Monsters

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.

I caught this show on Sci-Fi a few times a several years ago and was very surprised that it wasn't half bad. If I remember correctly they usually had twist endings a la Tales from the Crypt which I genuinely love. I'm having trouble remembering specifics about the plots to the episodes I saw but I think they usually had a way of showing that the real monsters were ordinary people who did horrible things, pretty cheesy and predictable but entertaining nonetheless. One show, however, sticks with me years later, an adaptation of the Stephen King story "The Crawling Finger". Its about a guy who, for no real reason as is frequently the case in King's short fiction, finds a finger coming out of his bathroom sink drain. He tries several different ways to dispose of the finger, learning along the way that a) it takes a very, very long finger to make the journey through the pipes and into his sink, and b) there are five fingers on a hand. It was truly creepy and made the story that much better since I actually got to see how disturbing having an alien appendage coming out of one's plumbing would be.

The good thing about the backlash against this series, as exhibited by the sum of the negative comments here, is that it will lower the expectations of those coming to it for the first time to the point that they will actually enjoy it, thinking, "Hey, this isn't so bad!"

And indeed it wasn't. My favorite episode is the one with Barbara Billingsly, about a soul reaper haunting a particular old folks home. This episode skirted the terrain we know now from Bubba Hotep long before that film, and the book on which it is based, ever saw daylight.

But Fritz Weaver and his abomination in the jar, an episode that sort of combines Alien and Bradbury's short story The Jar, make for unforgettable viewing. And Soupy Sales starred in a wicked twist on the old farmer's daughter jokes that is also highly memorable television. There's some cool stop motion giant arachnid action in the tale of the young couple who check into a musty old hotel on their honeymoon night. And so on. Yeah, I could stand to see any episode I ever saw of it again. It was a series that, at very least, had its moments. You have to give it that.

The problem with Monsters is one shared by nearly every dramatic anthology series: how to generate a serious story you can really care about in 18 to 24 minutes (TV's "half hour", once you take away time for the commercial breaks that are the only reason TV exists). Twilight Zone rose above this territorial limitation far better than any other such series ever has and likely ever will. But even the early Alfred Hitchcock Presents suffered the limitations of the form more than one would expect: too cut and dried, an all-exposition approach that allows no building of atmosphere, major points spoken rather than seen, film over before you can get into it. You know the drill.

I have to say Monsters is no worse, and probably never quite as bad in this specific way, as Hitch's first several seasons. Monsters at least managed to infuse some Grand Guignol spirit into its 20 minutes. The shows makers seem to have decided that it was in creepy, well-built atmosphere, and not plot punchlines, that they would make their show resonate in the memory of the audience. And having decided on that route, they became very good at it.

So give it a try. I am seeing episodes on DVD for sale through various venues online for the first time in the last few months. After over a decade of spotting the same couple of VHS tapes of this series at older video rental stores, and wondering if it would ever be available in fuller form, this development delights me. It was a decent series that deserves to be remembered and mentioned in any discussion of TV horror.

This show has to be my favorite out of all the 80's horror TV shows. Like Tales from the Darkside, also from the same creators, this show is a rare gem. If you agree with me, PLEASE sign this petition I started, to get the word out for Monsters and get it out on DVD. Here is the petition address: www.petitiononline.com/19784444/petition.html Some of my favorite episodes would have to be Glim glim, and Rain Dance. I also loved the opening intro with the monster family. That used to creep me out! One of the things I would have to ask the DVD creators to include would be the organ sound heard right before where the commercial break would be. I don't know if any of you remember that part but that's one of the main things that brings back memories to me. I mean, come on! War of the Worlds the TV series already has been released on DVD, so I say Monsters, and also Tales from the Darkside, and Friday the 13th the series should be released too! We the fans need to speak our minds! We need this awesome show on DVD so PLEASE spread the word!!!