The term cult is bandied about freely for a lot of films that don’t fit into a general pigeon-hole or genre. A quite a few occasions, the term is overused, given to some releases undeservedly to try to pique the interest of potential fans. It’s fair to say that Spookies is fully deserving of its cult status, and this first release on Blu-ray of the 1986 horror film finally gives the film the attention it should have.
If you don’t know the infamous story, Spookies originally began as a film called Twisted Souls, which, on completion, was presented to VIPCO owner Michael Lee, who was unhappy enough to bring in a new director and have a lot of new material filmed. Now, reshoots are nothing new in this day and age, but for a film that had a budget well under £1m, this was somewhat unusual. What we ended up with is Spookies, a strange combination of footage from Twisted Souls, and other footage that is jarringly unassociated from the second director – basically we are given two films for the price of one!
Billy is celebrating his thirteenth birthday by walking through the woods at night and stumbling upon an eerie mansion where, upon entering, he finds some balloons, cake, and presents. He opens the biggest box to find an apparently decapitated head wishing him happy birthday. He runs away and is stalked by a cat person, who eventually kills him. We then move onto a bunch of unrelated people who turn up to the same mansion looking for a party, only to find that each room is home to a fresh monster that is determined to kill them thanks to the Ouija board that they decide to play with. All the while, as the events unfold, there is a sorcerer who is trying to keep his wife alive elsewhere in the house.
Plot wise, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell, and it’s very clear as you watch which parts are from which production; the leaps from one to the other are pretty jarring at times. But it is this very issue that makes Spookies the cult experience that it is.
The fact is the monster effects are pretty impressive, from the farting muckmen (yes, you read that right), to the spiderwoman, grim reaper, and the other multitude of demons. The transfer on this release means that the lighting has been fixed so the effects are on glorious full view.
The extras are pretty impressive too. There is the documentary of VIPCO, explaining how they came to be as big as they were in the ’80s and ’90s, even throughout the video nasty era. Michael Lee is interviewed extensively and he is an interesting character, happy to delve into his somewhat dodgy business practices. Another feature gives a huge background on the film itself. It is fascinating to see and hear where it all went wrong, all because one person thought he knew better than everyone else.
Other extras are what you’d expect from these releases from 101 Films, including one of the strangest gag reels we’ve ever seen (which is explained in the documentary).
However, if you’ve not seen Spookies since the ’80s, or never seen it at all, we would strongly suggest picking this up, as it will give you a fascinating background into one of the most infamous horror films of all time.
Release Date: Out Now
