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The Monster Squad

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Monster Squad
US film poster
Directed byFred Dekker
Written byShane Black &
Fred Dekker
Produced byJonathan A. Zimbert
StarringAndre Gower
Robby Kiger
Brent Chalem
Ryan Lambert
Michael Faustino
Leonardo Cimino
Duncan Regehr
Tom Noonan
Ashley Bank
Lisa Fuller
Jack Gwillam
Stephen Macht
CinematographyBradford May
Edited byJames Mitchell
Music byBruce Broughton
Distributed byTriStar Pictures
Release dates
August 14, 1987 (USA)
Running time
82 min
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12,000,000 (estimated)
Box office$3,769,990 (USA)
This article is about the film. For the TV series, see Monster Squad. For the band, see Monster Squad (band)

The Monster Squad is a comedy/horror film written by Shane Black and Fred Dekker and directed by Fred Dekker (who also wrote/directed Night of the Creeps). It was released by Tri-Star Pictures on August 14, 1987. The film features the classic monsters, led by Dracula (Duncan Regehr).

Plot

The Monster Squad is a society of young teenagers who idolize classic monsters and monster movies. In addition to a clubhouse in a tree, they actually have their own business cards. Club leader Sean (Andre Gower), whose younger sister desperately wants to join the club, is given the diary of legendary vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Jack Gwillam). Sean, his best friend Patrick (Robby Kiger), and the rest of the Monster Squad get their local "Scary German Guy" (Leonardo Cimino) to translate the diary from German to English. (When he is asked how he knows so much, he tells them cryptically that he has "some experience with monsters." When the children leave his home and he closes the front door, the concentration-camp tattoo is revealed on his forearm.)

The diary describes, in great detail, an amulet that is composed of concentrated good. One day out of every century, as the forces of good and evil reach a balance, the otherwise-indestructible amulet becomes vulnerable to destruction. The next day of balance falls within a couple days, at the stroke of midnight.

The kids realize they must gain possession of the amulet before the day of balance arrives; once they have the amulet, the kids can use that--with an incantation from Van Helsing's diary--to open a hole in the universe and cast the monsters into Limbo. Dracula's monsters, meanwhile, must obtain the amulet before the Monster Squad does...so that the Count can take control of the world.

The amulet turns out to be buried in a stone room, under a house that Dracula and the other monsters occupy. The aforementioned room is littered with holy symbols, including crucifixes, which prevents the monsters from simply taking it.

Luckily, the Monster Squad has the assistance of Patrick's lovely-but-nameless elder sister (Lisa Fuller)...because the incantation must be read by a virgin, and she's the only person they know who speaks German. Sadly she is failing German, and not technically a virgin, "Well, Steve...but he doesn't count." Additional help comes from a single good monster: Frankenstein's Creature, who defects after befriending Sean's kid sister Phoebe (Ashley Bank), who ultimately is the virgin needed to read the incantation; with the assistance of "Scary German Guy".

Cast

The Monster Squad

  • Andre Gower ... Sean Crenshaw (as André Gower)
  • Robby Kiger ... Patrick
  • Brent Chalem ... Horace
  • Ryan Lambert ... Rudy
  • Michael Faustino ... Eugene

The Monsters

Supporting Cast

Home video

The film was first released by Vestron Video in 1988. It was the film's only VHS release.

A 20th Anniversary Reunion of The Monster Squad was held with cast members and Director Fred Dekker in attendance in February 2007. Previously, Dekker had urged any interested fans to write the copyright holders via snail-mail.[1]

The Monster Squad two-disc 20th anniversary special edition DVD was released by Lionsgate on July 24, 2007, and contains a wide range of special features including a 5-part 90 minute retrospective documentary, 2 audio commentaries, deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, a tv spot, animated storyboards, and more.[2] Since the release date of the DVD it has remained on the Amazon.com top seller list as of October 7, 2007. A soundtrack album is available from the Intrada label.

The special edition DVD also makes a few references to the death of Brent Chalem, who played "Horace", of pneumonia in 1997. Chalem's childhood film career failed to generate much success, into adulthood, forcing him to become a paralegal [1].

References

  1. ^ http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=23100 MONSTER SQUAD Q&A with Dekker and Cast! Trivia! Pics! And DVD info!!! at Ain't it Cool News
  2. ^ Monster Squad DVD

Jones, Stephen, ed. The Illustrated Werewolf Movie Guide. London: Titan Books, 1996. (page 110) ISBN 1-85286-658-6

External links

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