrapped up those aspects of the movie but it was just not enough for me to be satisfied. I gave this movie 3 stars because it did have potential but too many elements were left unresolved.

This movie was maybe one of the most disappointing pieces of garbage I have ever seen. I was hoping for a movie with the feel of Monster Squad, but sadly I did not. Instead this movie was about as comfortable as the scene from Sleepers when Kevin Bacon asks for a "Blow Job". With that said the opening credits and first 5 minutes of the movie were the best part other than the closing credits(mainly because I was thankful it was over). Now you may like this movie if you enjoy the following list of travesties that happen. 1. Dead Grandfather (its more comical than sad,but I think it was supposed to be sad) 2. Child Abuse 3. Suicide 4. Drowning Babies 5. The Murdering of Children. So if you like these things than this tumble weed of trash is right up your alley you creep.

Centers on a group of friends who risk their lives to stop who, or what, is behind a rash of disappearances in their town. This film has the best of intentions, but never seems to hit the marks it is aiming for. I have not read the source novel (maybe I should), but what we have here is a case of children who cannot act and a plot that is too convoluted. On the surface, it is about a group of kids who explore the woods and find tunnels under the cemetery that go to an abandoned mining tunnel. Legend has it that a "ghoul" lives in the mines. This in itself makes a good horror story, and by using kids you can have a bit more fun like you would with "Goonies" or "Monster Squad". Instead, there is a whole other story here about child abuse and alcoholism, and a strong hint of sexual molestation. Does it tie in to the other story? No. Not at all. And while it might be said to be character development, it is never focused on and adds nothing to the film overall. In fact, it detracts, because it seems like the people who make the film do not understand how a story arc works. If this movie was made with a new cast and a tighter script, I could actually see it being a good -- possibly great -- little picture.