Deu a Louca nos Monstros

"The Monster Squad" is fondly remembered by many, especially guys like myself who actually were part of "monster clubs" in the 60s. Fueled by the release of classic Universal horror films of the 30s to television at the time, and the ubiquitous Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine as well as the arrival of the great Aurora Plastics "long box" monster models....there were monster clubs nationwide. One suspects that director Fred Dekker was influenced by all this horrormania when choosing to helm TMS in 1987.

TMS hasn't aged particularly well. A recent viewing after first seeing this in a theater on it's original release reveals a number of problems with the film as a whole. TMS can never seem to decide exactly what it's going for. Horror? Comedy? Adults? Kids? For every silly moment and laugh, there's genuine unpleasantness. Characters are easily disposed of and instantly forgotten, such as the cop who gets blown up by Dracula. One minute he's spouting one liners and the next he's killed in a fairly grim fashion. No other character reacts to this in any fashion. The three vampire mistresses show up in classic Universal style, but are so obviously tacked on to the climax to provide the resident "badass" kid with a couple of kill shots we forget about them immediately. Only two are shown killed, so what happened to the third? The monsters, lovingly re-imagined by the late makeup genius Stan Winston, are so easily destroyed that we don't really care about them. They're simply there to be killed by a gang of kids, Scooby-Doo style. Only these kids use real weapons instead of their wits. Easier to shoot the Creature (known here as Gillman) and call it a day.

TMS appears to have been heavily edited since the "extras" on the new DVD release show a number of scenes that were cut. The simple plot of TMS could have used some of the deleted scenes to help fill the many, many plot holes in the final version of the film. What remains to be viewed really does play out like a cartoon. Heavily Un-PC in places (mostly some gay slurs hurled by resident mega-jerk actor Jason Hervey) firmly root TMS in the awesome 80s. Two things to look for here though, the startling reveal of Dracula as half-man and half-bat lying on the floor, and the jaw-dropping "head lift" of the little sister by Dracula, calling the tyke a "bitch".

The real hero of this monster mash is Eugene. He's little, has a dog named Pete, and no one, except for the US Army pays any attention to his encounters with the monsters. He has a couple of the movie's best lines, including the great "creature stole my Twinkie". In any event, TMS is still worth a viewing, decent effects for the time in which it was made and the natural inclination to see this homage to the Universal monsters as a low-budget rip-off of "The Goonies".

A good Halloween treat for adults who want to share a few thrills with their kids without excess amounts of violence and bloodshed. Despite the flaws, TMS still invokes that shuddery frisson in those who remember the good old days.

Some kids who are really into those old Universal horror flicks have this club they call The Monster Squad. But soon enough their knowledge about how to kill some of these legendary creatures comes in mighty handy in their small town.

Andre Gower and Robby Kiger head the group and it's a good thing their services were needed right at this point in time. By the look of them in another year these kids would be hitting puberty full stride, one of them Ryan Lambert is already showing inclination of interest in the opposite sex.

Best scene in the film is during the climax when a virgin is needed to read an incantation and when it doesn't quite work because the virgin's not quite a virgin Gower's little sister is brought in as a pinch hitter.

Duncan Regehr makes a fine, menacing Dracula topping the cast performance list. Regehr plays it absolutely straight for the young audience this film was aimed at.

With an original premise based on how Bud&Lou got tangled up with all their monsters in Abbott&Costello Meet Frankenstein and a climax which liberally borrowed from the Back To The Future films, The Monster Squad is still an enjoyable film for young audiences.

Had very little in the way of expectations with this one, I'd heard a little here and there but nothing really praising or condemning it strongly. Actually watching it was a really pleasant surprise. It's super campy in all the best ways, it totally buys in and lives in it's own world and I really appreciated that. I totally see why this has cult status because it's absolutely the kind of movie that would get people to really fall in love with it's quirky charms. People should definitely give this a shot if they haven't seen it. At the very least, this should be added to people's Halloween repertoire but I think it's got a life outside of that as well.

One hundred years ago, Dracula and other monsters survive to the attack of Dr. Van Helsing and his men to his castle with a magical amulet. In the present days, Dracula travels to the United States and arrives in a small town. He summons the Werewolf, the Mummy, the Swamp Thing and Frankenstein's creature to help him to retrieve the amulet.

In the town, a man claims that he is the werewolf and goes to the police station to ask to be locked up in a cell. Meanwhile a mummy vanishes from the local museum and police detective Del (Stephen Macht) is assigned to investigate the case. When his son Sean (Andre Gower), who is a monster fan, learns the news, he joins his friends Patrick (Robby Kiger), Horace (Brent Chalem) and Rudy (Ryan Lambert) in his monster club to read a Van Helsing's journal that was given by his mother. However the book is written in German and they are not able to translate it. So they asks for help from their weird neighbor that they call Scary German Guy (Leonardo Cimino) and they discover that they need to recover the amulet and a virgin to get rid off Dracula and the monsters. Meanwhile Sean's little sister Phoebe (Ashley Bank), who is unsuccessfully trying to join the club, befriends Frankenstein's creature. The unlike group brings Patrick's sister (Lisa Fuller), who claims that is virgin, to read the passage that sends the monsters to the limbo. Will they be successful in their intent?

"The Monster Squad" is a highly entertaining cult movie with a funny story that entwines adventure, dark comedy and horror. This film is also a tribute to the Universal Monsters. There is a touching moment when the Scary German Guy tells to the kids that he has experience with monsters and we see a concentration camp number on his arm. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Deu a Louca nos Monstros" ("The Monsters Have Gone Crazy")

Note: On 24 July 2016, I saw this film again.

Note: On 09 Sep 2018, I saw this film again.

This is one of those movies where all the details come together to make something a lot more fun than it should be. A great late-night popcorn seller. The monsters are done well, the dialogue is funny, the F/X are competent, and the mood of the film is consistently creepy-yet-upbeat.

I don't understand comparisons to "The Goonies" . . . about the only similarity is that both movies revolve around a group of "outsider" kids, which is hardly a concept new to Hollywood.

Another film that just screams for a DVD release.