In my experience, when you ask a person what their favorite film is, you’ll often be told the title of the film that made the most impression on them at a most impressionable age. For many film-goers of this generation, it’s “Back to the Future” (1985) or “The Goonies” (1985). For some, it was “The Monster Squad” (1987). A pastiche of “The Goonies,” featuring a group of suburban American kids up against the classic Universal monsters, instead of a pirate, the film mixes horror and comedy in the style of those Abbott & Costello Universal film spoofs (some of which are very good).
Not Rated. On Amazon, iTunes, VUDU etc.
Grade: B
“The Monster Squad” was not very well received by the critics (me included) or the public, which stayed away in droves to quote Sam Goldwyn (“The Lost Boys” preceded it by two weeks). But a funny thing happened. Many who saw it at the right age in theaters never forgot it. HBO picked it up and kept it in circulation. “The Monster Squad” became a very popular VHS rental. Older children introduced the PG-13-rated film to their younger friends and relatives. A cult sprang up, represented at genre film conventions and public screenings of the film with surviving cast members, including the male lead Andre Gower and Ashley Bank, who plays the little girl Phoebe in the film. It’s no “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” But what is? “Monster Squad” director and co-writer, Fred Dekker (“Robocop 3”) says he does not know the meaning of the word “cult” (Google it, buddy) in “Wolfman’s Got Nards,” a documentary that uses a catchphrase from the film as its title (It’s no, “Make my day.”).
You may have heard the expression “nards” watching “The Goldbergs” on TV. That’s because the series creator Adam F. Goldberg, who is one of the talking heads in the film, is a huge “Monster Squad” fan. A professor of film studies admits that “The Monster Squad” is her favorite film (Really?). We see many examples of “fan art,” original posters and figures. You might say that “The Monster Squad” is the original “Stranger Things,” and the makers of “The Monster Squad” – Dekker and cowriter Shane Black of “Lethal Weapon” fame – were approached about adapting it as a TV series after the smash success of “Stranger Things.” But they demurred.
As far as movies about children fighting monsters, the 1950s-era “Invaders from Mars” (misguidedly remade by Tobe Hooper in 1986) is a far better film than “The Monster Squad” and a timely Cold War-era paranoid work of art. Canadian actor Duncan Regehr, a Rutger Hauer type, who plays Count Dracula, talks about how his Dracula differs from that of the iconic and under-appreciated Bela Lugosi. Dekker explains why executive producer Peter Hyams, director of “Outland” (1981), wanted to fire him after two weeks. The legendary special effects master Stan Winston (“Jurassic Park,” “Aliens,” “Predator”) supplied the technicians, who were tasked with making a Wolfman. Mummy, Gillman, Dracula and Frankenstein Monster that veered visually from the Universal originals. The great Jack Pierce designed most of the oldies. But the original “Gillman” was the work of the largely unacknowledged Milicent Patrick, the subject of the book “The Lady from the Black Lagoon.” A year after he played a serial killer in “Manhunter,” Tom Noonan was a memorable Frankenstein Monster in “The Monster Squad.” Phoebe”s relationship with the Monster, which plays off the original little girl, who befriends the creature in James Whale’s 1931 film, is one of the most memorable things about “The Monster Squad.” If only the rest of the film were as clever.
(“Wolfman’s got Nards” contains a lot of talk about nards)
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October 27, 2020 at 03:46AM
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Movie review: ‘Wolfman’s Got Nards’ - Boston Herald
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