Pretty Good

Load of rubbish!!

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The true horror inspired by this film will be what you'll want to do to yourself after you wasted your time watching it. You'll want to claw your eyes out, scoop out your brains with a rusty trowel, and pierce your ear drums with roofing nails.This movie isn't just bad, it's stupefyingly bad. The acting is atrocious, and the direction is even worse. Barry Corbin has a small, uncredited role in this film, and after having watched it, I am convinced that he had a clause in his contract stating that his name would not overtly be linked to or associated with this putrid waste of celluloid. If I could have given this movie anything less than one star, I would have.To be honest, the main reason that I watched the movie was because Catherine Mary Stewart was in it. I loved her in "Night of the Comet", and "Weekend at Bernie's". After having seen her in those films, I was hugely disappointed by her performance in "Ghoul". She took cloying and maudlin to new depths.None of the children in this movie could act in even the most remote definition of the word. Take an episode of R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps"... ANY episode.. and it would seem like the remake of "Evil Dead" or "The Conjuring" compared to "Ghoul".I haven't yet read the novel that inspired this movie, but I am given to understand that it is a decent read. I don't know how closely the movie adaptation paralleled the book, but some of the elements of the movie were beyond any semblance of believability, particularly the closing scene between the "ghoul" and one of the child protagonists of the movie.The story behind the "ghoul" is that the evil, drunken, abusive father of one of the three children central to the plot was the foreman over a mining crew. One of the men under his supervision asks for the day off of work because his wife doesn't feel well. Greedy for a promised bonus if some assignment is finished early, the foreman declines the miner's request, which leads to tragic consequences. The miner goes home after work, and discovers that his wife killed their twin sons, and then herself. Apparently, driven mad by his grief, the miner becomes a recluse and goes to inhabit the now abandoned mine and tunnels.The evil, drunken, abusive father/former foreman is so wracked by guilt for what he has done to the miner's family that he helps the miner trap his victims. Here we have another clichéd horror movie plot... kill the males, kidnap the females. Gee, never seen that before.In another review, Brielyn Sexeny is mentioned. Yes, she is attractive, but her big scene in the movie is when she goes berserk and gets into a mixed martial arts brawl with the clothes on her backyard clothesline.By the way, Brielyn Sexeny's character kills more people in the movie than the ghoul does.If you haven't seen this movie... DON'T. It really is that bad.

As I read the synopsis for "Ghoul," my expectations for a great film that would make me feel nostalgic about my childhood love for monster and action movies began to build up. High expectations aren't always a good thing when going into a film. Unfortunately, that was the case here. I wanted to like it, but something got lost along the way.Timmy, Doug, and Barry are the best of friends. As if life for three 12- year old boys at the edge of puberty isn't hard enough, things get very tough when they are forced by circumstances to confront the urban legend of a creature which lives underneath their local cemetery. Are there supernatural forces at work or are the disappearances of several local teenagers tied to someone in the town with unknown motives?I have to hand it to director Gregory M. Wilson and writer William M. Miller. This was made as a low-budget TV-movie for Chiller TV. As far as that goes, it looks great. The creature makeup is genuinely creepy and the sets look good.They never quite convinced me that I was watching something happening in 1984. The lack of a soundtrack effectively reflecting the era and misplaced pop-culture references were definite hindrances in the process. It didn't help when characters exclaimed, "Eat my shorts" and "Don't have a cow!" These two catchphrases were coined by Bart Simpson in "The Simpsons," which didn't even gain real popularity until late 1989."Ghoul" boasts at least two veteran actors which are familiar to children of the 1980s. Barry Corbin portrays Timmy's grandfather. He was a supporting actor in several movies and TV shows from the decade like "WarGames," "Dallas," and "Critters 2." I'm sure tons of boys who were teenagers at the time will identify with my crush on Catherine Mary Stewart. I was captivated by her in such films as "The Last Starfighter," "Weekend at Bernie's," and "Night of the Comet." She plays Timmy's mother and adds a bit more legitimacy to the movie.One thing that gave me a sense of appreciation for "Ghoul" was the Behind-the-Scenes featurette. It did a great job of highlighting the hard work and conviction poured into the movie. It's hard to completely hate on something that someone put so much effort into. I have a deep respect for the set builders and makeup artists."Ghoul" tries very hard to capture the magic of films like "Super 8," "The Goonies," and "The Monster Squad." It's a shame it didn't accomplish what it set out to do successfully. Viewers who aren't looking for a walk down memory lane may enjoy this, but filmmakers missed their target market in my opinion.

Not a bad film, good acting and make-up, good story line. Not sure why others have to group this film as 'stand by me' wanna-be film, it's not, although it does have kids as the lead and they do find a dead body, but its not in the same context as stand by me.I agree it's not really a horror movie, but then again there are parts that might make you jump.I like the way they told this tale and if it has to involve certain scenes that others call distasteful and they resort to calling a liker of the film a "tumble weed of trash", they sound rather prudish. This is the world we live in, there are evil (wo)man out there and this film is entertaining.

This movie is aimed at a tame audience, but has taken from a much less tame story. So I'm essentially writing this review so that people who feel closure is important and do not have the time to actually read the novel. I suggest you go to the Ghoul novel wikipedia page and read the plot. I promise closure...and also a little sadness.But in the whole of it I found the movie to be very watchable, while a lot of questions were left open, and the ending was abrupt, the movie throughout was an entertaining experienceI was happy with the acting, I may be alone but I believe the characters (Especially Timmy and Barry) to be placed perfectly in what it was obviously asked of them to play