Spookies

In 1984, directors Thomas Doran and Brendan Faulkner were working on the set of a horror film slated to be released with the title “Twisted Souls”, but the project got bogged down in creative and legal issues during the post-production phase, and only after two years was the footage dusted off and handed over to young producer/director Eugenie (Genie) Joseph who integrated it into new material shot with different actors, finally completing the patchwork film under the new title “Spookies”.

This tortured birthing process might explain, at least in part, the narrative muddle that reigns over the final result – we’ve got glaring plot holes, lapses in logic left and right, and through it all, a tenuous relationship between cause and effect. As if these fundamental flaws weren’t enough, the film piles on with a disastrous cast that embarrass themselves with parochial performances, a soporific pacing that would undoubtedly be an effective insomnia treatment, and a script packed with dialogue so ill-conceived that it manages to deny the hapless viewer even the pleasure of unintentional humor.

And what can be said about the gamut of monsters, the main course of a film that oozes mediocrity from every frame? Created with more passion than competence, the majority of these disgusting creatures leave plenty to be desired, although it would be unkind not to point out that they reflect a decent dose of creativity and are imbued with a certain gross appeal.

Ultimately, it all turns out to be kind of a disappointing bait and switch. Although it makes a vain attempt to wink at Sam Raimi’s 1981 “The Evil Dead” (it even throws in a character named Linda), at best “Spookies” might be considered a potential source of inspiration for the bottom-of-the-barrel splatter movies that proliferated towards the tail end of the 1980s – stuff like “The Outing” (released as “The Lamp” in the UK, 1987), “Night of the Demons” (1988), or “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama” (1988) – all with a claustrophobic look and feel and stories that play out over the span of a single – but endless – night.

At least those provided a couple flashes of nudity and a scintilla of eroticism…