Director:Timothy O'Rawe
Writer:Timothy O'Rawe
CAST---
Joe Franklin ...  Himself
William Friedman ...  Steve
Scott Gordon ...  Jeff
Paul Venier ...  Blade
Nancy Sirianni ...  Roxanne
Jackie Martling ...  Himself (as Jackie 'The Joke
Man' Martling)
Lori Karz ...  Crystal (as Laurie Karz)
Ashley Segal ...  Lenny

Running Time : 90 min | UK:72 min (DVD
version)
GHOUL SCHOOL (1990)

Splatter fans sure love to watch splatter movies, and some splatter fans even like to make movies, like
the makers of this little ditty. Filmed in the late 80s, this movie should not be confused with the 1991
Nintendo game of the same name, which was basically an early example of survival horror games.
Where that "GHOUL SCHOOL" was fairly decent, this one's fairly lame.

Written and directed by Timothy O'Rawe, this supposed love letter to comedian Jackie "The Joke Man"
Martling (more on this later), is as simple as you can get, and that's pretty much how we like our zombie
movies. Steve and Jeff are gore movie fans going about a normal day at school, reading Fango and
some other horror magazine that came and went. Meanwhile, a bunch of thugs sneak into the school
and tie up the janitor (a fat guy Troma should have been using) who apparently has hidden some
money in the walls of the school. After shooting the janitor a hundred times, they find a hidden door or
something in the walls and stumble into a secret room. They find two buttons there, a red and green
one, and decide to push one of them. This was, of course, a big mistake, because it apparently releases
a zombie gas all throughout the school, which gets into the water supply and starts turning the kids into
ghouls.

Steve and Jeff have stayed after school to watch a bootleg of a gore movie that hasn't been released
yet (and I was instantly reminded of my high school days, when Jorge and I and a few other friends
would gather around to watch the latest gore epic), but this unfortunately leaves them prey to the
zombie onslaught. They hook up with a rock band that is rehearsing for the prom, and together they
band together to fight off the swim team (as they keep saying), use toy guns, and find a way out of the
Ghoul School only to find that whole town had become infected!

Throughout the movie there are thousands of references to Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, who is your
typical sex-joke comedian. Steve and Jeff where his t-shirts, there are stickers and posters of his act all
over school, and he even appears in a very unnecessary scene with talk show host legend Joe Franklin
where he goes through some of his jokes (my favorite two are: "Where do you find a turtle with no legs?
Right where you left him!" and "Did you hear about the guy who couldn't come? We went and got him!")
Did this guy give them money to make the movie or something? Is he related to anyone on the
production? What was up with all the ass-kissing? This guy's not even that well-known!

Anyway, there is plenty of gruesome stuff (even if on a budget), as students and teachers are torn limb
from limb by the painted-blue zombies, and there's a fun axe-to-the-groin gag. You can tell it's a gore
movie from gore fans, and they take the time to get the splatter elements just right on their budget
(although in a few scenes you could see the blood-filled condoms). As a zombie movie, it works, and as
a splatter film it works too. As a film in general, it's terrible. The directing is weak, and the acting is
terrible. But sometimes you can tell when a movie is done in all seriousness, and when it is done to be
totally all in fun, and whereas "WEASELS RIP MY FLESH" wanted to be serious, this film wants to be
definitely tongue-in-cheek. I mean, come on, where else are you going to get a great quadriplegic turtle
joke and see someone get their brains eaten out?

                                                                                                         - Jose Prendes
N / A
Ghoul School (1990)
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OVERALL
BLOOD
BREASTS
BEASTS