Synopsis: The end of the world starts at midnight.
You know who to call when you have ghosts, but who do you call about monsters? Whether it’s a bat in your belfry, or a mummy in your microwave, The Monster Squad ain’t afraid of no ghouls!
Count Dracula has until midnight to retrieve an ancient amulet that will give him final control over the delicate balance between good and evil in the world. To help him, the creepy Count calls on some old friends: the weird Wolfman, grotesque Gill-Man, mildewed Mummy and freaky Frankenstein. As the ghoulish group gets closer to the amulet, it’s up to The Monster Squad, headquartered in the local tree house, to pool its questionable resources and stop the monster mayhem!
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Am I the only person who, upon seeing this title, wondered dismissively “What the heck is ‘The Monster Squad’?”
I totally missed out on this when I was a kid. I don’t know where my head was at, but I didn’t catch it in cinemas, even though I saw ‘Gremlins’ and ‘The Goonies’. I didn’t even catch it on VHS, either, though I saw ‘The Lost Boys’ and ‘Fright Night’.
But I’m not alone, and neither are you: just about everyone missed out on this one – and, apparently, its severe lack of success pretty much obliterated the director’s career. Even on home video, the tape was an obscure title and wasn’t released on DVD until recently, for a 20th anniversary edition.
Okay, okay… this happens to tons of films, and most of them are not worth any tears. So, what makes this one special? What did we miss out on way back then?
Well, for my part, I think that I missed out on what could have been a teen favourite – a film I’d revisit time and time again. I think that I would have revelled in it, if not at the moment, then (at least) upon future viewings (because, yes, this film deserves repeat viewings).
The film falls into ‘The Goonies’ teen film mould, but it has a certain edge to it that takes it a bit beyond ‘The Lost Boys’ territory. That was part of the problem at the time, because it supposedly catered to kids but had a dark sensibility that would have been more suitable to young adults. Apparently, this drove parents out of the cinemas with their kids in tow – and, to be truthful, I’m not surprised one bit.
But I’m an adult now, I’m not watching this film with any kids, and I really enjoy revisiting my teens in fiction, imagining myself in the characters’ shoes. So, while I was surprised by the cussing and some of the violence, I can only imagine that my 13-year old self would have thought it was the coolest thing ever. Ever. I probably would have wanted to lead my own Monster Squad, even.
Now, what about ‘The Monster Squad’? Who are they and what do they do?
Well, it turns out that they’re a bunch of kids who hang out and meet in a tree house, bonded by their love of (and belief in) monsters and the supernatural. And what more could they ask for than to be confronted by the re-emergence of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy, and a gill monster echoing the Creature of the Black Lagoon – all staples of the Universal horror classics.
Of course, the two groups end up duelling all the way to the last frame (I won’t even tell you who wins – I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise)
There are not many surprises in this film, story-wise; it frequently follows Hollywood conventions, so there are few twists that you don’t see coming. However, it’s all done in a way that’s completely acceptable to the viewer, and there are plenty of distractions that prevent one from harping on such details. Anyway, the film moves briskly and, at 82 mins in length (including the credits), you don’t have time to be bored or to complain much – ‘The Monster Squad’ has a job to do, it does it well, and it moves on.
That’s part of the problem, though, because the editing is a bit rushed – we sometimes move from one scene to the next a little too quickly for my tastes. The characters and back stories are frequent casualties of this pace, of course, but it’s neither uncommon for teen films nor for this kind of action-comedy format. So, frankly, it wasn’t the end of the world – even if the more curious and demanding part of me would have liked to add 10 mins to the film just to satiate my desire for detail.
Speaking of details, two of the things I was most impressed with were the monster designs and the special effects.
The monster designs were meant to evoke the afore-mentioned Universal films of yore. This film was not financed by Universal (despite being approached for the project), so the filmmakers had to make subtle changes for obvious legal reasons. They did such a marvellous job of staying true to the original designs and of also making them “different enough” that you’d hardly notice – the characters pretty much look like updated version of the originals. And they’re so well-done, in fact, that I think that I prefer these incarnations. No joke.
As for the special effects, one has to put them in context: this is a pre-CGI era and a lot of stuff had to be done live, on set. This, of course, dates the effects a little bit. Having said this, though, I think that they are surprisingly good and hold up very well. In fact, I think that they look as good, if not better, than the effects found in major studio releases of the time (‘The Monster Squad’ benefited from the wizardry of Stan Winston’s team, and he was a HUGE fan of the original Universal monsters, apparently – so a lot of love and care went into the making of this film).
Is it a perfect film? No. Should it win awards (other than for special effects and/or makeup)? Not really. But is it a well-conceived film that entertains and has replay value? Absolutely! ‘The Monster Squad’ is a lot of fun.
And, while it failed to become the ‘80s teen classic it frankly deserved to be, I think that I will give it a proper opportunity to make up for lost time.
thecriticaleye 