Rick Sloane

(In French, On Cable TV, August 2022) Some films are infamous for being bad, and so you will reliably find Hobgoblins with a secure spot on IMDB’s bottom-100 film list. (It’s currently at #31.)  As usual, this is all debatable—the worst movies in the universe are so bad that they never get the chance to be seen by wide audiences, while substandard-but-watchable films with some audience appeal end up gathering a bandwagon in their disfavour. Hobgoblins, to be clear, is not a good movie. It’s cheap, inept, incoherent, childish and badly put together. But occasionally, you can feel the sparks of something interesting or even likable under the surface. The premise has some potential, what with mischievous aliens held in a movie studio, able to modify reality to reflect their victim’s desire. (I mean, this is almost Solyaris right there.)  The execution does have a few moments of charm, whether it’s the rather cute stolen-from Gremlins creatures, the semi-cute girls or the earnestness of some cast members. It all crashes and burns in an incoherent mess that’s far too reminiscent of low-budget film failures, but there is just enough of a special something in Hobgoblins (including an execution that doesn’t take itself seriously) to keep audiences interested until the end. Writer-director Rick Sloane shouldn’t feel too proud of this film (much of his later career has been just as unimpressive), but there are far worse movies than Hobgoblins out there. Not that this is much of a recommendation, considering the far greater number of good movies that are also out there.