As an aside before I get into my thoughts, I only really ended up watching this movie because its the final film included in ‘Full Moon’s’ “Evil Bong Stash Box” a 9 bluray set of all the ‘Evil Bong’ movies. I’m gonna be honest, quite why this film was randomly dumped as the last disc in this boxset is beyond me, as its not related to any of the ‘Evil Bong’ movies (That being said, often ‘The Evil Bong’ isnt related to any of the ‘Evil Bong’ movies.) But more to the point, this set came out in November 2021…and about 4 months later they released ‘The Gingerweed Man’ on DVD and Bluray. Considering 8 of these 9 films took YEARS before getting a bluray release, quite why they decided to just shove a random ‘Weed’ related movie at the end of this set, rather than wait 4 months and include an ACTUAL ‘Evil Bong’ movie in the boxset (WITH the added bonus of being able to market it as ‘ALL the Bong movies to date, including this BRAND NEW film!’ is beyond me. I mean…its not like this was a ‘Value’ release. the thing cost over $150 on release…That really annoyed me…Anyway.

‘Weedjies’ is a film by Danny Draven that attempts to try and recapture the retro nostalgic vibe of those old ‘Magical Creature’ quasi horror films of the mid to late 80s. Think ‘Gremlins’, ‘Ghoulies’, ‘Terrorvision’ to a lesser extent…you get the idea. throw in a little ‘Night of the Demons’ and you’ve more or less got the vibe this things going for.

The plot revolves around a group of college girls, who’ve decided to host a Halloween party in vegas for some of their friends with the aim of trying to both raise their status and raise some cash to help them get by. Little do they realise that the night will take a turn for the spooky when a mysterious woman appears and offers the group a chance to ‘have some fun’ with a little magical boardgame. On agreeing to play, a group of little ‘gremlin’ type weed demons emerge from the board and games begin. The rules are simple: The group must capture and return all of the demons who escaped from the board, back to the board, before the clock strikes midnight. If they do, they get to live and get a special weed pipe as a reward, if they fail. They’ll be dragged into the board and turned into Weedjies themselves.

cue hyjinx and much ado about nothing as the gang run around the party mansion getting into scrapes, while the ACTUAL party guests are all caught up in a treasure hunt that the girls have arranged as part of the festivities.

Honestly? This one wasnt half bad. In fact, given I’ve just come off the back of 8 ‘Evil Bong’ movies, this thing feels like a masterpiece comparatively. Water in the desert.

Tone wise, it feels like a watered down take on ‘Ghoulies’ and ‘Gremlins’…like…Someone who REALLY liked those movies and couldnt really move past those films basically made THEIR interpretation of those movies. As such? while it does meet a ‘standard’ it consistently feels like it’s trapped within the framework of other better movies. It never really feels like it breaks out and does something that ‘Ghoulies’ or ‘Gremlins’ didnt do. In that sense, it absolutely feels like a late 80s movie in that sense…but not one of the ‘classic’ late 80s movies…one of the ones that was shot on video, released locally and usually used as a beer coaster for most of the nights festivitites. being met with a resounding ‘Do we have to!?’ when all the other tapes ran out.

The thing is, theres nothing objectively BAD about this movie per-se. It just doesnt really do anything we havent seen 2 dozen times before. The scripts consistent, has a clean 3 acts that transition nicely, the pacings alright, the runtimes short (but could be a little shorter in my opinion) It gives the info it needs to give and feels comfortable in its skin, If I was going to gripe, the character dialogues a little on the dry side, it feels a bit overly polished, but part of the problem is the writing and part of it is the cast delivery. So I cant really rail on that aspect of the production too hard. Its a fine enough script that does what it needs to set out to do…its just kind of dull and doesnt really do anything interesting.

The Direction is a touch mixed in my opinion, while the whole film looks really nice. It does have some issues with styalization. the marketing and opening of the film would have you believe that this things going all in on the retro 80s throwback vibe. and thats something i’d strongly be in favour of. But as the runtime progresses that 80s aesthetic slowly but surely ebbs away until you’re left with a 2010’s ‘Full Moon’ film. which…well it looks okay, but there is an heir of cheapness to it. its a shame really, because the opening footage set in the 70s and the first act of this thing look really nice and there seems to have been clear communication with the team on how this thing should work. But this was either an after thought, or that close communication slowly started to fall away as the production went on (at least…as far as I can tell.)

Direction of the cast is fine. I wasnt all that sold on this films players, but they do as their told, they work the set space well, the puppets are decently animated and look fine. its a solid enough job, but the schlocky nature of this thing really doesnt do it any favours.

The cine is actually this films strongest point. I mean, yeh. They use a HELL of a lot of stock footage of Vegas throughout. But the on set shots look decent, they’re very well composed, the CG doesnt look like utter arse™ as other ‘Full Moon’ films from this time often do. and the sequences are pretty solidly put together, if not a *tiny* bit looser than i’d have personally liked (if Im being honest I think this would have gotten another full star had this been 10-15 mins shorter)

The performances are a little awkward and delivery is bordering on the amateur. I dont doubt the cast were doing the best they could, but a lot of them seem to be fairly early on in their careers here, and it shows. With time, I could see improvements…but this things pretty ripe.

Aaaand the soundtrack feels kind of stocky, the composer has worked closely with David Decoteau and Richard Band and honestly, its lack of memorability or originality was a real blow to this thing.

Realistically? Im totally apathetic about this one. It has some good stuff going for it, but it also has a lot of issues and pound for pound I think you could do better. But if you’ve seen the staples and REALLY have an itch for ‘Ghoulies’ style Shenanigans…I think you could do worse.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/weedjies-halloweed-night/