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The Ghouls
USA 2003
produced by Chad Ferrin, Nicholas Loizides, John Santos, David DeFino (associate), Trent Haaga (associate), Lewis Jackson (associate), Timothy Muskatell (co) for Crappy World Films
directed by Chad Ferrin
starring Timothy Muskatell, Tina Birchfield, James Gunn, Stephen Blackehart, Trent Haaga, Gil Espinoza, Marina Blumenthal, Carlo Corazon, Ernest M. Garcia, Joseph Pilato, Casey Powell, Tiffany Shepis
written by Chad Ferrin, music by Nick Smith, special makeup effects by Heather Mages
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Eric (Timothy Muskatell) is a stringer, which is pretty much the lowest
form of freelance reporter and cameraman: The one who chases ambulances
and police cars in hopes to be led to a scene of some atrocity he can film
and then sell the tape to the highest bidder - and there is always a
highest bidder, since all these news shows need to be filled with
atrocious pictures, right? Eric sees those he sells his material to even
below him, since their demand has only created the likes of him - but when
one witnesses Eric filming whatever atrocities totally detached, one can't
be too sure who's the biggest asshole here. Heck, his wife has left him
because of his job ethics (or lack thereof) already. One drunken night,
Eric witnesses what he first takes to be a rape (which he wants to film of
course), only to then find out it's a bunch of subhuman creatures eating a
woman alive. He is shocked but thinks he has the perfect story - but has
to realize there was no tape in his camera ... Eric returns to the
crimescene the next night with his best pal Clift (Trent Haaga), who'd
simply do anything for a bundle of money, and Eric's story seems to be
promising in that department. Something goes wrong when Eric and Clift are
separated and Clift is abducted by the creatures. But much more than the
loss of a friend is it worrying to Eric that he also loses his camera.
Then he's knocked out ... and reunited with Clift, who's still alive but
apparently has been skinned. Both of them are trapped in some kind of
dungeon, apparently by the cannibalistic creatures. And when they finally
witness somebody opening the door ... well, that might not be a good sign. The
Ghouls is a very brutal and very blunt film - which is of course
perfectly in tune with the film's subject matter, the story of a man
always looking for something more atrocious in a way that he doesn't even
realize he has become the biggest atrocity himself. But that the film
works is in the end thanks to the fact that there is a very human side to
Eric the stringer, despite everything he does, despite the unattractive
lowlife he is, there is something there one can identify with, in parts
thanks to Timothy Muskatell's performance of course, but in part also to
the script that allows the character to be more than just a despicable
asshole. Now this is a film that is certainly not for everybody, because
its violence is necessarily very extreme at times, and you might see
quite a few things you don't want to see, be tricked into thinking quite a
few things you don't want to think - but if you're ok with all of that,
then the film is totally recommended.
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