Interview with Ghoulies super fan Graham Le Neve Painter!
Earlier this summer, I reached out to Graham after discovering he had just released a super killer book packed with interviews, photos, and fun extras based off all four Ghoulies movies. I'm sure it's no secret how much us over at Staystillreviews LOVE Ghoulies II. I mean come on, it stars our very own mascot Chip aka Damon Martin. Graham was awesome enough to take the time to answer some questions on himself, his book, and his love for the Ghoulie films!
1) Which Ghoulies movie is your favorite and why?
Ok. I'll be honest here. The fourth entry - although it has merit - isn't one that I return to often. But when I DO re-watch it I'm always pleasantly surprised as to how silly and entertaining it is. Anyway, part four wouldn't be my favourite. The first three movies though, I can watch them over and over. So, which out of those three would be my favourite? Hmm. The strange thing about ALL the Ghoulies films is that the tone differs so drastically, the only constant is the Ghoulies themselves. I often wonder what would have happened if a narrative had been followed through all the movies. What happened after Jonathan escaped from the house at the end of Ghoulies!? And what happened before the action picks up at the beginning of Ghoulies II? If I was asked how the bridge the two movies (which no one has, or is ever likely to), I'd have Jonathan, Becky and Mike crash the car, leaving them all dead. We’d then pick up with Jonathan’s corpse in the morgue wearing a pentagram necklace and he’s sit bolt upright, eyes glowing green! He’d then return to the ruins of the basement of his Father’s house and conjure up another demon, that of Alexandra from Ghoulies IV. She’d tell Jonathan that he can regain all his power with another ritual and seven more acolytes. But mid-way through an old priest steals the Ghoulies and we pick up at Ghoulies II. The ritual would fail, Jonathan would return to normal and Alexandra would disappear. Very basic summary, but it would explain all open plot points and could lead into a new Ghoulie adventure. Personally, I’d like to have a Ghoulies movie set at a prom. I can see Cat Ghoulie swinging on the ropes in the gym, and Fish coming out of the punch bowl as I type! Maybe we could do something in a comic book one day!
What was the question? Haha! My favourite??! Depends on my mood as I love the first three so much. But if I was at gunpoint. I'd say Ghoulies. No matter what my mood I can watch that movie over and over.
2) When did you first watch the Ghoulies movies?
1989, 1991, 1994 and 1997. More specific? Ok, here we go. I saw Ghoulies II on VHS first. That would have been in ‘89. My brother and I used to rent horror movies from our local video shop back in the 80’s, and I immediately saw the cover for Ghoulies II and was obsessed with seeing it from the first moment. It was 1991 (I think) when Ghoulies Go To College came out straight to video in the UK. I remember it like yesterday and can still remember being pretty taken aback when the Ghoulies stated talking haha. The first movie I didn't come across til '94. This is back when you couldn't just stream a movie online or go to Amazon. You had to FIND the tape! Either in a shop, or second hand. Luckily my buddy Mark found me a copy of Ghoulies at his local video shop and passed it my way. I remember sitting down that Sunday morning and basking in that insane film. I'd seen parts 2 and 3 already so this one came a little out of left field for me. But I LOVED it! And still do. Ghoulies IV I never knew existed until I spotted it while running the video section of a shop myself. I was never overly enamoured with that one, but I’ve learnt to appreciate it more over the years.
3) Favorite ghoulie puppet?
The problem with Ghoulies is that, being over thirty years old, you have a lot of conflicting stories pertaining to how it was shot (don’t get me started on the 3-D or when they filmed the Ghoulie in the toilet shot haha). But from what Buechler says, Ghoulies didn’t originally feature much Ghoulie action. In the original script, which I still haven’t found a copy of, (the scripts for Ghoulies II and Ghoulies Go To College are on the website for anyone who’s interested) Grizzell and Greedigut were the ones to do the killing. Buechler suggested that they use the Ghoulies themselves for more of the carnage. So, the puppets themselves weren’t such a high priority early on and if Buechler had more time, the Ghoulies may have looked a little different. That’s not to say I don’t love the look of the Ghoulies in the first movie, I do! But it seems to me that by the time the second movie rolled round, Buechler had a team, and the time, to perfect the creatures for their first sequel. As I said Ghoulies II was the first of the movies I saw, and that indelible image of Fish Ghoulie on the box of the second movie has always been a favourite of mine. I know Speedy (also on the Ghoulies II art) deserves more love, but Fish was always my favourite. So, Fish Ghoulie in Ghoulies II is my favourite incarnation of the character.
4) Top 5 favorite horror movies?
For the sake of anyone reading, I’m not going to include the Ghoulies series in this. We all know I’m a fan, so I’ll push them to the side for a second. They’re right there! But at the side, temporarily, hehe. Top 5? Well off the top of my head here’s the movies I’ve brought time and time again on many formats. Creepshow (1982), Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Evil Dead (1982). Exorcist III (1990) and House (1986). Poltergeist (1982), American Werewolf (1981). Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Night of the Demons (1988). Woah that’s a lot of 80’s titles. How about some new ones I liked? Um, House of the Devil was great I thought. Is that new? No, that’s nearly a decade old. I give up. Pick five of those LOL.
5) Can you talk about the process about making your Ghoulies book?
