Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ghastlies

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Ghastlies



    Released by: Camp Motion Pictures
    Released on: November 7th, 2017.
    Director: Brett Kelly
    Cast: Kim Valentine, Jessica Huether, Julie Mainville, Eric Deniverville, Joel Elliot
    Year: 2016
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Brett Kelly's 2016 picture Ghastlies wears its heart on its sleeve - this movie was clearly inspired by the likes of Gremlins, Critters and Ghoulies - but that's not necessarily such a bad thing. We've had plenty of throwbacks come out of the modern day low budget filmmaking arena in the last few years and to be fair, it is getting a little 'old hat' but this one? It's done well and, most importantly, it's entertaining.

    When the movie beings, a group of devil worshippers is conducting an arcane ritual in a barn somewhere. They get results, but it's not quite what they're expecting - and what happens frightens them. Flash ahead five years, and we meet a quartet of college sorority sisters who seem to have stepped right out of an eighties aerobics video. They're heading out to get a little rest and relaxation in the country with their boyfriends for the weekend - and at first the trip is going well. They enjoy the scenery, do some swimming, indulge in some horny exercise and generally just have a good time.

    Of course, that can't last - and it doesn't. When they decide to take a moonlight stroll through the woods that night, they come across an ominously deserted van and then, even creepier, they find a weird video tape. When they play it, a girl warns whoever is watching that there's an alien threat about, one that could take spell certain doom for Earth itself! Soon enough, those aliens that they were warned about make their presence known and the body count starts to rise…

    This isn't the most original story ever told, but it's entertaining enough and at seventy-six minutes in length, it's the perfect running time. If originality isn't a strong point, the movie has a lot more going for it -pretty girls, goofy characters, a good sense of humor. The aliens are all puppets, which gives the film some retro charm (even when one of those puppets proves to be a little rapey!) and the movie is fairly gory as well. All of those effects are done practically, another feather in the picture's cap. If it never quiet looks like the 80s pictures it tries so hard to emulate (it was obviously shot on digital video and it looks like digital video, not film), Kelly and company at least get an A for effort.

    The performances are okay. Not great, just okay. Maybe a little better than your average micro-budget feature. In the context of the story, however, they work just fine. Everyone who appears in front of the camera seems to be having a good time and as any seasoned fan of low budget/SOV genre pictures will tell you, that's key, particularly when it is as infectious as it is in this movie.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Ghastlies hits Blu-ray in a very sharp, colorful AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. Shot digitally, there's obviously no print damage and the picture is sharp and amazingly colorful. Detail is typically really solid here and black levels are nice too. There are no problems with edge enhancement to note while skin tones look nice and realistic. Yeah, for a movie made on a pretty modest budget, this one translates to the format really, really nicely.

    The only audio option for the feature is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, unfortunately no lossless option has been provided here. As it stands, for a DVD quality track there is nothing to complain about here. The dialogue stays clean, clear and properly balanced while the score and different soundtrack selections have a bit of noticeable depth to them. There's some fun channel separation in some of the crazier scenes too. No alternate language options or subtitles are provided here.

    Extras start off with a commentary track from director Brett Kelly and actor Travor Payer that covers all the bases - where the ideas came from, getting a cast and crew together to work on the film, the puppet effects and other SFX bits, shooting the picture on a low budget and more.

    Additionally, there are a few featurettes here too, starting with a two minute piece called Going Ghastlies FX which is, as it sounds, an all too short look at the effects work that was conjured up for the feature. Tomb Talks Tubular Music is a three minutes segment that details Tomb Dragomir's work and what inspired him to score the film. We also get a music video with Dragomir for the track They're Ghastlies.

    Rounding out the extras is a trailer for the feature, a nice selection of trailers for other Camp Motion Pictures releases, menus and chapter selection. As this is a combo pack, a DVD version of the movie with the same extras has also been included inside the Blu-ray case.

    The Final Word:

    Ghastlies is pretty fun if you're in the right mood for it. It's very self-aware and that comes through in all of the humor, but those involved have an obvious love for the eighties creature features that inspired it and that shines through in the picture. For lack of a cornier term, it's got heart. The Blu-ray release looks quite nice and contains some decent extras, even if the audio is lossy. Fans of modern day low budget SOV throwbacks should get a kick out of this.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!




















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X