The movie begins with a scene of ritual taking place, complete with a huge Pentagram behind The Altar, and a Goetic sigil of Belial on the mantle, in which an infant sacrifice is to take place, which is actually that of The Sorcerer's son, because he fears that one day he will turn to the light and grow to overtake him. He commands one of the robed cultists to come forth with the infant, but she dares disobey, considering the horror of murdering a child; The Sorcerer enraged, telekinetically tears the heart from her chest. He then orders another member to leave his midst after an energy field surrounding the boy resists the death-strike. And so the kindly, though somewhat 'touched' old man sets to raise him as his own unto manhood. Upon maturity, he sets to explore the mansion, and begins finding elements of his father's legacy - in the library, books on Black Magic, ritual tools, personal artifacts such as several medallions, a conjuring staff, and a robe. Bit by bit his natural interests beckon him to experiment with The Dark Arts, with a cover desire to "know what his father was all about", whenever his newlywed wife bids him to be more reticent in uncovering the nefarious rites. But his curiosity drives him on - and then he discovers The Ritual Chambre, and begins making the necessary preparations which yields him almost immediate Power, most noticeable by his glowing green eyes, which in this case, denotes his oneness with The Forces of Darkness. His wife becomes increasingly frightened by his evilution until finally, she decides to leave when he devotes his life to the persuit of The Occult rites. But he invokes his two imps from a Magic Circle to do his bidding, and she is consequently under his complete control.

Next, he invites a few of his friends to attend a feast and revery. Two fool-hearty stoners, a pretentious and 'cocky' guy named Dick {but you can call him "Dick"}, and two vapid girls.

But there was a purpose for them all being there that night beyond the mere dinner and party. They are all to take the place of those cultists for the Necromantic summoning of The Master Warlock. They are all placed under a spell, various imps {"ghoulies"} are called forth, and with everyone's united call, The Sorcerer is brought up from the grave located on the property, which displays a really nice gravestone with a Pentagram crowning it. Afterwards, the spell is temporarily lifted, and they are prepared by going down to the basement as sort of a party ruse, likened playing with a Ouija board for kicks, and Jonathan decides to open a book to conduct a rite from therein, but what they do not know, is this is yet another preparatory procedure to place them in the proper frame of mind of what is to come. A triangle is drawn upon the floor, and the ubiquitous ceremonial magician blindlight garbage of calling forth the name of jehovah in hebrew inunciated 'J H V H' {"joh-heh-vau-heh"} turning clockwise, but of course, the group do not take it seriously, and mock with such things as 'the hokey-pokey', and one of the moronic girls even screams in jest. Quite a pathetic lot. After waiting a little while, it is determined that nothing will occur, so they all decide to return to the kitchen for more beer and marijuana. Unbeknownst to them, the ghoulies appear in the conjuring trigram and are released to roam the grounds.

Bit by bit, the 'ghoulies', which are essentially elementals, manifest one by one to cause havoc and spill the sacrificial blood until all of the guests are transformed into spechtrous participants in a hellish ceremony. The Master Warlock then sets out to reclaim his position as Prime Magician. First by entering the house with a mighty yell to stir the ethers, and one final sacrifice to bring him fully into the flesh, for at this point he resembles a decaying zombie - but with the application of a little transmogrification, a willing victim comes along - "Dick" - the strutting, boorish macho-man fooled by the Sorcerer's illusion of that of a beautiful seductress, followed by a deep kiss - the next thing which occurs, is he finds himself with a tentacle-tongue wrapped around his neck - and the next sacrifice is taken. So he is restored to full vitality, and heads straight to The Altar, where he reclaims his rightful place as Lord of The Manor.
So father and son eventually come face to face - a memorable line spoken by The Sorcerer comes to the fore - "I must admit you show promise, but at your age, I was much...better." A line I know too well. The battle is on, and the son is defeated, as he slowly sinks into The Abyss, but is rescued surprisingly by The Old Man in full ritual garb, who takes over the battle, so he and The Warlock battle Magically until someone is victorious. I will leave it up to the viewer to discern who, for it is actually unclear.

Considered a "B-Movie" by the masses, Ghoulies is highly entertaining, replete with occult themes, and quite comical at times, which makes it a favorite. Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. conducted a portion of the soundtrack for the sequal, which, in this reviewer's opinion, is not as amusing as this first film gem.

5 out of 5 Goat Skulls.