Spookies (1986)

Spookies is a 1986 horror film, that is essentially two unrelated movies rolled into one. It is about a group of people who visit a mansion next to a graveyard, and are then attacked by various creatures, commanded by a sorcerer who wants his bride to be to respect him. The film features the Grim Reaper, zombies, and a wolf-like creature with a hook hand.

Plot
A 13-year-old boy named Billy runs from home as his parents forget his birthday. Making his way through thick woods, he encounters a drifter who is violently slashed to death after Billy leaves. Billy stumbles on an old mansion where a room is decorated for birthday celebrations. Thinking it is a surprise by his parents, he opens a present to discover a severed head. Running away, he is attacked by the drifter's killer, a werecat with a hook on one hand, and subsequently buried alive.

Cast

 * Felix Ward as Kreon
 * Maria Pechukas as Isabelle
 * Dan Scott as Kreon's Servant
 * Alec Nemser as Billy
 * A.J. Lowenthal as Korda / Son of Kreon & Isabelle
 * Pat Wesley Bryan as Drifter
 * Peter Dain as Peter
 * Nick Gionta as Duke
 * Lisa Friede as Carol
 * Joan Ellen Delaney as Linda
 * Peter Iasillo Jr. as Rich
 * Kim Merrill as Meegan
 * Charlotte Alexandra as Adrienne (as Charlotte Seeley)
 * Anthony Valbiro as Dave
 * Soo Paek as The Spider Woman
 * Al Magliochetti as Lewis Wilson
 * James M. Glenn as The Grim Reaper

Production
Spookies started out as a feature film entitled Twisted Souls, written and produced by Frank Farel, Brendan Faulkner and Thomas Doran and directed by Faulkner and Doran. Principal photography for the film began at the Jay Estate in Rye, New York in late summer of 1984 and finished in October of that same year. Twisted Souls was being edited when creative and legal issues between the producers and the financial backer prevented final post production work (final editing, scoring, post-effects, etc.) from being carried out.

The original Twisted Souls footage directed by Faulkner and Doran consists of all the travelers who arrive in two cars and all the monsters and effects they encounter within the house. The monsters include: the demon Ouija girl, the muck men, the spider woman, the snake demons, the hallway demon,the Grim Reaper and the first set of zombies we see outside earlier on in the film.

In 1985, the financial backer of Twisted Souls hired Eugenie Joseph to direct more footage, which was pieced together with the finished footage from Twisted Souls to create Spookies. The added scenes, written by Ann Burgund (under the name Joseph Burgund), feature an entirely different cast and include all the footage of the boy looking for his birthday party, the man in the tree, the cat-man, the old magician, the girl in the coffin, zombies ( the ones in the ending of the film), the witch in the basement/cave and the little blue boy.

The creature effects were created by Gabe Bartalos, Arnold Gargulio, Jennifer Aspinall, John Dods, and others helping in various capacities.

Box office
Spookies was given a limited theatrical release in the United States by Sony Video Software Company in January 1987 and grossed $17,785 at the box office. It was also released theatrically in Hong Kong.

Critical response
A contemporary review in Variety referred to Spookies as "a silly horror picture which contains some interesting special makeup effects, along with very amateurish ones". In his book The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s, Scott Aaron Stine gave the film a negative review, criticizing the "inept actors", "hackneyed script", and "hideous make-up effects".

In a retrospective review of the film, Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting called it "nonsensical", but referred to Gabriel Bartalos's special effects work on the film as "impressive", writing: "there aren't a lot of horror films so daring as to cram as many weird rubber-suited monsters into one movie". Jay Bauman of Red Letter Media called the film a "boring Evil Dead". However, fellow member Rich Evans commended the "creative, different monsters" featured in the film, and fellow member Jack Packard similarly praised said creatures as "shockingly interesting".

Awards
In 1986, the film received the Delirium Award at the 15th Annual International Science Fiction & Film Fantasy Festival.

Home media
The film was released on VHS in the U.S. by Sony Video but eventually went out of print. Spookies was also released on VHS in the UK by Palace Video, alongside Evil Dead 2, featuring artwork by Graham Humphries.

In 2003, UK company Vipco Entertainment released a Region 2 PAL DVD mastered from a VHS source as part of "Vipco's Screamtime Collection" series.

In 2017, the film was released on DVD by French company Intercontinental Film and Video under the title Les Spookie. Despite its French title, the audio language is English and the disc claims to be sourced from a new HD interpositive 2K scan. This DVD is playable in regions 1, 2 and 5.

On Thanksgiving 2019, the Vinegar Syndrome label announced they were releasing Spookies on Blu-ray and DVD, marking the first time that Spookies has been released in the Blu-ray format. This two-disc release includes a 4K restoration of the film, along with two feature-length documentaries on the film and the Vipco label, and a number of other special features. It received a standard edition release, as well as two variant limited edition releases with slipcovers—one featuring artwork by Earl Kessler, and the other featuring art by Gary Pullin. The Vinegar Syndrome website also offered a limited edition LP record of the film's soundtrack on colored vinyl.