Ghoulies (1985)

Ghoulies is a 1985 American horror-comedy film, directed by Luca Bercovici.

The plot of this film centers on Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) a young man who uncovers his late father's occult paraphernalia in his family's mansion. Later, Graves tries to summon up the demonic forces his father dabbled with in hopes of gaining supernatural powers. Consequently, the little Ghoulies arrive to descend on the manor and terrorize everyone who participated in the ritual.

The film also stars Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres and Jack Nance.

The original Ghoulies originated in 1983 under the title Beasties and was to be directed by Charles Band, with special effects by Stan Winston after the two had previously collaborated on Parasite. It ended up being directed by Luca Bercovici with special effects by John Carl Buechler and his company Mechanical and Makeup Imageries Inc. The film was released theatrically by Empire Pictures in March 1985 and was a surprise success on home video. Ghoulies also stars Mariska Hargitay and Peter Liapis.

According to stories Charles Band tells on his Full Moon Horror Road Show, he was tasked to come up with a great campaign to promote the film. During a brainstorming session he came up with the idea to have the Ghoulie popping up from the toilet. The idea was a huge success and the scene was then shot for the film after the fact. According to Band's 2012 audio commentary for 88Films Blu-ray of Puppetmaster 2, someone else came up with the idea of the Ghoulie popping out of the toilet. Band actually thought it was a bad idea at first.