The Ghouligans
(2006)
review by Catwalk

“The Ghouligans!” is one 50-minute long sight gag, taken right out of the 60’s monster shows, The Munsters and The Addaams Family.  There are four Ghouligans; Count Farnham the vampire, Void the man-eating zombie, Boris the construct, and Wolfgang the…yeah, you guessed it.

The DVD is a compilation of shorts, including Boris working on a car, Count Farnham teaching children the origin of Halloween, sell a car, fight over an ex-girlfriend, and the other boys enlisting the help of a witch trying to help Boris with his temper.  With only a few exceptions, the shorts are shot in black and white, helping to preserve the mood.

Among the funniest ongoing bits, intentional or not, is Farnham’s difficulty speaking with his fangs in.  Though, his explanation of summoning a witch by whispering her name into the wind while holding the bloody body of a fat school boy is hilarious.

Wolfgang is my kinda creature.  He helps Boris to relax with 20 shots, a few beers and a joint that looks like Cheech and Chong rolled their marijuana van in a paper towel roll.  The sequence of outfits he picks out for the Halloween bash had us laughing out loud.

The Ghouligans is accompanied by a soundtrack of original music from Paul Laino, who effectively captures the feel of the 60’s with go-go beach music.  The compilation is consistent; if you like one episode, you’ll like ‘em all…and it’s hard not to like them all.

The Slack Pack airs their material, including the Ghouligans, regularly on public access TV on Long Island.  See www.theslackpack.com for details.  The troupe is creative and charismatic, and knows how to surround themselves with good looking girls.  They’re like a small-time version of Broken Lizard.  Here’s hoping they get a chance to hit it as big.

More Info:  www.theghouligans.com