Flashback Corner--The Monster Squad

“Look, we got two consolations. Number one, Frankenstein’s on our side, and number two, my dad’s a cop.  Anybody fools around with us, he kicks their ass”

          In 1985 I wanted to be one of the kids in the “Goonies” and in the “Explorers”, two years later I was still young enough to want to be part of a group of kids who have fantastic adventures, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw “The Monster Squad”.  The film directed by Fred Dekker (Night of the Creeps) and co-written by 80’s - 90’s action writer extraordinaire Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is about a group of kids who get caught up in a 100 year old plot to take over the world by the villainess Count Dracula and his monsters.

Sean (Andre Gower) is the leader of the monster club where he and his friends draw pictures of monsters and hang out in their tree house, just talking about monsters.  But thanks to movie logic, it just so happens that in his town resides an amulet that keeps the balance between good and evil.  Dracula who wants to destroy the amulet along with his crew begin to come together as the Mummy escapes the museum he’s been sleeping in, the reluctant Wolfman joins in, Frankenstien’s Monster played by Tom Noonan awakens, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, whose make up is outstanding comes out of nowhere.  Most of the visuals are substandard even for 1987, but as I said the makeup effects done by the genius Stan Winston and are still pretty amazing even today.  It’s a real standout in this CGI movie monster world we live in now.  Getting back to the film, it is a bit ridiculous to think that Dracula can have his plans jeopardized by a group of elementary school kids along with their new member from junior high Rudy (Ryan Lambert) and a scary German guy.  You can also imagine that upon its original release “The Monster Squad” didn’t do too well, mainly because of its violence and children spouting off bad language.  But watching now with the fast pace, fun dialogue, and silly action scenes you can forgive pretty much any of the films shortcomings.

And again this is probably the only time where you get all these great Universal Monsters in one movie.  “Van Helsing” tried and failed by way of poor CGI and a forgettable story.  And while it doesn’t all work, the fact that the filmmakers stayed true to the characters make the movie memorable and this is what also made it last.  This became a cult classic over 50 years after the original films that featured these creatures ended.  Part of the reason we are able to watch “The Monster Squad” on DVD and Blu-Ray now is because of the fan base that would not let it die.  This is a fun movie to throw in on a Saturday night if you want to see classic 80’s fun horror, or if you are just curious to know if Wolfman’s got nards.

--Robert L. Castillo