Editorials
The Lasting Legacy of ‘The Monster Squad’
When The Monster Squad was released in theaters 30 years ago, on August 14, 1987, it was a flop. Released during peak summer season, the now beloved cult classic earned only $3.7 million during its short theatrical run. All plans for potential merchandising, like a line of Phoebe’s beloved stuffed dog Scraps, was terminated. Luckily, audiences finally took notice of the film’s greatness after a run on cable television, followed by a home release on VHS. Though inexplicably overlooked upon release, The Monster Squad quickly became a generational classic and its audience now even more passionate 30 years later.
As a kid, my movie choices revolved around one thing: are there monsters in it? With a VHS cover box that featured the classic movie monsters and a bunch of kids closer to my age than your typical horror movie, this made The Monster Squad an easy choice. That the actual film saw a group of relatable misfits who adored monsters as much as I did take on an assembled team of really cool monsters lead by one of the best renditions of Dracula meant that I wore out more than one VHS tape during my childhood. I desperately wanted to be a member of the Monster Squad. I connected with Sean’s (Andre Gower) love of horror and monsters. Rudy (Ryan Lambert) was the cool kid you wanted on your team. Phoebe (Ashley Bank) perhaps was the most relatable as the one most often ignored for being younger and a girl. The best part of the squad, though, was their tree house covered wall to wall in horror posters.
More than the team of underdogs and their cool hideout, the best part of the movie were the monsters and special effects brought to life by Stan Winston’s studio. Winston’s assembled team of Steve Wang, Matt Rose, Tom Woodruff Jr., Alec Gillis, Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, Shannon Shea, and Winston himself crafted the coolest designs for Wolfman, Mummy, Gillman, Frankenstein’s monster, and the big bad Count Dracula. The bat transformation sequences set a trend for future bat inspired vampires in film, and the big set piece at Dracula’s castle during the opening scene sets the tone. In short, the practical effects and timeless design by Winston and crew helped solidify The Monster Squad as an ageless classic.
As an adult, nostalgia drew me back to the film, but I discovered that the story works just as well now as it did during childhood. Shane Black and Fred Dekker’s story has a lot more depth than I could comprehend as a kid, bridging the gap between generations. So absorbed with the monsters and the kids that were brave enough to stop them, I didn’t notice how Del (Stephen Macht) and Emily’s (Mary Ellen Trainor) marriage was on the verge of complete collapse. Sure, the scene in which Sean overhears his parents arguing paints a picture of discord, but it didn’t really occur to me as a child that Emily had packed her bags and planned to leave Del until seeing it from a grown-up perspective. Or that the “scary German guy” that plays a huge role in thwarting Dracula’s plans is a Holocaust survivor. Of anyone in the film, he understands true monsters the most.
The loving homages to the Universal Classic Monsters meant so much more, too. The nods to the armadillos in Dracula’s castle, as they were in the 1931 film, and the plane that carries the monster crates is named Browning, after the original director Tod Browning, are clever. It’s not the only film nods either. So in awe of William Friedkin’s work on The Exorcist, particularly the subliminal aspect, that Dekker drew from that when creating the scene that sees Dracula’s face flash to a creepy skull.
The relationship between Phoebe and Frankenstein’s Monster (Tom Noonan) was always the beating heart of the film, but it holds deeper meaning after seeing the 1931 version of Frankenstein. In it, Frankenstein’s Monster meets a little girl by a lake and they toss flowers in a lake to watch them float. The monster doesn’t really understand, so he tosses in the little girl to watch her float, too, but she drowns instead and Frankenstein’s Monster runs away upset. In a way, The Monster Squad offers Frankenstein’s Monster a redemption for that fatal mistake. As with the 1931 version, he meets a little girl by the water too. Only this time, the little girl warmly welcomes him into the Monster Squad, a group of misfits in which Frankenstein’s Monster humorously fits right in. Her parting gift to him, her beloved Scraps, at the end of the film still chokes me up to this day.
Shane Black and Fred Dekker created the perfect balance of light and dark, scary and campy. Combine their layered story with a talented cast, both young and old alike, and the timeless practical effects by Stan Winston and his brilliant crew, and The Monster Squad becomes the perfect gateway into horror for generations to come. Duncan Regehr’s portrayal as Count Dracula remains one of the most intimidating and terrifying, while Tom Noonan’s rendition of Frankenstein’s Monster is the best counterbalance with his sweet innocence. The Monster Squad endures the test of time and continues to sell out retro screenings in theaters, way more than it did upon release. Here’s to another 30 years of Wolfman nards.
