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The Monster Squad I remember seeing ads for this one when I was a kid. I was obsessed with the Universal monsters from a very young age, and I knew that this was something I had to see. I was too young to go to this during its theatrical release, but several years later I convinced my parents to rent it for me. I would probably end up renting this movie at least half a dozen more times before finally acquiring a DVD copy. The plot involves Dracula trying to destroy an amulet so that he can tip the balance of good and evil in evil’s favor. Dracula assembles an army of the Wolfman, the Gillman, the Mummy, and the Frankenstein Monster to assist him. Only a group of outcast kids stands in his way.  Director Fred Dekker and writer Shane Black create a loving tribute to the Universal Monsters of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. It is a stark contrast to the slasher films that dominated the box office at the time. This is more of a PG13 movie that balances humor with horror. The movie definitely has comedic scenes at the expense of the monsters, but it never downplays their potential as threats. Dracula, in particular, seems much more villainous than ever. A lot of the credit for the atmosphere of this movie should go out to Stan Winston and the rest of the special effects team for the amazing creature design. The main downside to this movie is that while it captures childhood really well, it does include a lot of casual homophobia in the kid’s dialogue. While there is a certain degree of authenticity in this, that wouldn’t make it any more palatable for someone watching this outside of its original context. This is very much the definition of a cult film. While it’s somewhat well-known, it is really isn't the easiest movie to track down – the blu ray is out of print, and this isn’t on any major streaming services. Although this doesn’t have the lasting pop-cultural impact of its influences such as The Goonies or The Ghostbusters, this still remains a staple of my October viewing and one that I will watch every Halloween. The Complete Movie of the Month Listing: 1776 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | 24 Hour Party People | 8 1/2 | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension | Aguirre: The Wrath of God | All That Jazz | American Movie | Baraka | The Battle of Algiers | Being There | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls | Bicycle Thief | Black Hawk Down | Blade | Branded to Kill | The Brave Little Toaster | Breaking Away | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Bullet in the Head | Charade | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Close-Up | The Conversation | The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover | Day For Night | The Court Jester | Death Race 2000 | Dead Man | Darkman | Detour | Devils on the Doorstep | Double Indemnity | Downfall | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | El Topo | Falling Down | A Face In The Crowd | Fanny and Alexander | Fat City | Funny Bones | Galaxy Quest | Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai | Glengarry Glen Ross | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Horor of Dracula | La Haine | The Ice Storm | The Intruder | It's a Wonderful Life | Judgement at Nuremberg | Jumanji | The King of Comedy | Last Train From Gun Hill | The Leopard | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | Little Shop of Horrors | Living in Oblivion | The Long Goodbye | Love & Death | M | Masculin Féminin | Man on Fire | The Man Who Would Be King | Modern Times | | The Monster Squad | Mousehunt | Mulholland Drive | My Best Friend's Wedding | My Darling Clementine | My Own Private Idaho | Naked | Outland | The Panic in Needle Park | Peeping Tom | Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Play Time | The Proposition | Punishment Park | The Pusher Trilogy | Rififi/Rashômon | The Ref | Rock 'n' Roll High School | Ronin | The Rules of the Game | Safe | Schizopolis | Son of Frankenstein | The Squid and the Whale | Stop Making Sense | The Super Inframan | Sunset Boulevard | Surviving The Game | The Sweet Hereafter | The Third Man | Titicut Follies | Vampyr | The Vanishing | Videodrome | The Wild Bunch | Wit | Withnail & I | The Young Girls of Rochefort | Zardoz
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Oct 1, 2014 03:43
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Damo posted:I saw this at a special screening in Los Angeles around 6 years back or something. The director, some of the actors, and I believe one of the producers was there. They did a little Q&A after the film as well. It was a great time, they were all quite nice and told some great and interesting anecdotes about making the film. It's funny you mentioned ROTLD because I almost ended up switching to that one yesterday. It also balances horror and humor really well. The reason I didn't switch though is because ROTLD always gets hyped up around here. I wanted to go with something that's not talked about as often. I also felt there's a bit of relevance with the Monster Squad right now as Universal is planning on getting all the monsters together again, and I really don't think their efforts will be as successful as this. There's been a few attempts since this one to recreate the old monster rallies - there's a made for TV of House of Frankenstein (1997) that uses werewolves, Frankenstein and Dracula. It's exactly what a bunch of producers thought what "goth" was. There's also that lovely Van Helsing movie from 2003 or so. The new Dracula looks terrible, but there's an off chance that it might be good.
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Oct 2, 2014 00:48
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Your Gay Uncle posted:
I haven't heard anything solid about a remake. The new Dracula movie coming out tonight is supposed to kick off a shared universe for the Universal monsters though.
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Oct 10, 2014 12:56
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The Goonies is a loving loud movie. Those kids scream and yell the entire time.
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Oct 11, 2014 21:26
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