Review done by: Nekra
Genres: Adventure,
Comedy, Horror
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Year: 1987
Runtime: 82 minutes
Studio: Tristar
IMDB Page
Amazon Page
Comedy, Horror
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Year: 1987
Runtime: 82 minutes
Studio: Tristar
IMDB Page
Amazon Page
Online since: February 20th, 2006
Starring: Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Brent Chalem, Ryan Lambert, Michael
Faustino, Ashley Bank, Duncan Regehr, Tom Noonan, Jonathan
Gries,Stephen Macht, Leonardo Cimino, Carl Thibault, Tom Woodruff Jr,
Michael MacKay and Stan Shaw
Director: Fred Dekker
Synopsis: Horror movie fans join together to stop Dracula and other
famous monsters from taking over the world.
Review:
The Monster Squad is (like many others out there) my favorite movie of all
time. I have watched this movie since before I could even remember (I only
know this because my mom, every time the movie is even mentioned,
would talk about how I would cry when Frankenstein would get sucked into
the big limbo thing), and my brother and I always had our recorded VHS
copy in the VCR. Up until a few years ago it died, but by that time when
VHS was still popular our local video store was closing and wouldn't you
know it, they actually had a copy of Monster Squad. Now I found this
awesome just recently because Vestron Video only released the movie once
on video in 1988. I do still own the movie and would watch it until of course
the 20th anniversary collectors edition came out on July 24, 2007. My copy
was already pre-ordered. Now let's talk about Dekker and what the movie
is actually about shall we?
Fred Dekker had originally started his film career helping to come up with
such stories as "House" and "Ricochet". Dekker didn't actually make his
directorial debut until 1986 with the zombie, monster 50's spoof "Night of
the Creeps" which Dekker also wrote the screenplay for. The following year
Dekker and co-writer Shane Black, who write the original screenplay for
"Lethel Weapon" and would in 2005 direct "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", came up
with the script for "The Monster squad". The Monster Squad tells the story
of a horror and monster movie obsessed boy Sean and his friends Patrick
and Horace, who had started a club based around monsters. Later the
resident bad boy Rudy would join and we also meet Eugene and his dog
Pete, as well as Sean's little sister Pheobe who wants to be in the club.
Sean's father is a police officer who has been running into some strange
situations with ancient Mummys disappearing and a man claiming to be a
Werewolf, but of course thinks nothing of it. Sean thinks different
especially when a man called Mr. Alucard calls him looking for an old diary
once owned by Abraham Van Helsing. Sean apparently can read backwards
and after hearing his parents, he goes to his neighbor the Scary German
Guy (he is seriously called that the entire movie, but he doesn't seem to
mind) to interpret the book for them and to try and figure what the
monsters are after. They are trying to take over the world. Soon
Frankenstein's monster was originally going to be used by Dracula to kill
the children, but he ends up befriending the children. The Monster Squad
only has one day left to stop the monsters before the world ends.
It's really a shame that this movie never really hit it off. This is the movie
that Fred Dekker describes as the one that ruined his career (but then
after Robocop 3, co-written with Frank Miller, would end his career entirely).
Watching the movie with commentary and the making of, you find out that
the problem was that they didn't know how to advertise it. It couldn't really
be a kids movie for some of the scary moments, but it wasn't a horror
movie either so it was hard to find an equal balance for it when it came to
distribution and previews. But over the years people kept talking about the
movie, and selling bootlegs on ebay. Even just plain remembering the
movie turned it out to be a cult classic. People kept asking for a DVD
edition to come out signing online petitions, online blogging, and finally
writing into the studio that owns the rights.
Finally, the 2-disc 20th anniversary collectors edition was released by
Lionsgate. I love Lionsgate. As I mentioned before it features commentary,
a making of featurette, an interview with Frankenstein (played by Tom
Noonan), and also a remembrance to Brent Chalem, who played Horaca
a.k.a. Fat Kid, who passed away from pneumonia back in 1997. He was
working as a paralegal since his Hollywood career never took off. But the
DVD is fantastic, and the movie has also been remastered so no more of
that messed up sound or film quality that my poor VHS copy has. This is a
fun movie because its so dated. 80's humor and dress codes come into
play a lot but it's still one that horror movie nerds will enjoy with the way
the monsters were recreated. Since Universal owns the rights to the look
of the monsters for all eternity, they had to find a way to redesign them
but have people still realise "Hey thats the creature from the black lagoon!"
