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Directed By
Fred Dekker
Written By:
Fred Dekker, Shane Black
Cast:
Mary Ellen Trainor, Stephen Macht, Tom Noonan, Duncan Regehr, Michael Faustino, Leonardo Cimino, Jon Gries, Stan Shaw, Lisa Fuller, Jason Hervey, Tom Woodruff Jr., Jack Gwillim, David Proval, Daryl Anderson, Robert Lesser, Ernie Lively, Sonia Curtis, Bryan Kestner, Denver Mattson, Diana Lewis, Robbie Kiger, Julius LeFlore, Phil Culotta, Michael Reid MacKay, Andre Gower, Brent Chalem, Ryan Lambert, Ashley Bank, Adam Carl, Carl Thibault, Michael Reid MacKay, Gwill Richards, Daniel W. Barringer, Jim Stephen, Gary Rebstock, David Wendel, Charly Morgan, Mary Albee, Joan-Carrol Baron, Julie Merrill, Marianne De Camp, Paul Van Camp, Brynn Baron, J. Mark Donaldson, Riad Galayini
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The Monster Squad (1987)
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Movie Review by Zara 
May 12th, 2007
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Updated later than expected
Who says that Fergie is the only former member of Kids Incorporated to continue their musical career? Oddly enough, Ryan Lambert is in a band called Elephone with a man named Terry Ashkinos who happens to be the brother of Jay Ashkinos, the guy I went to college with and have modeled my entire writing style after. (My apologies, Jay... for f*cking it up so badly.) I didn't know this fact (even though I've listened to Elephone many a time) until I received my special edition 2-disc copy of MONSTER SQUAD in the mail. I eagerly tore into it, looking forward to be doused in cheese. My youngest sister was a baby at the time that it was released and was too scared to watch it on VHS even years later. Watching it as an adult made her wrinkle her face and wonder why the hell she had such an issue with a tongue-in-cheek movie dusted with a touch of the Ed Wood syndrome.
A bunch of kids are the world's only hope against being taken over by evil. At least, that's what the movie purports as it shows some of cinema's most memorable creatures, from Dracula to Frankenstein's monster to The Mummy to The Wolfman (oh, I can hear you saying "Nards!" right now) to The Creature from the Black Lagoon (referred to as "Gil Man" in the special features). If these kids can't manage to get a hold of a magical amulet comprised of concentrated "good" and have a virgin recite some German, everyone's going to hell in the proverbial handbasket. The only problem seems to be that the drag-queen like Dracula can't manage to get his cohorts to see eye-to-eye with his evilness. You've got the Wolfman begging to be locked up, Frank making nice with the annoying little sister and Gil not showing up until his presence is inconsequential.
None of this matters. The movie has this power to it, being one of the few cultish movies from my younger years (I was 12 at the time of its release, the same age as the characters in the flick) which I consider to be just as powerful as the silly monster movies revered from the 1950's. The lines are said with conviction and the kids seem to honestly be both having fun and trying to kill the creatures. After watching many of the special features (I highly recommend getting the second disc and watching them if you've never seen the movie before) you get an even clearer picture that while they thought that some "campiness" was going to shine through, they had no idea just how much. See, real campiness relies on one thing: the people involved have to really BELIEVE in what they're doing. It can't be them mocking the characters or the situations. That's not campy, that's spoof and there's a HUGE difference between the two. The classic lines from this movie would not sound the same if they had been approached with a completely comedic angle. And a movie like THE MONSTER SQUAD, with its taunts of "f*ggot" and mention of "wolfman dork" wouldn't be included in a movie these days. So eat it up and stop trying to tell me that Steve doesn't count.
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 | Terrence
May 12, 2007 8:03 PM
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If you really want me to stop making you remember these odd ball movies that I post reviews you've got to stop making posts like these yourself lol!!
"Who are you? Who are we? We're the Monster Squad." |
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