Monsters

I loved Monsters! Everyone in my family thought I was weird. I know they thought it but they wouldn't say it. Monsters was just a great low-budget, third-rate show but it never let me down. The plots were very silly at times. For example, I remember one about a human-eating bed!!! What were these writers thinking?? Now and then I check out the sci-fi channel to see if they could re-start showing the re-runs but unfortunately no such luck. Someone email me if they know what channels are running re-runs please...

I remember being 12 or 13 years old and begging my mother to let me stay up on Saturday nights to watch this cheesy half-hour horror show. I always think of it as the 80s version of Goosebumps, though I don't think it was specifically aimed at kids. Not that scary, but fun for lovers of the horror genre! The best part of the show was the monsters, of course... different ones every week with not too shabby makeup and effects, considering that this was a low-budget show.

Truly one of the best! I remember watching this in my late teens when it originally aired and I just re-found it online. If you love the old school horror stuff, you'll love this. Younger folks who prefer multi-million dollar special effects instead of an actual story probably won't. Because this is pure Old School. A good story, solid acting and cheesy special effects and costuming. It's backed by a solid cast. Over the 3 season run, we saw TV greats like: David Spade, Meat Loaf, Adrienne Barbeau, Linda Blair, Abe Vagoda, Robert Lansing, Tori Spelling, Kent McCord, Billy Drago, Marc McClure, Barbara Billingsley, Leif Garrett, Steve Buscemi, Jerry Stiller, David Sage, Tony Shalhoub, Morton Downey Jr, Tina Louise, Pam Grier, and many others. {Let's not forget Darrin McGavin, of Night Stalker fame. He's got a Monsters episode}

It's easy 20 years later to forget this very low-budget horror anthology series ever existed. It was not up to competing shows of the period like TALES FROM THE CRYPT or even DARK VISIONS. But the occasional episode hit a home run, as readily evidenced by a recent rerun of many of the episodes on the CHILLER channel. There was usually a twist ending and some low-rent guest star or rising young star to liven things up. My favorite of those I saw recently: a middle-aged woman (Karen Valentine), not without her charms, is married to a crippled inventor. Her missing first husband, a real Tarzan type, shows up very much alive after years away, and the nasty fun begins. Valentine, who often played a goody two-shoes on TV, spends a lot of time in a flimsy negligee and has a silly yet oddly arousing sex scene with a headless body! Another truly creepy episode had two boys (one of whom, Matt LeBlanc, would go on to fame on FRIENDS) messing with alleged vampires in a barber shop. Better they should have stayed away. Or just gotten their hair cut. Yet another episode, starring a very young Tori Speling and Ashley Laurence of "Hellraiser" fame, has a quartet of teens conjuring up the long-dead and very evil owner of an old mansion. He soon returns to take back his mansion. The grue quotient for many of these episodes ran pretty high. MONSTERS may have appeared to be strictly for the kiddies, but not always. I recommend the series to all horror fans.

I must first begin by expressing the fact that Monsters was a well done show and out did its' predecessor, Tales From the Darkside. Don't get me wrong. Tales had a great staff, a lot of world renowned writers, and a brilliant cast. But It stayed within the realms of family viewing. It was a show that even the most uptight and strict parents could let their kids watch. It was very tame. I believe policies and guidelines for TV shows may have been a factor, which is why we can really only compare Monsters to shows like Tales from the Crypt. Even though, Tales From the Crypt bares all, in terms of gore and murder and you won't find half naked women on the VHS tapes of Monsters. They are a better match because they delve deeper into horror, while being able to make you laugh and expect the unexpected. Monsters had great effects, a great score, and you can't deny the talent that went into that show.

I think that we should admire the creators of Monsters, because if it wasn't for shows like that one, there would have probably not been a place on television for great shows like, Tales from the Crypt.