That was accomplished due to visual and make-up effects master Stan
Winston (who departed our world earlier this year in June). Visually the
movie is amazing which is a bit surprising but then again I've always
appreciated camera and makeup affects as compared to CGI which to me
looks fake when compared to the hard work that was done back in the day
and can be more appreciated. One of my favorite scenes has to be the
lets-get-ready-to-kick-some-monster-ass montage with the song "Rock
until you drop" written by Michael Sembello (who also wrote the song
"Maniac"). My final note on this is no matter your age, seeing the movie 20
years ago as a kid or an adult or even now it is a movie that will be enjoyed
for a very long time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall: 8/10
Faustino, Ashley Bank, Duncan Regehr, Tom Noonan, Jonathan
Gries,Stephen Macht, Leonardo Cimino, Carl Thibault, Tom Woodruff Jr,
Michael MacKay and Stan Shaw
Director: Fred Dekker
Synopsis: Horror movie fans join together to stop Dracula and other
famous monsters from taking over the world.
Review:
The Monster Squad is (like many others out there) my favorite movie of all
time. I have watched this movie since before I could even remember (I only
know this because my mom, every time the movie is even mentioned,
would talk about how I would cry when Frankenstein would get sucked into
the big limbo thing), and my brother and I always had our recorded VHS
copy in the VCR. Up until a few years ago it died, but by that time when
VHS was still popular our local video store was closing and wouldn't you
know it, they actually had a copy of Monster Squad. Now I found this
awesome just recently because Vestron Video only released the movie once
on video in 1988. I do still own the movie and would watch it until of course
the 20th anniversary collectors edition came out on July 24, 2007. My copy
was already pre-ordered. Now let's talk about Dekker and what the movie
is actually about shall we?
Fred Dekker had originally started his film career helping to come up with
such stories as "House" and "Ricochet". Dekker didn't actually make his
directorial debut until 1986 with the zombie, monster 50's spoof "Night of
the Creeps" which Dekker also wrote the screenplay for. The following year
Dekker and co-writer Shane Black, who write the original screenplay for
"Lethel Weapon" and would in 2005 direct "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", came up
with the script for "The Monster squad". The Monster Squad tells the story
of a horror and monster movie obsessed boy Sean and his friends Patrick
and Horace, who had started a club based around monsters. Later the
resident bad boy Rudy would join and we also meet Eugene and his dog
Pete, as well as Sean's little sister Pheobe who wants to be in the club.
Sean's father is a police officer who has been running into some strange
situations with ancient Mummys disappearing and a man claiming to be a
Werewolf, but of course thinks nothing of it. Sean thinks different
especially when a man called Mr. Alucard calls him looking for an old diary
once owned by Abraham Van Helsing. Sean apparently can read backwards
and after hearing his parents, he goes to his neighbor the Scary German
Guy (he is seriously called that the entire movie, but he doesn't seem to
mind) to interpret the book for them and to try and figure what the
monsters are after. They are trying to take over the world. Soon
Frankenstein's monster was originally going to be used by Dracula to kill
the children, but he ends up befriending the children. The Monster Squad
only has one day left to stop the monsters before the world ends.
It's really a shame that this movie never really hit it off. This is the movie
that Fred Dekker describes as the one that ruined his career (but then
after Robocop 3, co-written with Frank Miller, would end his career entirely).
Watching the movie with commentary and the making of, you find out that
the problem was that they didn't know how to advertise it. It couldn't really
be a kids movie for some of the scary moments, but it wasn't a horror
movie either so it was hard to find an equal balance for it when it came to
distribution and previews. But over the years people kept talking about the
movie, and selling bootlegs on ebay. Even just plain remembering the
movie turned it out to be a cult classic. People kept asking for a DVD
edition to come out signing online petitions, online blogging, and finally
writing into the studio that owns the rights.
Finally, the 2-disc 20th anniversary collectors edition was released by
Lionsgate. I love Lionsgate. As I mentioned before it features commentary,
a making of featurette, an interview with Frankenstein (played by Tom
Noonan), and also a remembrance to Brent Chalem, who played Horaca
a.k.a. Fat Kid, who passed away from pneumonia back in 1997. He was
working as a paralegal since his Hollywood career never took off. But the
DVD is fantastic, and the movie has also been remastered so no more of
that messed up sound or film quality that my poor VHS copy has. This is a
fun movie because its so dated. 80's humor and dress codes come into
play a lot but it's still one that horror movie nerds will enjoy with the way
the monsters were recreated. Since Universal owns the rights to the look
of the monsters for all eternity, they had to find a way to redesign them
but have people still realise "Hey thats the creature from the black lagoon!"
That was accomplished due to visual and make-up effects master Stan
Winston (who departed our world earlier this year in June). Visually the
movie is amazing which is a bit surprising but then again I've always
appreciated camera and makeup affects as compared to CGI which to me
looks fake when compared to the hard work that was done back in the day
and can be more appreciated. One of my favorite scenes has to be the
lets-get-ready-to-kick-some-monster-ass montage with the song "Rock
until you drop" written by Michael Sembello (who also wrote the song
"Maniac"). My final note on this is no matter your age, seeing the movie 20
years ago as a kid or an adult or even now it is a movie that will be enjoyed
for a very long time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall: 8/10
