Spookies (1986)

Director: Genie Joseph (as Eugenie Joseph), Thomas Doran

Starring: Felix Ward, Maria Pechukas, Dan Scott

A wicked sorcerer tries to sacrifice a group of people inside his house with the intention of using their vitality to keep his wife alive.

1986 saw the release of some seriously bad horror films. ‘Spookies’ is one of them. In fact, this is easily one of the worst films I’ve ever seen.

From the plot to the dialogue to the performances, this was beyond stupid and beyond bad. The attempts at humor were childish, to say the least. This film is worse than a high school production in terms of directing, with bad sound and bad make-up. The acting was seriously WTF bad!! I honestly couldn’t wait for this to end. There literally was not a minute I enjoyed.

It’s so bad it’s hard to believe this was made by industry professionals. Then again, maybe I should analyze the ‘professionals’ part. As it turns out, this film was a first for all the actors, and none of them pursued acting (with the exception of Peter Iasillo Jr., although most of his film work was uncredited). Even the directors had little to no experience, and it shows!

Credit where credit is due: the FX department created some incredible practical effects (especially the Spider Woman). Hats off to you guys!!

Would I watch it again? Definitely not.