Monster Squad

The Monster Squad (1987) starring Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Duncan Regehr, Tom Noonan, and directed by Fred Dekker.

Dracula (Duncan Regehr) is back and he tends to bring about the end of the world, with all his fellow monster buddies in tow. Sean (Andre Gower), a young man and monster enthusiasts finds Van Helsing Diaries and starts to put together all the strange occurrences that have been happening. So Sean gets all his buddies together to go up against Dracula’s buddies. What’s a stake? Only the fate of the entire world!

When this movie originally came out I was, like the characters, twelve years old. The lead character’s father, Sean, was a cop and my Dad too was a cop. I had a sibling who was under foot and great friends who have done anything for you and with you. The Universal monster movies were pure gold to me because they were scary but fun scary. To say I identify with the character in “Monster Squad” is putting it mildly. Twenty Years later does the “Monster Squad” hold up? Yes and no.

What still works…

The story is fun. I believe, even after twenty years, that these kids are in real peril. Their fear is real and it transitions well to the screen. Their relationship with one another is genuine. They stand by each other and protect one another because that is what friends do and like the theme of many war films today, the only person you can rely on is the person standing next to you, these boys do that in their war to save mankind. Stan Winston’s make up for all the creatures is superb. The creatures in Stephen Sommers's “Van Helsing” (2004) are pale in comparison to the “Monster Squad” and that film is 17 years younger! Tom Noonan’s Frankenstein monster make up is alive. Sure Noonan brings a lot to the character, but as the monster lays there in its coffin you believe it’s real. The Wolfman, looks a tad cartoonish but, the film is as cartoonish as a Abbott and Costello/ the Our Gang crew meets the Universal Movie Monsters movie. The humor is great and real. Often the jokes are played very small and not over the top. The dialogue for the kids is real. I spoke like that when my parents were not around. The kids banter still rings true and after hearing it again, I suddenly started missing my 12 year old friends. The horror is fun but one moment still rang true today, just as much as it did when I was 12. When Sean and Horace (Brent Chalem) are in the old house and Dracula’s brides come out and then Dracula appears from around the corner, heading towards them, but not running slowly walking right at them. That moment still made me think, “Oh shit”.

What doesn’t work…

When you are younger you don’t notice things like sets and a fake movie town. These are obvious in this film like a huge sore thumb. I actually think I saw the same town in an episode of “Amazing Stories” and maybe even it’s the same town in “Fright Night”. So watching it now I see the proverbial third wall.

This film has been long in coming to DVD. Long have Video Pirates been selling Laser Disc converted DVDs of this great film at Horror Conventions. Those days are over. Now finally we have a digital transfer, multiple commentary tracks, several documentaries, and on set footage to look at. Now the children of the Eighties can share this gem of a film with a whole new generation that loves “Goosebumps”, “Harry Potter” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”.


Read the staff review by Mania: THE MONSTER SQUAD 20th Anniversary Edition.