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Ghoulies is not the Gremlins rip-off its reputation suggests. The two films were in production at the same time, but budgetary issues delayed the release of Ghoulies. Although it likely benefited from Gremlins‘ success, the similarities begin and end with diminutive monsters. Ghoulies II actually shares more in common with Gremlins, as the first Ghoulies leans more — arguably too much — into the fantasy realm.

From producer Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, the 1985 horror-comedy is directed by Luca Bercovici (Rockula) from a script he co-wrote with producer Jefery Levy. At just over 80 minutes, the film doesn’t waste time trying to make sense of its messy plot.

When Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) inherits an old manor from the father he never knew, he does what any 20-something with newfound freedom would do: throw a party. Something wills Jonathan to perform a ritual from an old book he finds among his father’s occult paraphernalia,...

Last year, Umbrella Entertainment gave the 1985 creature feature Ghoulies (watch it Here) a Blu-ray release in Australia that contained three different cults of the movie, and also packaged it with its first sequel. Now Mvd Rewind Collection has announced that they’re giving Ghoulies a special edition release as well – and this one is going to be Blu-ray and 4K Uhd! The street date is September 12.

Directed by Luca Bercovici from a script he wrote with Jefery Levy, the first Ghoulies has the following synopsis: As a child, Jonathan (Peter Liapis) was almost killed by his father, Malcolm (Michael Des Barres), during a satanic ritual. After being saved and raised by Wolfgang (Jack Nance), who has kept him unaware of his background, Jonathan inherits Malcolm’s house and moves in with girlfriend Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan). Through his explorations of the house, he begins unlocking the secrets and latent powers contained within his new found home.

Updated, with additional details: Just after 5 Am Et on Monday, networks started to break in to regular programming for special reports that President Joe Biden had made a surprise trip to Ukraine.

By then, the president was already in Kyiv, having traveled there after a 10-hour trip by train from Poland. At 5:01 Am, a pool report was finally released that officially revealed the visit, after the information had been embargoed for hours.

“I’m here to show our unwavering support for the nation’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Biden said as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Marinsky Palace. NBC News was up at 5:03 Am Et with anchor Peter Alexander, and other networks doing their own reports throughout the morning.

The visit may have been a surprise, but it was not unexpected: Coming up on the first anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine,...

NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander said that Joe Biden called him on his cell phone to answer questions about China, following a chaotic scene in which the president cut short a post-speech Q&a as reporters shouted over each other.

In the interview with Alexander, Biden said, “I think the last thing that [Chinese President] Xi wants is to fundamentally rip the relationship with the United States and with me.”

Earlier, Biden had given remarks on his decision to order a Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina, after it floated over the continental U.S. He also talked about the sighting, since then, of three other unidentified objects, which Biden ordered shot down.

When he finished his remarks, reporters began shouting questions, as is custom. Alexander attempted to ask about criticism that the shooting down of the objects was an “overreaction.” But another reporter...

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The Halloween talk-show tradition continued on Monday as the broadcast network morning and daytime hosts donned pop-culture-inspired ensembles.

The hosts of NBC’s Today, the syndicated Live With Kelly and Ryan and ABC’s The View all dressed up for the holiday, with movie and TV show characters and popular musicians among the inspirations.

Still, not every show that traditionally participates in the festivities went all out this year. ABC’s Good Morning America, which skipped dressing up for the holiday in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic continued ahead of a high-stakes presidential election, saw its hosts once again mostly pass on dressing up. The show, which featured live interviews with Friends star Matthew Perry and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler and actress Danai Gurira, instead celebrated the holiday by showing off some last-minute costume ideas and with a candy cooking contest...

Update, with video: NBC’s Today team gave a toast Pete Williams on Friday as the veteran Supreme Court and Justice Department correspondent retires at the end of this month.

“When Pete speaks, it is fully vetted, you know that it is accurate, you know that it is fair,” said Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.

The Today team of Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Sheinelle Jones and Tom Llamas held up glasses of champagne to toast Williams, who held up his own glass from NBC News’ Washington, D.C. bureau.

Williams has not announced what he will do next, but said that he has “plenty of new projects to take on.” Williams has been with the network for almost 30 years.

Kelly O’Donnell will add to her duties as senior White House correspondent and serve as interim Supreme Court correspondent until a permanent successor is chosen. The network also announced a series of changes...

Following the bombshell testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson before the Jan 6. committee, a war of leaks and secret source commentary has erupted over what took place in the presidential motorcade on the day of the Capitol riot.

