It took years for The Monster Squad to become available on DVD. Now, more than two years after the DVD was released, the Blu-ray disc is available. I was ten years old when it came out in theaters, and it quickly became a one of my favorite films as a kid. I only saw it once in theaters, but when it came out on VHS, I was rented the film on a frequent basis. It also helped that we had cable at home, and the movie channels like Showtime and HBO showed it all the time. I can remember watching this film with my sisters on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons, and watching it with my friends and then going down to our tree house in the woods and forming our own Monster Squad. This film is a childhood memory for me, and now that I have the film on both DVD and Blu-ray, I get to share this film with my daughters when they get older, and I can relive that experience again.
The Monster Squad is about a group of friends who are obsessed with horror films. They have a tree house where they discuss monster movies. When a time portal is opened in the past by a secret amulet, all the monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and the Creature all are sent into the future. They all end up right in the hometown of the Monster Squad. This band of young horror fans, with Frankenstein’s Monster, must help save the world from Dracula’s terror and, with the help of a scary German guy, get the proper tools to send the monsters back to where they came from.
What can I say about this film? It is one of my all-time favorite childhood movies. I’ll ignore any flaw. All in all, I think the movie is perfect. Everything from the script to the acting and the directing are all perfect. Co-writer and director Fred Dekker was so involved in the creation of this project that I honestly think it is his best film. Some may argue with me and say it’s Night of the Creeps, but I disagree.
Considering the pressure the film makers had to make their monsters different from any Universal Studios monsters, they did a great job making their own characters unique.
The Monster Squad Blu-ray has the same features as the DVD. There are many extra features. There are two audio commentary tracks. Both involve director Fred Dekker, once with members of the monster squad, Andre Gower, Ryan Lambert and Ashley Bank, and another track with director of photography, Bradford May. There is a five-part retrospective featuring interviews with the cast and crew of the film twenty years later. There are some never-before-seen interviews with Frankenstein, deleted scenes, trailers, stills and plenty more. The film is presented in 1080P High Definition newly remastered in Widescreen format with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio.
The Monster Squad, is a bit crude because of the language used by the kids and the fact that Dracula calls a five-year-old girl a bitch. The truth is that children swears all the time when they are not near their parents. A film like Monster Squad won’t even phase the nine- and ten-years-olds of today. If anything, they’ll want to get out of the house and go start a monster squad of their own and learn to respect the horror genre. The Monster Squad is a great starter film for the horror fan.
Overall, I love this movie and for fans new and old it’s a must have on Blu-ray. It’s a true classic that brings out the young kid in all of us, a true gem to the genre and a classic among the monster movies.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
