It’s a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster.
Spookies (1987) is a film with a split personality, cobbled together from two separate shoots, and stitched with just enough care to hide the seams but keep it compellingly schizophrenic.
If it feels like two different movies fighting for control, that’s because it kindof it is. But also isn’t.
Originally shot in 1984 under the title Twisted Souls, the film was nearly complete when its backers locked the original filmmakers out of the editing room. Instead of finishing the movie as intended, they hired a new crew, spliced in an entirely different storyline with a fresh cast, and somehow mashed the two together. The result? A gloriously unhinged haunted house ride where a group of unlucky partygoers battle gooey creatures, spider women, and mucky basement-dwelling horrors – all while another completely unrelated subplot unfolds about an evil sorcerer and his undead minions.
Yet, against all odds, Spookies mostly works. Maybe not in the traditional sense, but in that special, late-night-on-cable, “what the hell did I just sit through?” kind of way. The practical effects are a highlight, with Gabe Bartalos and his team delivering creatures that feel like they crawled straight out of a Richard Corben comic book (he did that awesome poster by the way). The sheer variety of monsters almost makes it feel like a horror anthology rather than a single film – which, given its production history, might not be far off.
What makes Spookies stand out as a video store mid-shelf horror oddity is that it’s never boring. Every scene throws something new at you, whether it makes sense or not. It’s actually more fun because of its disjointed nature. It’s a cinematic chimera – two halves that shouldn’t fit together but somehow do, held together by rubber monsters, fog machines, and pure ‘80s rock video pizzazz.
Some horror films earn cult status because they’re good. Others because they’re bad… and some because they’re both.
Spookies earns it because it’s a gorgeous hot mess with a multiple personality disorder. Some of it you might enjoy, some of it not so much, but ultimately it’s ok to be of two minds about this one.
-Pop
Spookies arrived on home video this week in 1988, after a limited January 1987 theatrical release.
