Retro Review: The Monster Squad (1987)

When crafting a month of content targeted at the horror/Halloween crowd, it's important to provide balance between the current, more serious trend in horror, and highlight those movies which focus on how much fun the genre can be.

Which is why I present to you a look back at The Monster Squad.

The Monster Squad was a little-seen horror/comedy back in the day, but found its audience on home video and TV, and rightfully so. This movie is a hoot, and mixes shocks, laughs and special effects in equal measure, much like Ghostbusters had done a couple of years earlier.

As written by Shane Black (who went on to write Lethal Weapon) and Fred Dekker (who directed Night of the Creeps), The Monster Squad is about a group of monster-obsessed kids who discover Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, the Mummy, the Wolfman, and a gill man have taken up residence in the neighbourhood. Naturally, the kids decide to take these creatures out before they destroy the world.

What ensues is 80s style fun and fright, which never once takes itself too seriously. And there's a lot of respect paid to the monsters, who resemble their famous Universal counterparts from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. All with modern (for the time) visual effects and family friendly gore.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, then good! It's perfect gateway horror for young fans looking for something to watch this Halloween. And if you haven't seen it in a while, do so. Wolfman still has nards!

The Monster Squad remains a Good in our book.

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