MONSTER SQUAD
As a child of the 80s, this underrated movie made a big impression on me. It's a horror-comedy about a group of kids who have a "monster squad" club, but find themselves facing real creatures.
Essentially, it's one of those "Spielbergian" fantasy adventures where suburban American kids battle the supernatural (Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and Gill Man) who are after a powerful amulet to rule the world. Imagine The Goonies-meets-Van Helsing.
I was nine when I saw this and, in 20 years, I've only ever seen it a handful of times in the 80s. What I remember is a great performance from Tom Noonan (Manhunter) as Frankenstein, a quite freaky werewolf transformation, a Mummy having its bandages unravelled, Dracula calling a litle girl "bitch", the kids themselves making stakes and silver bullets at school, Wolf Man getting kicks in the nuts (Wolfman's got nards!") and other goodness.
Obviously any movie involving kids your own age battling such iconic monsters is going to entertain you, but Monster Squad stuck in my mind because it was pretty violent stuff. I certainly remember thinking the werewolf transformation was particularly hardcore at the time!
Anyway, the reason I'm posting this is because Monster Squad is on Five today at 16:25. The long-awaited DVD release is due this year too, so I recommend you get that (as I'm sure Five are going to irritate a generation of twentysomethings by cutting the film to pieces. We'll see...)
UPDATE: As I feared, it was a hack n' slash job for the afternoon audiences. The cuts weren't as noticeable in the earlier scenes, but the finale was ruined with how badly the gore and violence was edited out. The wolf transformation in the phone booth was condensed, Dracula's Brides weren't killed as violently, the Count vs Frankenstein encounter was awfully re-edited, only the foot of the Bat-Dracula creature was seen, etc.
Disappointing really, but to be expected. Bizarrely, Five completely cut out the prologue with Van Helsing! Was it that violent? All we got was the opening legend, so when Van Helsing appeared at the end to drag Dracula into limbo, most people will have been asking "who the hell is that guy?"
Oh well. Besides the watered-down content, I still enjoyed it -- although the film was a whole lot messier seen through adult eyes. There were lots of mistakes and inconsistencies along the way, perhaps as a result of the editing, I'm not completely sure. Why did Frankenstein become a good guy immediately? Why was the Mummy hiding in that kid's cupboard? It was also funny to see just how packed full of cliches the film was with its characterisations (the cool kid, the fat kid, the hottie, the little kid, the dog, the bully...) It sort of added to its charm, thankfully.
The picture was also very hazy and not widescreen, while the sound was badly muffled throughout. I'm sure the film wasn't as messy back in the 80s, so maybe the upcoming DVD will do the film justice with some digital restoration. Still an entertaining trip down memory lane...
