Made for TV Movies: Gargoyles

This movie was entertaining, but could have been much better as an episode of something.

Goosebumps clearly ripped this off.

The plot unfolds something like this: Dr Mercer Boley and his daughter have taken a trip into the desert to speak with a recluse who has the skeletal remains of a strange creature in his shed. While they chat about the origins of the skeleton, a very large and very angry creature tries to break into the shed. In the commotion, the shed catches fire and the recluse gets trapped under some burning debris. Seeing the man is trapped, Dr Boley grabs the skull from the skeleton and flees the scene with his daughter leaving the man to burn to death. But while they hightail it to town, creatures are plotting to retrieve what's been stolen from them...



Dr Mercer Boley is a cold-blooded scumbag: Not only does Dr Boley steal the skull by stepping over the recluse as he burns to death, the doctor was plotting to steal the recluse's story and write a book about it as though it was his own discovery from the start. Dr Boley also waits to notify authorities about the fatal blaze until after he's gotten a good night's sleep. (He also wakes his daughter up that morning by, yet again, playing the recording of her screaming as the burning building comes down around them.) And when the police try to pin the fire on a bunch of kids riding dirt bikes, Dr Boley does basically nothing to correct the situation. He waits until after his daughter is captured by the gargoyles to tell the police they've made a mistake, and then promptly DEMANDS that the police (and bikers) drop everything to help him find his daughter. It's honestly hard to tell if he's supposed to be the protagonist or antagonist, because he's so flippin' unlikeable.

Almost some commentary: This movie has some surprising subtext condemning appropriation and colonization. However, before any of those subtexts are explored, the "white dudes must save the human race" text takes center stage. The (many and long winded) monologues from the main gargoyle hint at what could have been a much more interesting movie.


The Gargoyles: Long winded monologuing aside, the gargoyles look pretty cool considering the time period. They were so ahead of the makeup-effects curve that Gargoyles won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. That's likely due to Ellis Burman Jr. working with an impossibly fresh Stan Winston (this is his earliest credit on IMDB).


Under all that makeup: Our main gargoyle is
Bernie Casey, though you'd never recognize him, or his voice.

Every shot was considered for slow-mo: For the first two thirds of the film every scene with gargoyles in it runs in slow motion for reasons we don't understand.

Fun, but repetitive: The gargoyles are revealed pretty early on in this flick, but the story and effects don't ramp up enough to make it that interesting all the way through. But the whole movie is up on YouTube if you want to make that judgment yourself!