So, I've been on a bit of a comic book/superhero kick this week here at the Insomniac Film Festival, despite my diagnosis of superhero fatigue. I went to the library and signed out a couple of more superhero type flicks, thinking I might complete the week with them. I brought them home and sat there with them thinking that after the sheer awesomeness of Wonder Woman, I didn't think I could handle the 2017 Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. I hope that you, dear fellow Steemians, didn't have your hearts set on hearing my thoughts on these two movies. At least not right now. I don't think I could handle them. I briefly considered sticking with my comic book superhero theme with 1989's Batman, ie. the one I like, or this year's comical Batman: The Return of the Caped Crusaders featuring the voice talents of the late, great Adam West and Burt Ward.
Instead, I decided I wanted a break from superheroes, or at least your traditional, caped, comic book types. So The Monster Squad it is than.
Written by Shane Black, The Monster Squad is the story of a club of kids that love monsters who have to fight actual monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, the Mummy and the Gill-Man. Dracula is hunting for an amulet that will do something about good and evil.
I have some issues with some of the early scenes which featured children using some very disturbing, homophobic dialogue. While I realize that this was more normalized back in the 80s, it is uncomfortable to hear.
Aside from that, it is a fun and entertaining flick. It does bring up a couple of questions:
- How does Dracula's clothes transform with him when he becomes a bat and vice versa?
- Where did he get a black hearse with a skull on the front?
- Why is the fat kid called Fat Kid?
- Is "See you later Band-aid breath," the best one liner they could come up with?
- Is this what the new Universal Dark Universe is building to: a remake of The Monster Squad?
I really liked how the movie tried to address a real-life monster by referencing the Nazi death camps, but it was just a little thing that I suspect most of the target audience did not necessarily understand. The movie is not very long and it takes some really, unexpected dark turns but it is worth the watch, despite some very odd looking visual effects. There are also some great ones, the Wolfman and Gill-Man are great for example.
Check it out, you won't be disappointed.
