The Monster Squad (1987) dir: Fred Dekker

On a different timeline, in a parallel universe, director Fred Dekker has the career that Sam Raimi has. He started off with the cult horror Night of the Creeps which has been influential on many filmmakers, most obviously James Gunn who lifted from it for his 2006 film Slither. His last film credit was the woeful Robocop 3, which sat on a shelf for a year or so before being released and turned out to be worse than even the second one. Between these two films, Dekker along with co-screenwriter and one of my biggest influences Shane Black; made a great little scary kids film called The Monster Squad. The Monster Squad has a killer premise, basically the classic Universal Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, The creature from the black lagoon, wolfman) descend on a small town and its up to a bunch of outcast kids to stop them. Despite this the film failed to make an impact when released in the summer of 1987 and remains a fondly remembered cult item.

We start off in Transylvania in the midst of the latest battle between Abraham Van Helsing and his arch nemesis Dracula. Van Helsing fails to stop Dracula from opening some kind of portal into limbo and is sucked into it. Fast forward to present day (well, 1987) and we encounter the ‘monster club’ made up of high school outcasts Sean, Patrick, Horace, Eugene and Rudy and Sean’s little sister Phoebe which is run through a cool as hell tree house adorned with movie posters. These kids idolize the famous monsters of filmland and anything nerdy. They are about to encounter the real thing though as Dracula has risen again and with the help of a host of monsters they are about to lay siege to the small town and try and suck the world into limbo. Sean discovers Van Helsing’s diary via a garage sale which he then gets translated to find out Dracula’s diabolical scheme. As Sean’s father is a cop who doesn’t believe a word of it, it is up to the monster club to become the Monster Squad and save the world.

The Monster Squad harks back to a simpler time when family films and films aimed at kids in general were not afraid to show a little blood and get a little dark. I’ll never forget how adult The Never Ending Story seemed to me when I saw it at age 6 or the fact that Jaws was and still is horrifying and yet its rated PG. The scene in Teen Wolf where a girl takes off her bra was my first hint at what lay beyond the door to adulthood and that was a PG. Monster Squad is also a PG but has Dracula breaking necks, people being blown up and kids arming themselves, peeping through the window at their hot neighbor next door and even firing guns! This would be sacrilegious in these post Columbine days but here an overweight kid kills a sea creature whilst fetishistically wielding a pump action shotgun, and filmmakers got away with it! Unlike The goonies, which has gotten annoying as I have gotten older despite being similarly dark, The monster squad is actually still enjoyable. The whole premise could have been disastrous (see Van Helsing) but in Dekker’s capable hands as well as Shane Black’s witty script the whole thing sails along for an enjoyable and action packed 80 odd minutes. The trick here is that Dekker remembers what so many filmmakers forget, kids are not idiots, kids know about death and are beginning to suspect that adults have problems they are not familiar with so shying away from this treats them with contempt. Monster Squad, much like ET presents a once happy family that have been having problems, the kids are surprisingly together considering and show the adults how to kick ass when it comes to fighting monsters who are much worse than anything the real world might throw at them. Its this basic principal that makes The Monster Squad timeless, sure it has 80’s fashions and a montage (1987? Gotta have a montage) but it also has flawless child performances and great Stan Winston created monsters that still hold up. This was pre CG overkill so there is the odd rubber vampire bat, but Dracula remains kind of scary along with his vampire brides. Frankenstein’s monster is loveable and performed well by genre vet Tom Noonan. The wolfman transformation sequences are handled well despite not being up to par with Rick Baker’s work earlier in the decade on a man into wolf sequence. The sea creature inspired by the creature from the black lagoon is the only monster given kind of a short shrift here but is adequate for what he is required to do.

I cant really recall The Monster Squad ever getting a proper cinema release in the UK, but I do know that it came out on video in the late 80’s with a 15 certificate which is ludicrous. There are no swear words beyond the S word and the violence is nothing worse than you would see in an episode of Buffy the vampire slayer. If this were released now, its doubtless some of the more politically incorrect things would be trimmed but it would probably get a 12A.

Despite his films having a cult audience and numerous revival screenings in the US, Fred Dekker has so far not directed a movie since Robocop 3, no doubt soured by his experience working on a studio franchise. It’s a pity because Dekker confidently handles the actors, action scenes and effects work and should be playing with the big boys on a mega budget superhero movie. I’d love to see him take on something like the Blade franchise or Werewolf by Night or something equally unknown from Marvel’s vaults.

The Monster Squad is not available in the Uk currently but if you have the time and are a fan of 80’s fantasy flicks its worth importing the Region 1 version. Its loaded with in depth extras too.

by Chris Holt

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