Ghastlies

Director - Brett Kelly (Homicycle, My Fair Zombie)
Starring - Kim Valentine (Monster Pool: Chapter Two), Eric Deniverville (Boy for Sale, Prisoners of Time), and Joel Elliott (Countrycide, Monster Pool: Seven Deadly Sins)
Release Date - 2016
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "They've traveled over a billion miles to come and crash the party"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was getting into horror I started collected the essential horror flicks like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead, Hellraiser, and so on.  Once I obtained those I started working on other titles.  I found myself being drawn to little monsters.  The first movie I picked up was Gremlins using change I had collected on my dresser.  I still remember that little detail to this day.  After I grabbed the sequel I got the Critters series and then It's Alive.  For the longest time little monster flicks was my favorite.  Sadly, you don't see a lot of these types of flicks anymore.  Late last year news broke that Camp Motion Pictures was releasing the indie flick Ghastlies.  The artwork knocked me for a loop.  Horror Society was lucky enough to get the exclusive on the film and now I was able to finally review it.  Thank you Alternative Cinema and Camp Motion Pictures for sending this one my way!
     The film begins with a cult performing a ritual when they are interrupted by small alien creatures with a taste for human flesh.  We fast forward and a group of sorority girls are planning a weekend getaway.  They bring a new pledge along for initiation but she accidentally unleashes the beasts from a well and they go on a bloody rampage.

    

     Ghastlies has one of the greatest posters I have seen in recent years.  It's fun and just screams the 80s.  Sadly, the film did not match the poster.   The film doesn't create that fun environment the poster paints.  The acting in this one is fun.  The cast has fun in front of the camera and dives deep into their characters.  There was several scenes that showed the cast's inexperience but for the most part they did a fantastic job at carrying the film.  The story for this one just doesn't cut it as a feature length film.  I love a movie that takes the time to develop the characters but this film has more scenes than needed to establish which character is which.  The film does have clichéd characters that are fun to watch but so many scenes are dedicated to establishing who is which.  The pacing in the film is a little off.  The film flows like an uneven rollercoaster with some of the thrills bunched together and long periods of dry scenes.  My biggest gripe with the story is the lack of small creatures.  They are pictured on the cover but don't share that much screen time.  Finally, the film is bloody but the effects are horrible.  Some of the scenes left me scratching my head trying to figure out why they decided to film the scenes the way they did. The puppets are fun to look at but the deaths are laughable at best.  Overall, Ghastlies is the biggest let down of 2018.  It had all the makings of a modern classic but failed to bring it all together for an unforgettable film.  It still has a few fun moments and would be fun to watch with a couple beers.