The Slack Pack’s “The Ghouligans” is an awful lot like the most recent 60’s homage “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.” It’s not perfect, it’s an acquired taste, but in the end it’s a pleasing little satire/love letter to the time of cheesy monster flicks. Except The Slack Pak takes its film in the angle of “The Munsters” in which we follow a group of displaced monsters in modern times struggling to get by and make dues.
“The Ghouligans” is a pretty entertaining piece of schlock that breaks our characters down into different skits in everyday situations. One involves the group trying to learn how to dance, while the other involves a love triangle with a skeleton. The quality behind “The Ghouligans” is rather novel with a very pleasing sense of satire of the sixties with goofy music, and low-tech special effects that are cheesy while amusing. The direction captures the theme well with stark whites, and deep blacks resembling the films of that time, and the cast pulls off their characters well. One of the funnier characters is the zombie Void whose origin is pretty funny.
He was one of many in a zombie apocalypse and he’s a reject of the zombie army. “The Ghouligans” doesn’t so much follow them all, more it shows monsters living in their own situations, including Count Farnham who tries to sell off their demonic car with disastrous results. I had a good time watching it, I have to admit. It has a sense of humor about itself and really captures the hokey sixties elements. The Slack Pack seems to have the right idea, but can never seem to decide what to do with it. They’re a small group of misplaced monsters trying to make it in the real world… okay? So, beyond that, what? Well, maybe one of them had trouble selling a car, and the other was trying to impress girls surfing and… um. They can never seem to know what to do with the concept.
Rather than combining these elements into a funny story displaying the talents of the cast, they just break it down into different gimmicky elements that would work as a full length film, but manages to fall flat as separate skits at times. And beyond that, while it’s funny to see the cast at times acknowledging the shoddy effects, the characters were never as compelling and entertaining as they could have been. Especially Justin Hertz as Count Farnham who ends up sounding more like Borat at a Halloween party than a Count Dracula satire. “The Ghouligans” feels like scattered parts to a better movie waiting to be made. The Slack Pack’s “The Ghouligans” is not a perfect comedy film. It can never seem to fully grasp its own concept, but it’s a lot of guilty fun that will really click with fans of “The Munsters,” or “Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.”