MONSTER SQUAD (1987 - Cert 15)

I don't know about anyone else, but when I was growing up, if I found a film that I enjoyed, I would watch it over, and over, and over again. Mum had to go down to Universal Video 4 or 5 times a week to keep giving me my fix. The poor woman had to put up with me watching Big Trouble in Little China until I knew every last word of by heart. After I had finally grown bored of Kurt Russell and Kim Catrall I found Monster Squad.



Essentially the result of Fred Dekker watching The Goonies, ET, Ghostbusters, The Burbs and The Explorers, how could it not be perfect for an 8 year old to watch after school (other than it being a 15 certificate of course - naughty mum and dad)? The Wolfman, The Gill Man, The Mummy and Frankenstein all brought together by Dracula, still alive and hell bent on destroying man kind. What is the only thing that stands in their way? A group of school kids who have a Monster Club where they read comics and talk about the best (and only) way to kill a Werewolf. The call to arms means they soon upgrade themselves to a Squad and so the scene is set.

And that is it really. The child actors (Andre Gower and Robby Kiger) aren't annoying which is the best you can hope for with this sort of film, in fact I do recall wanting desperately to be as cool as Rudy, played by Ryan Lambert, with his leather jacket, cigarettes and white socks with black loafers. In what was a career high for them all, they even manage to inject a bit of humour and charm. The monsters themselves look the part but aren't particularly scary or threatening, no werewolf transformation scene or fangs in necks. The most interesting part of the film is Frankenstein. Dekker manages to evoke, all be it in a very simple and child friendly way, one of the main themes of the story of Frankenstein and that is whether he really is actually bad or not. It's a nice touch and innocently done which really does help the film get the 'nice' spirit it has. I mentioned a whole host of films above that Dekker was clearly thinking of, but credit where credit is due, he manages to echo their tone and intentions. It's nice and fun, even fluffy in places despite a 15 certificate (although I suspect that if it were released today the BBFC might be a little more lenient, despite it having almost no violence or deaths whatsoever), it isn't perfect but it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not awful. The silly plot (although can you really say The Goonies isn't a bit daft) plays out as you would expect (never explaining why Dracula goes for a tiny town in the middle of nowhere), a few laughs, monsters getting dispatched in a variety of ways, all the heroes having their moment, all culminating in a happily ever after.

Granted, it doesn't compare to the big ones it tries to emulate, but it should certainly be held in decent regard in the tier below those 80's classics.

Fun. Ish.