Review of The Monster Squad (1987) by Zack H — 25 Feb 2009

I'm a huge admirer of '80s movies, and this is one I've heard about for quite some time. It's not entirely a classic (the child actors aren't nearly as good as the ones in Goonies or Stand By Me), but holds up as a fun love letter to some of the biggest monsters of vintage Universal films.

Do any of the monsters hold up to the famous originals? They do to some degree. Stan Winston's variations on each of the monsters works quite well and they're all suitably scary to some extent and very cool looking by design.

I especially like his versions of the Gill Man, Mummy and Frankenstein's Monster. The film has a few memorable moments, such as the, "Wolfman's got nards!" line and the worm hole ending.

It's nice that films like this, which were clearly made with loads of passion and creativity, sometimes gain a cult audience over the years. The fans are fortunate to have a quality DVD release with a relatively thorough documentary, "Monster Squad Forever!" included.

If only "Poltergeist" got such treatment. But at least we have that one on Blu-ray. I digress...