Sources within the Secret Service now tell CNN that a description of an incident involving President Trump angrily demanding to be taken to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and lunging at agents within the president’s vehicle, circulated amongst staff for months following the events. Two Secret Service sources told CNN...

April showers bring May flowers unless you are the fine folks over at Shudder, where this month brings four of Stephen King's spooky films! Also: The Ghoulies Companion, the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park at Universal Studios Hollywood, Steel City Underground Film Festival announced, Sequence Break's premiere, and Gravitas Ventures' acquisition of Broken Star.

Shudder Honors Stephen King: Press Release: (April 30, 2018, New York, NY) – Shudder, the leading premium streaming service for thriller, suspense, and horror, is turning May into Stephen King Month with a selection of the best movies and miniseries from the monarch of horror. These hard-to-find thrillers, including the original It miniseries, Salem’s Lot, Creepshow and Cat’s Eye, will be available exclusively to Shudder members beginning May 1, 2018:

It - It rises from dank, dark places. It preys on children. It knows exactly what scares you and It never goes away. This 1990 TV...

Nick Aldwinckle Oct 25, 2016

Fancy some horror? We've been taking a look at the discs of Ghoulies, The Burning, Psychomania and more...

“Have you ever heard a frog scream?”, the tag-line to George McCowan’s 1972 ecological horror Frogs (out now on Arrow Blu-ray) should have read. Indeed, for any of you readers that have ever been rudely awoken at 2am by the sound of a traumatised frog being gifted to you by your pet cat/furry psychopath, an amphibian cry of terror is probably the second worst sound there is (behind, of course, Kaiser Chiefs).

See related Will Arnett confirms more Arrested Development Arrow's Stephen Amell stars in Lego Batman 3 Dlc trailer

Not that frogs themselves are inherently evil, though viewing this classic dose of seventies green-themed nastiness might convince you otherwise. Slugs are Ok, too, though we’ll get on to them later on in this month’s vague...

Ghoulies

Stars: Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres, Jack Nance, Mariska Hargitay, Scott Thomson, Ralph Seymour | Written by Luca Bercovici, Jefery Levy | Directed by Luca Bercovici

Ghoulies 2

Stars: Damon Martin, Royal Dano, Phil Fondacaro, J. Downing, Kerry Remsen, Donnie Jeffcoat, Dale Wyatt | Written by Charlie Dolan, Dennis Paoli, Luca Bercovici | Directed by Albert Band

For my film-loving friends and I, Ghoulies and its immediate sequel were almost rites of passage growing up – I distinctly remember renting them from not only the local video shop but also that strange guy that used to park on the street corner renting tapes out of his boot (or, if he was more successful, the back of a transit van). You know the one, he’d have the craziest VHS tapes you’d ever seen – Class of Nuke Em High, Black Roses, The Toxic Avenger, Ghoulies… all films that sold themselves on artwork alone.

April 21st is another big day for genre fans looking to add to their home entertainment collections, as we’ve got a bounty of titles heading our way this Tuesday. The good folks over at Scream Factory are keeping busy with the release of several great Blu-rays, including their Collector’s Edition of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York and their Ghoulies double feature. Joe Lynch’s Everly and the film fest sensation A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night are also making their way to Blu-ray and DVD this week, and we’ve got a Ton of indie titles arriving Tuesday to look forward to, including the latest from the great Jeffrey Combs, Motivational Growth.

Escape from New York (Collector’s Edition) (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

A thrilling landmark film that jolts along at a breakneck pace, Escape From New York leapt to cult status with high-octane action, edge-of-your-seat...

Though it’s often remembered as one of the many Gremlins rip-offs of the ‘80s, Ghoulies has its origins in 1983 (or a year before Gremlins hit screens), when producer Charles Band and creature effects guru Stan Winston dreamed up a film called Beasties about a bunch of small creatures wreaking havoc on a group of young people. It underwent some changes on the way to the screen: rather than Band directing as originally planned, the film would be helmed by actor Luca Bercovici, who had previously worked for Band on 1982’s Parasite. Stan Winston would not design the creatures, either; those duties fell to John Carl Buechler. And despite what its title might suggest, there wouldn’t end up being very many ghoulies in Ghoulies.

Instead, the 1984 film focuses mainly on a man (Peter Liapis) who inherits a mansion from his father (rocker Richard Des Barres) and ends up conjuring...