What’s your favorite part of The Monster Squad?
It’s been 75 years since The Thing From Another World first warned us to “watch the skies”, and filmgoers have done just that by showing up to multiple instances of extraterrestrial contact on the big screen. This makes sense, as a recent CBS news poll estimated that 63% of Americans believe in intelligent life on other planets, and the ongoing disclosure movement aims to raise that number with each passing day.
With Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day leaving many genre fans hungry for more alien footage (preferably of the spooky variety), today I’d like to share a list recommending six underrated alien invasion thrillers for your viewing pleasure. After all, regardless of whether or not you believe that we’re alone in the universe, it can be fun to dream about the worst-case scenario if our cosmic neighbors ever decide to visit.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on lesser-known invasion stories rather than the popular extraterrestrials of franchises like Alien and Close Encounters of the Third (or even Fourth) Kind. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own alien favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling movie.
While it won’t be featured in this article, I’d highly recommend checking out Dean Alioto’s UFO Abduction/The McPherson Tape if you’re up for some ufology-inspired found footage thrills.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. The Arrival (1996)
Not to be confused with Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-winning Amy Adams vehicle about learning to communicate peacefully with extraterrestrial life, David Twohy’s The Arrival is a much more straightforward (but no less entertaining) genre romp where Charlie Sheen faces a global conspiracy involving hostile alien invaders.
It’s not exactly up there with Close Encounters or even Independence Day, but Twohy’s conspiratorial thriller plays out like an exceptionally fun episode of The X-Files that I’d recommend to sci-fi/horror fans who don’t mind a little bit of wonky CGI and 90s excess alongside their alien thrills.
5. Extraterrestrial (2014)
The Vicious Brothers made a name for themselves with the success of 2011’s Grave Encounters, but that was far from the Canadian duo’s only collaboration. And while it’s not exactly a fan favorite, I always point out 2014’s Extraterrestrial as one of their most underrated projects simply because I agree with the filmmakers’ opinion that there aren’t enough ‘cool alien abduction movies’ out there.
Admittedly, the majority of the picture functions like a run-of-the-mill creature feature with paper-thin characters and familiar horror tropes, but I’d argue that the cosmically-terrifying final act elevates the experience to new and memorable heights. The movie also boasts great performances by both Michael Ironside and Emily Perkins – a combination that more than makes up for the occasionally janky CGI.
4. Alien Raiders (2008)
Director Ben Rock has gone on record lamenting how his John-Carpenter-inspired creature feature was forcefully renamed from Supermarket to the painfully obvious Alien Raiders (a change which likely resulted in many potential viewers skipping out on the experience), but the new title doesn’t change the fact that this single-location thriller is something of a hidden gem.
Taking place entirely within a supermarket, Alien Raiders tells the story of an ensemble of customers and employees who are taken hostage by a group of armed men looking for something far more dangerous than an easy payout. I won’t get into details in order to avoid spoiling the experience, but I’d highly recommend this criminally underseen flick to fans of John Carpenter and the Resident Evil games.
3. Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
You’d think that a Ridley-Scott-produced retelling of one of the most infamous real-life UFO sightings of all time would have a bigger following, but I rarely see Justin Barber’s Found Footage period piece brought up during discussions about extraterrestrial-focused horror movies.
This is a huge shame, as Phoenix Forgotten is just as spooky as it is convincing, with this well-researched dive into the Phoenix Lights incident benefiting from surprisingly believable special effects as well as an appropriately horrific finale.
2. Communion (1989)
I wouldn’t blame you for disregarding Whitley Strieber’s controversial book about his alleged close encounter as sensationalist slop, but I’d argue that Phillipe Mora’s 1989 adaptation of these events is much better than the source material. After all, the movie works as a standalone piece of speculative fiction while also benefiting from an incredible performance by the one and only Christopher Walken!
Mora’s take on Communion may not be particularly scary, but the film is still an unforgettable character study regardless of whether or not the abduction really happened. Not only that, but the flick also paved the way for plenty of future sci-fi stories where the extraterrestrial invaders aren’t as evil as they initially appear.
1. Altered (2006)
Originally envisioned as a Sam Raimi-style horror-comedy titled Probed, Eduardo Sánchez (of The Blair Witch Project fame) eventually realized that it would be much more interesting to turn the film into a serious exploration of the emotional aftermath of a traumatic abduction incident.
That’s how we got Altered, a clever inversion of the standard abduction narrative that follows a group of troubled friends as they capture and experiment on an alien in order to enact revenge for their own abduction years prior.
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