MVD Entertainment Group has carved-out Sept. 12 as the release date for the “MVD Rewind Collection” presentation of director Luca Bercovici’s Ghoulies.
This is a new 4K film restoration from the original camera negative and the home entertainment packaged media launch by MVD will be a full-spread event … 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD consumer buying options will all be available.
It was late-January of 1984 and Charles Band began production of a small budget film that would launch a film franchise series. 1984 would be a landmark year for genre fans as the likes of Children of the Corn, The Last Starfighter, The Philadelphia Experiment, The Terminator, Nightmare on Elm Street and Night of the Comet (plus Friday the 13th and Star Trek franchise entries) would all grace the silver screen.
Actor Luca Bercovici, who had starred in Band’s 1982 film Parasite (with then unknown co-star Demi Moore), was brought on board to direct (he had co-written the script for the film with Jefery Levy). It was his first time in the director’s chair … it would not be his last as Rockula, Dark Tide, The Granny, The Chain and more would follow (he continues to act, write and produce).
You can never know if a moderately budgeted genre film is going to work. Charles Band had scored well with his 1982 film Parasite and that propelled his filmmaking career forward and the 1983 launch of his Empire Pictures.
For the Ghoulies production, Band had been in prep work for nearly five months before the cameras began to role … but it was still a crap-shoot, even with the months devoted to getting “the props” right (hint, hint: the various Ghoulies (Cat, Toilet, Rat, etc.) as well as Grizzel (Peter Risch) and Greedigut (Tamara De Treaux) didn’t just happen).
1984 came and went … no Ghoulies. Empire Pictures had served up The Dungeonmaster in August, but where was Ghoulies? In October the film was screened at the MIFED film market in Italy … was he shopping it (money problems)? Was this an omen?
Finally, nearly one year to the day that it began filming Ghoulies opened theatrically, and it was a hit — even though some were calling it a Gremlins rip-off.
A film franchise was born. Ghoulies II followed in 1985; Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College arrived in 1990 and Ghoulies IV pleased fans of the series in 1994 (with Jim Wynorski directing).
Bonus goodies include two vintage commentary options … one with Luca Bercovici (2015) and the second with Bercovici and moderated by Terror Transmission’s Jason Andreasen (2016).
Other bonuses include an introduction by director Luca Bercovici and four featurettes — “Editing and Empire,” “The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” “Just for The Chick Man” and “From Toilets to Terror: The Making of Ghoulies.”
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