It’s time for #TrashOrTerrorTuesday…
…when I examine a film that’s been languishing in my personal library to determine if it is #Trash or #Terror
– or more importantly, if it deserves to stay in my collection.
And so, out from the dusty shelves of #VHS tapes comes…
Ghoul School (1990) by Timothy O Rawe
Two thugs in search of hidden treasure mistakenly unleash a chemical into the school’s water supply, causing everyone it comes into contact with to become flesh-eating ghouls.
“Sex, babes and rock ‘n roll!”
#Horror
#TrashOrTerrorTuesday
I first found out about Ghoul School by reading J.R. Bookwalter’s B-Movies in the ’90s and Beyond, which was an autobiographical account of making his first 10 features films. Ghoul School was not one of the films that Bookwalter directed, but rather one that he produced for David DeCoteau‘s Cinema Home Video. Most of the films that Bookwalter wrote about were pretty hard to locate – at least at my local video stores – but whenever I found one I made a point of renting it – or if possible, buying it. Ghoul School was one of the ones that I purchased in a bargain bin somewhere, and have proudly displayed on my shelf ever since.
But, as I mentioned before, movies are made to be watched – and I hadn’t watched this one in many years. So, I decided to put it to the #TrashOrTerrorTuesday test.
No matter how you look at it, Ghoul School is a bad movie. However, it is, at times, entertainingly bad. It features a rock band (and groupies) rehearsing for a gig at a high school, and I have a real soft spot for old horror films about rock bands or “Heavy Metal Horror” as it is sometimes called. There is also some pretty decent low budget gore in the movie. There is no nudity, but there is gratuitous footage of Jackie ‘The Joke Man’ Martling and TV Host Joe Franklin – presumably to try to add some recognizable names or faces to the cast (although I’m not sure how many people would have actually recognized them). Honestly, their scenes are pointless and add nothing to the film. But that in itself is kind of charming, in a campy kind of way.
So what’s the verdict?
Ghoul School (1990) is not a good movie, but it’s bad in a way that might entertain fans of bad movies. I think it’s safe to say that there’s not a scary moment in it’s entire running time, but I suspect that being scary probably wasn’t the point. All in all, I would have to call it #Trash – but it’s trash that I find mildly appealing. I think I may have to continue displaying it on my shelf – at least until the next time that I wonder it it deserves to be there.
Ghoul School (1990) by #TimothyORawe
Two thugs in search of hidden treasure mistakenly unleash a chemical into the school's water supply, causing everyone it comes into contact with to become flesh-eating ghouls.
"Sex, babes and rock 'n roll!"#Horror #TrashOrTerrorTuesday pic.twitter.com/UqqLTbPF6y
— Angus Kohm (@AngusKohm) June 2, 2021
