Caddyshack Has Inspired A Cheesy Horror Movie About Killer Gophers

Look, we know. 

Killer gophers is not the stupidest idea for a horror movie. As long ago as 1959, enterprising filmmakers were already committing "The Killer Shrews" to celluloid. In 1972, a small Texan town was attacked by outsized rabbits in "Night of the Lepus," the same year Florida was savaged by killer frogs in "Frogs." In 1976, a film called "Squirm" about killer earthworms in the American South blessed theater screens. 1988 brought us killer slugs in "Slugs," and who could forget the trifecta of "Willard," "Ben," and the "Willard" remake, all of them about killer rats?

Small killer critters are quite common in the realm of horror. And it stands to reason that someone would eventually spin the wheel of horror movie monsters and land on gophers. Heck, it's only a matter of time before someone gets to beavers. Oh, wait. That was also done already. 

On August 11, 2023, at Kevin Smith's renowned Smodcastle Cinema in Atlantic Heights, New Jersey, Anthony Catanese's new film "Caddy Hack" will see its premiere. The film stars Jim Gordon, Jake Foy, Chrissy Cavalo, Nick Twist (surely his real name), Ilene Sullivan, and John Evans. It is about carnivorous, monster gophers that attack a golf course, essentially adding a horror twist to Bill Murray's subplot in Harold Ramis' 1980 comedy "Caddyshack." The horror film will debut on VOD this October. 

Catanese previously directed "Sodomaniac" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Blood," so it seems we have just the right man for the job. "Caddy Hack" features at least one exploding head, and one shot where a man gets nailed in the testicles by a flying golf ball.

In other words, a cinema classic. "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles," you better watch your back. 

The above trailer for "Caddy Hack" also seems to be taking heavy notes from Joe Dante's 1984 creature feature "Gremlins" — or perhaps, more accurately, a "Gremlins" knock-off like "Munchies" — as the killer gophers seem to be intelligent, impish troublemakers as well as killer monsters. One might recall the subplot of "Caddyshack" where Carl Spackler (Murray), a none-too-bright golf course groundskeeper, is assigned the job of taking care of the course's gopher infestation. The gopher in the film was a clever creature played by a puppet, and Carl's relationship with it was very similar to the one Wile E. Coyote had with the Roadrunner. 

Clearly Anthony Catanese — perhaps under the influence of a spirit or an herb — watched "Caddyshack" one evening and asked the pertinent question as to what might happen if the gopher turned to deadly force. Hence, "Caddy Hack." Gather actors on a golf course during the off-season, stitch together some puppets, and mix up a tub of fake blood. You got yourself a movie.

According to the film's official synopsis, "Caddy Hack" is about "a struggling golf course" that "suffers a string of caddy murders at the paws of pesticide-mutated gophers, while the greedy owner of the facility tries to cover up the carnage and an unhinged groundkeeper wages all-out war on the vicious vermin."

"Caddy Hack" seems to come on the tail of other well-publicized camp-forward animal attack movies like Elizabeth Banks' "Cocaine Bear" and the ultra-low-budget "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey." It seems stupid creature features, both professional and amateur, are having a moment. Let us bask in their glory while we can. 

Also, to perhaps flirt with controversy, "Caddyshack II" is better than "Caddyshack."