#28 - The Monster Squad (1987)

The Monster Squad (1987)

(dir. Fred Dekker)

In the 19th century, Van Helsing tried and failed to defeat Dracula and the forces of evil. Exactly 100 years later, Dracula returns and gathers his allies to seek out an amulet that will allow him to take over the world, and the only thing standing in his way is a group of kids armed only with Van Helsing's diary and their deep knowledge of horror movies. This film has all the classic movie monsters - Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, casual homophobia, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, misogyny, and even the Mummy!

Seriously though, like most '80s comedies, some of the humor here has aged extremely poorly. The homophobic stuff is limited to a couple of comments made by the kids in the first 10 minutes of the film, but the treatment of women is pretty gross throughout. The female characters are limited to an annoying kid sister, an overly emotional mother, and an older sister who the guys first perv on and then blackmail into helping them by threatening to put a naked photo of her up at school. Oh, and the film's single black character is also the only good guy that gets killed. If this were made today it would be vile - considering the film's age, it's more of an uncomfortable reminder that the '80s were so shitty that this stuff was considered fine to include in a movie for kids.

In spite of all that, this is still a pretty good movie. The creature designs by Stan Winston all look fantastic, and with the exception of a couple of fake bats flopping around on strings, the effects look great too (and let's be real, the fake bats are some awesome camp). The whole movie looks pretty great actually, with some really cool sets and lighting. There are some genuinely good jokes too - even though I've heard "Wolfman's got nards!" quoted a billion times, it was still very funny in context.

Director Fred Dekker's previous film was the classic Night of the Creeps, and while The Monster Squad is aimed at a younger audience, I'd say the tone isn't all that different. This is a fun movie that pays homage to the classic Universal Monster films without making them the butt of the jokes. If you like '80s horror/comedies and/or classic monster movies, you should check it out - just don't show it to your kids.