Be careful where you sit, because on April 21st Scream Factory's unleashing the little party crashers from Ghoulies and Ghoulies II on a Blu-ray double feature. Ahead of the Blu-ray's release, we have trailers and clips from both films, including a behind-the-scenes interview excerpt with executive producer Charles Band, who reveals that Ghoulies was originally going to be partly shot in 3D.

"Synopsis: A Gruesome Twosome of Ghoulies!

Ghoulies

Take a creepy old Hollywood mansion, a naive young man and a pretty girl. Add an over-the-top orgy and some slimy, winged goblins who crawl out of toilets, and you have Ghoulies, a horrifying and hilarious ride into the darkest regions of hell! Conjured during a party thrown by the mansion's new owner, the hairy, fanged demons waste no time wreaking havoc on the scene – and declaring the unsuspecting owner their new lord and master! Peter Liapis (Ghost Warrior), Lisa Pelkin...

With the ability to seemingly pop up anywhere, they made some viewers in the ’80's a little wary of stepping foot in their bathrooms. You still need to keep an eye out for tiny mischief makers, because the little demonic creatures from Ghoulies and Ghoulies II are getting a high-definition upgrade in an upcoming Blu-ray release from Scream Factory that hits shelves on April 21st, and we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies of the double feature to give away to a few lucky Daily Dead readers.

"Synopsis: A Gruesome Twosome of Ghoulies!

Ghoulies

Take a creepy old Hollywood mansion, a naive young man and a pretty girl. Add an over-the-top orgy and some slimy, winged goblins who crawl out of toilets, and you have Ghoulies, a horrifying and hilarious ride into the darkest regions of hell! Conjured during a party thrown by the mansion's new owner, the hairy, fanged...

Welcome to another horror round-up! This time around we focus on Scream Factory’s upcoming Ghoulies/Ghoulies 2 double feature Blu-ray and the growing casts for Sharknado 3 and Cold Moon.

Ghoulies / Ghoulies 2: Scream Factory revealed the bonus features for their upcoming Ghoulies / Ghoulies 2 Blu-ray, which hits shelves on April 21st (and is available two weeks prior by ordering from Shout! Factory):

Ghoulies:

Audio Commentary With Director/Co-writer Luca Bercovici New Interviews With Executive Producer Charles Band, Composer Richard Band, Actor Michael Des Barres and Special Effects Makeup Artist John Vulich Original Theatrical Trailer

Ghoulies 2:

New Interviews With Executive Producer Charles Band, Actors Kerry Remsen and Donnie Jeffcoat, And Special Effects Artist Gino Crognale Rare Deleted Scenes Original Theatrical Trailer

Ghoulies: “Take a creepy old Hollywood mansion, a naive young man and a pretty girl. Add an over-the-top orgy and some slimy, winged goblins who crawl out of toilets,...

The top two comments on Brad Pitt's surreal Chanel N°5 ad are "Nothing he is saying means anything" and "Go home, Brad Pitt, you're drunk." The super-serious black and white ad may not be selling much perfume, but it has inspired a hilarious parody from "Rebels in Paradise," an upcoming art exhibition at Art Basel Miami.

The video contains a scruffy gentleman delivering ridiculous sentence fragments, including our personal favorite: "Mezcal up to my ears... Great art takes over..." The teaser ends with a perfume bottle labeled "Bungalo N°5, Delano Hotel, Miami" — the locale of the upcoming exhibition.

Where am I? — Bungalo N°5 from Nyehaus on Vimeo.

The press release for "Rebels in Paradise" is equally awesome, playing off the overblown language and melodrama that us art writers love to overuse. It begins:

"The skies darken: unsuspecting blue ethers engulfed by mutinous Cumulonimbus rebels. Fiery bodies of fuchsia, magenta,...

Reader and contributor Gemma St. Clair returns this weekend with a new list of horror trivia:

1. Graveyard Shift: The mill in the film is called “Bachman Mills”. This is a reference to Richard Bachman, a pseudonym used by Stephen King.

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Robert Englund makes a appearance without his Freddy make-up. Look for the bus driver at the beginning of the film.

3. Frankenstein (1931): Bela Lugosi was offered the part of the monster, but turned it down because it was not a speaking role and his idea for the monster design was rejected.

4. Saw 2: The hooded figure who is putting a key in the victim’s eye during the beginning of the film is played by director Darren Lynn Bousman.

5. Doom: Dr. Carmack is named after John Carmack, one of the creators of the Doom video game series.

6. The Ninth Gate:...