Ok. Well. I've run a Ghoulies website for over a decade and I started that simply because I was worried that these movies were going to be forgotten about. This was before Ghoulies even came out on Blu Ray. I knew that MGMHD had made a HD transfer of Ghoulies and Ghoulies II and had elected to NOT reinsert the cut footage from Ghoulies II, which I found insane! But when Scream Factory finally released both be movies on BD they were contractually obliged to NOT put the R Rated scenes in. Luckily in 2017 NSM Records in Austria approached me with a cut of Ghoulies II that they wanted me to look over and give them notes on. What they sent me was the UK version of Ghoulies II, which I hadn’t seen since the VHS days! Slightly longer than the PG13 cut but not the full R RATED version. I excitedly told them what they needed to include to have THE most uncut version, and they did it! It's just been released on a standard Blu Ray so you can finally pick up the uncut version of Ghoulies 2 cheap.
So, I started approaching people via my Ghoulies website to ask questions about the movies. Why no puppets in part 4? etc. And after a while I got a fire under me and started bothering people more often. Some never responded (no Damon, sorry Stacy) and others began to respond, slowly. After about a year of this I was encouraged by a friend to this stuff together in a book. “Great”, I thought. As a fan I’d love to read this! So, I beavered away for a little longer and realized that I'd still have to piece this thing together myself. I had a few pointers from Rich Lawden who released some amazing books on BBC’s Ghostwatch about design, but I had to figure this out myself mostly. I thought, “let's make this as simple as possible”. My original plan was to release the book as a comic book inspired by Ghoulish Tales in the third film. I’m also a fan of Weird Tales, a short lived magazine/comic from the 70's as well as the usual vintage horror comics, and figured I'd emulate that simple style best I can as, I'm not really a designer! So, in the end this thing ended up as an oversized comic book come magazine. And people seem to like it, so that’s good – because I don’t make much money off it haha.
6) Any untold Ghoulies II stories about Mr. Damon Martin?
I don’t think I do. The only cast members I’ve spoken to who really remember much about Damon were Ames Morton and Kerry Remsen. When I read your questions and saw this one about Damon I messaged Michael Deak! (he likes an exclamation point at the end of his name), as he has a great memory for this kind of stuff, but he drew a blank too. But from what has been spoken about him, Damon seemed to take the craft very seriously, and at the same time was a bit of a ladies’ man. Ooh La La.
7) Thoughts on a Ghoulies remake?
It'll happen eventually. If the Critters tv show is a success I'm sure another studio will jump on the little monster bandwagon and say, "Hey, we own Ghoulies, let's put that in motion and make a few dollars”. And it WILL be a remake. This will be for a whole new audience, and probably more in line with Ghoulies II, or at least focusing on that kind of fun ride (pun intended), as it’s by far the favourite of the series as far as fans go, it seems. And as you read in the book, all of the main parties (Director’s, Actors), are interested in pursuing a new movie so there’s no lack of original talent if there’s to be a few nods back to the original series.
8) Favorite quote from the Ghoulies movies?
Anything said by Scott Thomson or Phil Fondacaro for so many different reasons. Scott was like a whirlwind in the first Ghoulies, every line coming from his mouth is pure gold. Phil could read the phone book and I’ll intently sit and listen. In Ghoulies II, when he brings Damon a coffee and it’s thrown back in his face before reciting King Lear, I get a lump in my throat every time. Not because its old Shakey, but because it’s recited with such aplomb and passion. Phil’s amazing in every way! Skip and Barcus’ conversation on the porch in Ghoulies Go To College is just amazing. When Skip asks if Barcus is still wearing ladies underware and Barcus says, “Yeah” before he panics and stumbles over, “Who told you that? Those are doctors’ orders. I have sensitive skin”. And more than quotes, I’d encourage anyone to watch every move of Keith Joe Dick in Ghoulies, as he’s hilarious, even when he’s not spouting his classic cheesy lines. There’s also a really funny shot of Ralph Seymour as Toad Boy. When they cut to the gang hanging out after the party’s ended, he springs up from behind a chair and asks, “So, what do ya wanna do?”. I’ve no clue why he was hiding behind that chair, but that kind of bizarre humour is like catnip for me.
9) Who would win in a fight? Ghoulies, Gremlins, or Critters?
Gremlins. Probably because of sheer numbers. Although if you had an even amount in a fight I’m sure Ghoulies would fare pretty well seeing as they’re rather impervious to anything other than being ripped apart. And they’ll only return from another toilet a year or so later anyway haha.
10) What's next for you? Any new projects?
Yes. Loads! One I’m really excited about, but I can't talk about yet as it's not been finalised, but it’ll be epic, but you’ll be the first to know Stacy! The cover and some of the new pieces art for the Ghoulies Companion book was graciously done by artist Tom Claridge, and we've been speaking about some new projects, so a couple of things will likely get released down the line when I can put the time into one project and finish it. It's hard to pick, and focus on another project because you want to have something you’re passionate about, and also something that's not been done before. Ghoulies was something I felt needed to be done as no one had covered these movies in any depth. And no publisher wanted to pick the book up. Everyone I approached originally said, “No one's interested in a book about Ghoulies”. Well, people are buying it, so obviously someone is.
If anyone wants to follow Ghoulies Movies we’re on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ghouliesmovies. We’re on Instagram, and there’s a website www.ghouliesmovies.weebly.com with info on the movies. I’m on Instagram and Facebook as myself Graham Le Neve Painter also, so if anyone’s interested in the next project announcements by all means follow me on there too
.Thank you so much Graham!
