The only reason to watch Gargoyles is probably due to the fact it's the first work of special effects maestro Stan Winston, apart from that it's just another 70's television "movie of the week" that manages to wreck what could've been a perfectly acceptable creature feature by taking the story in a direction that just doesn't agree with the viewer.

Demon researcher Cornel Wilde is heading out to the desert to check out "Uncle Willie" and his curios and he's taking along daughter Jennifer Salt with him. It's at Willie's that he sees what's apparently the skeleton of a gargoyle and before he can scoff anymore at the skeleton the shack they're in is attacks by clawed creatures that turn out to be a group of the title beasts who are out to get back the bones of one of their own kind.

From there it's all sorts of silliness as they're chased down in their car, attacked on numerous occasions in slow motion, and eventually Wilde has to go after his daughter when she's kidnapped by the head gargoyle (blaxploitation favourite Bernie Casey) who it turns out just wants to be taught how to read and learn about the human world.

What starts out as quite watchable 70's cheese soon becomes a task to watch because director B.W.L. Norton seems to be in love with slow motion and overuses it every chance he gets (thereby killing any chances at suspense) and the script by Elinor and Stephen Karpf tries to elevate this above being a dopey monster movie by trying to give the gargoyles emotional depth when all we really want to see is them rip the heads off the "big, bad humans".

It's not all bad however as the creature effects are pretty adequate, the narrated opening is pretty intriguing, and it gives you a chance to see what's probably the first (and last) time a gargoyle smacks a female of its kind on the ass. And besides that you can have a good chuckle when you see the head gargoyle ride up on a horse. (Chris Hartley, 6/16/05)

Directed By: B.W.L. Norton.
Written By: Elinor Karpf, Stephen Karpf.

Starring: Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt, Grayson Hall, Bernie Casey.