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Eric is a free lance video journalist, who specializes in filming terrible and gruesome acts. One night he finds a group of homeless people eating a woman and soon discovers that they are in fact zombies…
The Ghouls is an interesting movie. As I watched it, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen next. And let’s just say, that this movie didn’t disappoint when it came to unexpected plot twists. If anyone thinks they know what is going to happen in this movie before they see it, they’re wrong. Eric himself is an interesting character. It becomes clear as the movie progresses that he hates himself because of his occupation. His self hatred only gets worse when his girlfriend leaves him after she finds out what kinds of things he videotapes. It would seem that through his obsession with the zombies he sees a path to redemption. In other words, by proving the existence of the zombies, Eric would for once be helping society instead of just profiting off its misery.
The gore effects in The Ghouls are pretty good considering that this movie was obviously made with a low budget. I wish I could say the same about the make up effects too. However, most of the zombies just look like rejects from the original Dawn of the Dead, which by today’s standards, is not a good thing.
My biggest beef with this movie has to be with its box. I rarely ever complain about a movie’s box, but something has to be said here. On the back of this DVD it reads: “A city is forced to face its worse nightmare when a deadly mob of zombies and flesh eating monsters emerge from below the streets and begin to feast on anyone in their path. Now, it is up to one man to battle the darkness and try to save the few remaining souls.” I have to admit that when I read that I was expecting a completely different movie than the one I saw. The summary on the back of the box had me expecting a movie where a city is overrun with zombies and chaos ensues. The zombies in this movie don’t even come close to taking over the city. Instead they just hide underground and in alleyways, coming out every now and then to find someone to eat. If there was one word I’d use to describe this movie, it would be weird. The main character, although interesting, doesn’t even seem that likeable until he starts to become obsessed with finding the zombies. There’s the sleazy journalist/editor, the love interest who spurs our hero, and a corrupt cop, all of whom are pretty one dimensional. But the fact that the zombies don’t ever leave the neighborhood they dwell in just makes for a strange dynamic. I guess it could be some sort of social commentary since it seems all the zombies were homeless people at one point. If this is true, I would have loved for there to have been a director’s commentary with Chad Ferrin, so that I could hear the social commentary explained to me.
Perhaps the weirdest part of the movie is when Eric’s video camera is stolen by a mentally handicapped man. We then find out near the end of the movie that the same man videotaped himself murdering and raping a woman, and Eric ends up selling the tape to the sleazy journalist/editor. I don’t understand what the point was of including this in the movie other than to give the main character a major payday and somewhat of a happier ending.
I’m fairly certain that it will be a long time before I ever decide to watch this movie again. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time watching it, but it wasn’t good enough to warrant re-watching it anytime in the near future. Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend this to horror fans. However, hardcore zombie fans, like myself, might find something in this movie to enjoy. If you like weird horror movies, then this is the one for you.
***NOTE: This movie is also known as "Cannibal Dead: The Ghouls"*** |