Friday, October 28, 2016

Hobgoblins



So when the film being reviewed is best known for being an episode of not only Mystery Science Theater but Elvira in her new 13 Nights of Elvira show you would think one of 2 things.  How bad is this, or how horribly good is this.  Well considering it was the film’s director, Rick Sloane who submitted the film it leans a bit more towards the latter. In fact it is Rick Sloane who first embraced the disaster that was this film.

Hobgoblins is a Gremlins rip off, sort of.  I can’t really say it’s a spoof as the humor is pretty unintentional that I can tell.  It’s the story of Kevin, a night security guard at a film studio and his group of weird sex crazed friends.  One night when Kevin is on patrol he comes across an old vault that contains a couple of weird looking puppet like creatures.  They escape and we soon learn they are aliens who have the power to makes ones fantasy’s come true.  Bad thing about that is at the end you fantasy turns on you and you die.  There Hobgoblins and they have been at the studio locked in the vault for years.

Once the break out the head straight for Kevin’s house, yes I still wonder how they found it and he must team up with his friends to battle them.  Its full of cheesy gore shots and silly sleaze scenes, like when Kevin’s Girlfriend Amy’s fantasy turns out to be an easy stripper.   The humor is juvenile to say the least, but its ok it fits.

I can’t say the film has good acting, it doesn’t, it doesn’t have a good soundtrack, it doesn’t have good effects, in fact nothing about this is good.  That being said it’s a great and fun film to watch.  And I’m not the only one.  The following for this is so huge a sequel was made years later in 2009.
See what makes this great is the complete mess it is.  Remember this was an 80s film so excess was the key.  Go back and watch an serious 80s film, you will find something to laugh at.  Watch this and its funnier than Airplane.  It really is.  And I give Rick Sloane all the credit in the world for promoting it being bad.  Heck its considered one of the worst films ever made, but when you start to google it, it pops right up.  Fan sites and all.  I watched the Blu-ray last night with my wife and we had a great time.  We weren’t making fun of the film, we just watched it and laughed.  It was one of the more entertaining films we have watched together in a while.  The whole so bad its good theory really is true to the point with this one.

It had a few releases over the years on VHS and even on a Mystery Science Theater DVD set.  Well now Vinegar Syndrome has picked it up and released a fantastic Blu-ray edition with special features.

All extras on both disc formats
Region free Blu-ray and DVD combo pack
Scanned, restored & preserved in 2k from 35mm original camera negative
Archival commentary track with director Rick Sloane
“Hobgoblins Revisited” brand new making-of featurette
Brand new interview with hobgoblin creature fabricator, Kenneth J. Hall
“Hobgoblins: The Making of a Disasterpiece” featurette
“Hobgoblins Invade Comic-Con” featurette
Trailer
Reverse cover artwork
English SDH Subtitles

All in all I highly recommend picking this up for a great film to watch with friends.


Overall 3 out of 5 Stars!

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