Horror Movie Review: Spookies (1986)

I love being surprised when it comes to watching horror; the genre is filled with such talent, imagination & ability. It results in so many great movies but they are a rarity. There is way more; low budget, badly acted, horribly lit, terrible sounding movies & when you watch as many as I do you, the bad seem to outweigh the good.

The 80’s was a crazy time for horror, such a wealth of both quality & rubbish was released during this decade. For every great like The Evil Dead II there were 5 awful movies such as Silent Night, Deadly Night 2. Any time a film from that decade is described as ‘low budget’ I can’t help but go in with a sense of trepidation.

Spookies is such a film but rises above the waste by being entertaining as hell with amazing monster effects.

Billy has run away from home, upset that his parents have forgotten his birthday. He makes his way through a forest & finds a house; inside are lots of birthday decorations which he believes are for him. Thinking it’s a surprise party he calls out to people but no-one is there. He opens a present & discovers a severed head inside; he panics & runs away where he is killed by a strange cat like person.

Billy got what he deserved as far as I’m concerned. Any child that is dumb enough to believe that his parents would have randomly decorated a crumbling house in the middle of the woods for his birthday is an idiot.

Later, a group of men & women arrive at the house planning to have a party as the mansion is abandoned. Unknown to them, Kreon the sorcerer lives there & is trying to reanimate his young bride using human victims. The group come under attack from all manner of disgusting looking & awe-inspiring monsters. Even the more ‘standard’ zombies look way better than most other films that came out during that time & many that came after.

The plot is interesting even if it is all over the place, originally called Twisted Souls there was some legal issues that meant it couldn’t be finished. Later, extra footage was filmed & added to create the film Spookies. It makes it feel disjointed at times but it doesn’t really matter when you watching a woman transform into a weird spider creature. No CGI, just amazing practical effects.

Check this movie out, it’s such fun!