The Monster Squad

“The Monster Squad,” released in 1987, is really fun, it makes you wish you were a kid again. Even though you can never get your childhood back, you can find the joy in being able to appreciate the work that director Fred Dekker and co-writer Shane Black have brought to this horror comedy-adventure targeted at children.

The story is once every century there’s a chance to shift the balance between good and evil – provided if you can find an ancient amulet, a glowing jewel which controls that balance. Can you guess the amulet is in a rundown mansion on the edge of a usual American town? Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr) is so determined to find the amulet that he’s called on other beings – Frankenstein’s Monster (Tom Noonan), Wolfman (Carl Thibault), Gill-Man (Tom Woodruff Jr.) and the Mummy (Michael MacKay) – to help him out.

What Dracula doesn’t know is the Monster Squad, a group of adolescent boys who have formed a fan club that commemorates their favorite monsters. Not surprisingly, when Dracula starts causing trouble, the boys have to fight off evil, because obviously their parents don’t believe in monsters. “The Monster Squad” honors the imagination of children.

The squad is led by Sean, played by Andre Gower. His friends are played by little Michael Faustino, aggressive Robby Kiger, and obese but tough Brent Chalem. Somewhat older – the only one in the group who’s found girls – is cool Ryan Lambert, who joins the squad when he rescues Chalem from some schoolyard bullies, played by Jason Hervey.

Kevin Thomas said in his review, “These are great kids, likably real and not maddeningly precocious in the hard-dying tradition of movie brats.” Tagging along but not really welcome (until they obviously need her) is Sean’s little Phoebe, played by Ashley Bank, who befriends Frankenstein’s Monster, who this time around is innocuous.

Thomas said, “Although “The Monster Squad” has for economy been shot largely on sound stages and back lots, there’s been no stinting on special effects. Visual effects producer Richard Edlund, winner of four Oscars for the “Star Wars” trilogy and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” has come up with such dazzlers as a vortex that sucks people into another dimension. Monster makeup effects supervisor Stan Winston (another Oscar winner with “Aliens” and “The Terminator” among his credits) is another strong contributor.” His monsters tribute the originals yet seem more individual and more expressive than is usual.

Among the adults are Stephen Macht as Sean’s father, a loving husband and parent but overworked as a cop, and Stan Shaw as Macht’s partner. However, the one human adult who really counts is played by veteran character actor Leonardo Cimino, cast as a lonely old man whom the boys call the Scary German Guy.

Actually, what they don’t realize is that he is a concentration camp survivor who knows about evil firsthand and, far from being scary, is actually willing to help the boys. Thomas credited, “In Cimino’s character the film makers score a point about the dangers of judging by appearances--and they afford a fine actor, so seemingly sinister with his heavy-lidded eyes, a welcome change of pace from his usual villains.”

Thomas continued, “Since “The Monster Squad” has been made in a hearty spirit of spooky make-believe, it seems unnecessary that some of its characters actually die before it’s over.” However, perhaps even more awkward is the film’s PG-13 rating, since it’s preteens for who the film is clearly targeting and that’s the only age group likely to find it scary.

I first heard about this film when James Rolfe reviewed it for Cinemassacre’s Monster Madness. Then, Nostalgia Critic reviewed this for Nostalgia-Ween a few years back. Recently, my brother was asking if I wanted to watch some dumb action film that was enjoyable to watch, and this was one of them. I suggested that we watch this film, so we found it on Pluto TV and we both ended up enjoying it a lot. We were impressed with how good the film looked for the time, especially the effects. It was very much a product of the 80s and it is something that everyone can see and enjoy watching around the Halloween time. Check it out on Pluto TV and enjoy yourselves with this fun 80s monster flick.

Happy Halloween online readers. I hope everyone enjoyed “Halloween Month 2024” as there were a list of films I selected to look at for this month. Stay tuned next month for the continuation of “Buddy Cop Month.”