This review is a double review because I have two Blu-Rays to review that are naturally suited to being combined into one review. Those videos are "Ghoulies" and "Ghoulies 2." I'm going to look at the movies, as films and stories first, and then talk about these specific editions after that. 

The first “Ghoulies” movie came out in 1985. It was distributed by Empire Pictures. Now, I reviewed a box set from Empire  a while ago, but in case you missed that, Empire was the company Charles Band was running before Full Moon. I'm sure it's much more complicated, but from my way of seeing it Empire sort of morphed into Full Moon. I've mentioned before that I was really a Full Moon fanatic back in the day. And, I've been a fan of these "Ghoulies" movies just about as long as they've existed. It should be mentioned that they are somewhat comedic. Yet, I think they qualify as horror movies with a lot of humor and not horror comedies. Of course, your mileage on that may vary. 

One interesting thing about the first movie is that the most iconic image from it, the Ghoulie coming out of the toilet, was not part of the initial shoot for the film. It was thought up because the image would have been great for marketing, and the scene was filmed and added into the movie before it was completely finalized. 

So, what are Ghoulies? They are little impish demonic creatures. They are one of two types of summoned beings seen the first film. That original movie starts with a sorcerer conducting a ritual in which he plans to sacrifice his own infant son. The mother places a protective spell over the child, preventing the sacrifice. In response he has the child removed and he sacrifices the woman instead. 

The main part of the film takes place 25 years later, when that child inherits his father's estate. He quickly gets pulled into the allure of the dark arts and winds up summoning the various servants we see in the film. Without getting too much deeper into the story for the sake of those who haven't seen it yet, there are darker forces and deeper schemes at play here. They play out as a lot of creepy fun when the Ghoulies get set loose. 

The Ghoulies are at once menacing and silly. They bring real danger, but do so in a way that's almost cute and definitely rather funny. They were really the focus of that first film, and rightfully so because they are the most entertaining part of it. 

That fact seems to underpin the decision to go away from the dark arts angle of the story with the sequel “Ghoulies 2”, which came two years later. In that film the little monsters are off on their own spreading mayhem at a carnival. There are subplots and other things going on, but again the creatures, who have some new members in their crew, are the draw and focus of the movie. And, they did a new version of the Ghoulie in the toilet shot. 

The gore and silliness do get a little over the top, but in a good way. That's particularly true when people visiting the fun house think the Ghoulies are part of the entertainment and enjoy the show, until they realize it's real. As much as they take this to some absurd levels, the threat and darkness in the second film seem amplified from the first one, too. Maybe the film needs that added level of absurdity to balance the darkness of it. 

In both movies the effects of the Ghoulies work well. Creating that type of effect was almost a subgenre with Full Moon over the years with film series like "Demonic Toys" and "Puppet Master," and they did it really well. While the effects aren't as believable as modern CGI, they are quite effective. (Almost all effects for Empire/Full Moon were courtesy of the hugely underrated John Carl Buechler—Dr. M)

Now, turning our attention to these editions, the first thing you are likely to notice is just how good the video looks. I don't think the picture has ever been this clear on a home video release of these films. They have done new HD restorations of the movies, and it certainly paid off.  There are a number of interesting bonus features included on these discs, too. Among them the "making of" featurettes are probably the winners, but all of them are worth checking out. 

These films are gems, as far as I'm concerned. I'm really happy to see them getting such deluxe treatment on these blu-ray releases.