The Monster Squad

One fun thing about the classic Universal Horror movies was the fact that Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman crossed paths several times. These crossovers faded away to be the thing of Late-Late Shows while the Hammer Studios versions of the monsters took their place in technicolor glory, never crossing over the film series.

In 1987, The Monster Squad got the band back together.

The title refers to a group of kids, horror movie fans living in Anytown, USA. They're a band of misfits, oddballs obsessed with the macabre.

Into Anytown comes the monsters the kids venerate- Dracula, leading the Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy and The Creature- seeking an amulet that can bring about the End of The World. They wish to do this because they're EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL of course.

The Monster Squad is an eighties-infused love letter to the Universal movies, the best example of this is Frankenstein's Monster; played by Tom Noonan (the Tooth Fairy killer from Manhunter), he brings a sense of pathos to the film with his interaction with the youngest of the Monster Squad, five year old Phoebe.

But this blog isn't interested in Frankenstein movies... it's Dracula's project and he totally steals the show. He's suave- rockin' that tuxedo. And classy- he's got a snazzy wolfheaded cane (the ears of the wolf detach and he hooks them to Frankenstein's Monster's electrodes to jump start the monster from a lightning bolt.) And thoroughly, thoroughly evil- he calls little Phoebe a bitch! Never mind trying to bring about the end of the world.

The fact that he's played by Duncan Regehr, who'd later play the dashing Don Diego la Vega in tv's Zorro, makes him probably one of the sexier Draculas.
The Monster Squad is one of those rare blends of horror and comedy where there's actually a sense of menace from the monsters, while the children's antics in the face of the horror are pretty funny (two of the high points: burning Dracula's face with a piece of garlic pizza and disabling the Wolfman with a kick to the groin ("Wolfman's got nards!"). And I won't even begin to try and describe the wonder and glory that is the Creature from the Black Lagoon in every sense of the concept but makeup- changed sufficently that The Creature wasn't a copyright infringement but a homage.

The Monster Squad is some of the best eighty-two minutes I've spent during this project- it was a fun film back in 1987, and it's a terrific film twenty-four years later.