Editorials
Why “Monsters” is Still One of the All-Time Best Horror Anthology Shows [TV Terrors]
Horror and science fiction have always been a part of the television canvas, and constant attempts have been made over the years to produce classic entertainment. Some have fallen by the wayside, while others became mainstream phenomena. With “TV Terrors,” we take a look back at the many genre efforts from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s, exploring some shows that became cult classics, and others that sank into obscurity.
This month we revisit the nostalgic charms of late 80s/early 90s series “Monsters.”
- Aired from 1988 – 1991
- Aired in Syndication
The 1980s were filled with an abundance of great anthology horror both in theaters and especially on television. Even when the series were considered failures like “Amazing Stories,” they still managed to age pretty well. One of the most unique anthology horror series of the eighties (and one of my top five anthology horror series ever) is “Monsters.”
Developed by Richard P. Rubinstein (Creepshow, Tales from the Darkside, Pet Sematary, Dawn of the Dead), “Monsters” was a syndicated anthology horror show that often told short form stories that delved in either straight faced horror or dark comedy horror. “Monsters” has one of the most interesting opening intros of all time, as the camera pans down to a normal suburban household one evening. What we assume is going to be a normal nuclear family is actually a suburban family of monsters.
They’re preparing for family night (monsters have those too!), and much to their surprise their favorite show “Monsters” happens to appear on television. Despite never really changing a thing about this prologue, it’s surprising how re-watchable this opening is as there are so many subtle nuances, including the strong monster make up and the tongue in cheek humor.
“Monsters” had one mission and that was that every episode had to feature a monster (or monsters). There was never a single episode that didn’t have some kind of beast or creepy crawly in it. Despite the concept demanding the writers concoct ways to introduce new monsters, the series was pretty fantastic and almost always delivered. As mentioned, “Monsters” was a show that leaned heavily in to dark horror comedy, or just straight faced horror. When it was tongue in cheek, it managed to be very clever, but when it offered up straight faced tales of terror, the series excelled at being pretty scary.
Even today a lot of my favorite episodes from the show give me the willies. Some of my all time favorite episodes include “Cellmates,” centered on a spoiled rich American man who is jailed in South America for hitting a kid with his car. Expecting to be bailed out and rescued by his father’s lawyer, he realizes that he may not make it out as his mate in the next cell may be something otherworldly. This is a great, often creepy look at an affluent racist man getting what’s coming to him. The darkly comic “Small Blessings” works like It’s Alive as a sitcom focusing on the domestic life of a young couple (Kevin Nealon and Julie Brown) caring for their mutated flesh eating baby, Eric.
As people around the neighborhood begin turning up dead, the exhausted mother wonders if there’s a psychopath on the loose, or if Eric is going out at night to eat. This one is pretty fun in all of its demented humor, and includes a very early appearance from David Spade.
“The Hole” is one of the many Post-Vietnam horror tales from the decade involving a platoon of American soldiers that are forced to raid an underground tunnel, hoping to garner some information on the enemy. While in there, they come across a wounded Vietnamese Soldier who warns them that the dead are lurking within the walls, and are ready to take anyone that enters the hallowed ground.
Tense and claustrophobic, this is a classic horror tale that feels ripped right out of EC Comics. My favorite episode though is the bleakest of the series, “The Waiting Game.” Centered on two soldiers watching over a nuclear bunker overnight, the two stir crazy men are horrified when unexplained circumstances force them to launch nuclear warheads from the silo. Setting off a chain of nuclear explosions around the country, they learn that they’re draped in nuclear winter with the bunker their only safe haven.
As they fight off boredom and anxiety, they begin to realize that someone or something is lurking outside in the darkness. Before long, they realize something horrible just might have survived the apocalypse. Even worse, it’s trying to lure them out. This is a pitch black horror tale filled with biting tension and some top notch performances. It’s all topped off by an absolutely perfect and bleak final scene. I vividly recall watching “The Waiting Game” as a kid back in 1990, and it kept me up all night.
“Monsters” was considerably lower in budget than anthologies like “Creepshow” and “Tales from the Darkside,” so many of the episodes were confined to one setting, often feeling a lot like stage productions. Nevertheless, the series excelled in unique horror stories that made great use of its resources. The production crew also offered up a plethora of creative monsters like sentient lab rats, subterranean mutants, a vengeful Indigenous deity, a man eating bed, and a monster that feeds on cancer patients.
After ending in 1990, “Monsters” lived on for a long time in syndication on cable television, garnering a long run in the 1990s with repeats airing constantly on The Sci Fi Channel (Now Syfy), and in the aughts on (the now defunct) Chiller TV. “Monsters” was very much in the tradition of “Creepshow” and “Tales from the Darkside” in that it owed a lot of its twists and mood to EC Comics and their offbeat horror stories. The production wasn’t always spectacular, but the series still holds up shockingly well in the annals of horror anthologies.
Is It On DVD/Blu-ray/Streaming? In 2014, Sony released a great DVD set of the entire series. It’s sadly out of print at the moment. However, the entirety of “Monsters” can be found streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and The Roku Channel.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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