In the 80's a small video company called Camp Video made it their duty to release many obscure, not very good, genre flicks on VHS (this was during the huge video boom of the decade which would crash in the early 90's). They put out fare such as Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Deathrow Diner, and Gore-Met, Zombie Chef From Hell. Crappy movies with endearing cover art and titles. It's really no surprise then that POPcinema head honcho Michael Raso decided to resurrect the name (as Camp Motion Pictures) for a line of DVD releases of some of the more lurid and hard-to-find shot on video cruddiness of the 80's. And at least he's shown a sense of humour about the whole thing by delivering a "Super Bloody Splatter University Edition" of one of his earliest works (he was DP and co-produced), Ghoul School.

Taking it's cue from such Troma flicks as Class Of Nuke 'Em High, Ghoul School was the first effort from a gang of horror movie loving friends who decided to stop making short splatter flicks and doing a public cable television show and make an actual, real, movie. Sadly, though, with too little tongue-in-cheek humour, amateurish acting (which writer-director Timothy O'Rawe admits, in the making of on the DVD, he didn't much care about), and not enough low-rent gore to elicit cheap thrills this doesn't even have a "so bad, it's good" factor to draw in bad movie fans.

After a pointless opening scene that has a high school janitor stumbling around groaning to himself before his cot collapses (oh, the hilarity!), O'Rawe sets up his thin premise as various groups of people staying late after classes fall victim to the newly undead swim team who've become flesh eaters after being exposed to tainted water in the school's pool.

There's the two horror movies nuts Steve (William Friedman) and Jeff (Scott Gordon), the basketball team gearing up for their next game who seem to have the inability to sink even one basket (watch the drills and notice not one goes in), and the cheesy metal band "Bloodsucking Ghouls" who are practicing for their performance at the school's dance that weekend.

You'd figure that with all that fodder hanging around that there'd be tons of gore going on, but apart from a few gut rippings and one (somewhat amusing) beheading there's no much to chew on. We just get all the characters running down hallways being chased by actors in green make-up before everyone locks themselves in the auditorium to try and figure out a way out. Then comes a "fade to white" ending that ineptly takes its cue from Night Of The Living Dead.

Ghoul School is quite the task to sit through and that's really saying something considering it barely runs over an hour long once you cut out the credits. A movie this short shouldn't feel as sluggish as this does. The make-up effects are okay for the budget level and it's quite bizarre seeing long-time talk show host Joe Franklin and Howard Stern cohort Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling making appearances here (they're mostly just here for name recognition purposes and help this come to a screeching halt early during a monologue of Martling's poor sexual innuendo filled jokes), but there's literally nothing else here to talk about. The entire thing is just too inane to make any sort of impression and it's just another "forgotten" early DTV effort that should've stayed that way.

O'Rawe hasn't done anything since (apart from co-writing the 1995 erotic thriller Midnight Confessions), Raso went on to form EI Cinema (now POPCinema) which has become one of the more recognizable names in indie cinema, and co-producer/jack-of-all-trades John P. Fedele continues working with Raso to this very day as an actor and ocassional director. Those low-budget movie geeks amongst you will recognize a lot of the names involved (Matthew Jason Walsh, Peter Jacelone, Mary Huner) from various other scattered indie efforts. And, in case you're wondering, the movie our two horror buffs watch in the A.V. room is J.R. Bookwalter's Robot Ninja. (Chris Hartley, 5/3/07)

Directed By: Timothy O'Rawe.
Written By: Timothy O'Rawe.

Starring: Joe Franklin, William Friedman, Scott Gordon, Paul Venier.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: Looking no better than VHS and filled with dirt and specks, Ghoul School looks as low-budget as it probably was. It looks like crap, but considering the audience this is aimed at, it probably doesn't matter.

Extras: Previously released in 2004 by Tempe Video, this new disc only carries over the odd commentary track by O'Rawe (which has too many quiet moments, bad timed comments and heavy breathing) and a 1988 "investor's reel". Everything else here is new.

Suffice it to say, despite not liking the main feature, POPcinema has definitely packed in lots of cool extras for this disc. That promo reel is pretty cool and has effects sequences that probably would've benefitted the final product, but there's more to chew on here as the extras are split into three seperate categories: "The Making of Ghoul School", "Splatter University", and "Camp Trailer Vault". The third one is pretty self explanatory, but here's what you get under the other two headings...

"The Making of Ghoul School" contains the promo reel (with optional commentary), a 1990 making of featurette that proves the ramshackle nature of the production, footage of the DVD cover art photo shoot (and what an awful cover it is!), the trailer and the original credit sequence (which looks like it was made on an Amiga). As for, "Splatter University" it's here all the really awesome stuff is hidden. A collection of shorts and an episode of a local cable channel show they were involved in, this shows early work of O'Rawe, Raso and Fedele. It's a great look at their beginnings as we get three shorts ("Say No To Drugs", "Halloween Tale", "Dead Weight"), two of which have commentaries as well as bloopers for "Halloween Tale". We also the "Halloween Takeover" of their public access show (with an optional commentary as well). It makes this disc completely worthwhile for indie film fans.

Also, apart from O'Rawe's commentary we're treated to two other tracks one with Raso and Fedle and another with just Raso by himself. They're jokey in tone and fun to listen to with Raso almost being apologetic about the shittiness of the movie on his solo track.

Visit Camp Motion Pictures for more info.