Monster Squad
Sometime around 1987, director Fred Dekker came up with the idea of copying The Goonies and its basic concept into an old-school Universal monster movie as opposed to an Indy Jones-type romp (and even brought in actress Mary Ellen Trainor, who had played the mom for the leaders of the Goonies, to play the same role for the leader of this ubiquitous group). The result is a movie that is at times wildly uneven, but features flashes of brilliance and funny dialogue that have ensured it lasting cult stature over twenty years later. The story has the Big Cheese himself, Count Dracula, returning to life in modern-day Los Angeles, and bringing with him The Wolfman, The Mummy, Frankensteinās Monster, and even The Creature From The Black Lagoon (all brought to life here by the legendary Stan Winston) to raise havoc and acquire an amulet that will enable them to take over the world and rule it in darkness, with the only thing standing in their way being a group of kids obsessed with monsters and horror flicks, complete with clubhouse. While this cannot by any means be considered a serious horror movie (obviously it kills the credibility for these horror icons to be defeated by a bunch of youngsters), the film does produce some laughs and some touching moments, specifically by having Frankensteinās Monster (in a idea that was itself ripped off later by Van Helsing), turn out to be a good guy that befriends one of the kidsā precocious little sister (interesting since Drac had ordered him to kill them and was completely disregarded). As the Monster, Tom Noonan nearly steals the show, bringing empathy to the character as he finds himself accepted and even getting to spout out some 80s slang; In the role of Dracula, Duncan Regehr certainly has the look and presence, but the script mostly has him going through the motions of what weād expect from the Vampire King (save for his fondness of using dynamite as a primary weapon); As the cop father of one of the kids, Stephen Macht is suitably tough yet cool, even as the film gives us a very 80s moment of having him light up a cigarette in the bedroom in front of his son (a moment that no doubt would have people fainting in shock today); Leonardo Cimino is solid as the āScary German Guyā (actually a concentration camp survivor) who helps the kids through the adventure; and Stan Shaw shows up as the sarcastic cop partner of Macht; As for the kids themselves, all of them are pretty much capable actors and come off well, except for Ryan Lambertās Rudy (the so-called āenforcerā of the group), who dresses like a pansy greaser straight off the set of West Side Story and really sticks out like a sore thumb even amongst the monsters, while the other kids include Andre Gower as the straight-faced leader, Robby Kiger as his sidekick (whose main duty is to get his āvirginā sister to read a key incantation), Brent Chalem (who went on to die at age 22 from pneumonia) as the token fat kid of the group (and literally referred to as Fat Kid), Michael Faustino as the whiny little boy member, and Ashley Bank as the adorable little sister who befriends The Frank Monster, plus thereās even a role for The Wonder Yearsā Jason Hervey (with probably the most punchable face in movie history) as a schoolyard bully. As stated, much of the movie is pretty hit or miss with its humor, which while keeping it a couple of notches below Lost Boys in quality, is made up for with its last twenty minutes, as all hell breaks loose with the kids (along with some local cops for cannon fodder) doing battle with the forces of evil and helps to end the movie on a high note. Overall, a perfectly acceptable piece of work for a ten year old kid looking to get into horror movies, but anyone with any maturity had best go into it with a grain of saltā¦
7/10