The Monster Squad

Ian West5.0

Today was a rough day. A friend passed away this weekend, very suddenly, leaving behind a 4 year old daughter who's having a very difficult time understanding whats going on. I'm at a loss for words and have been pretty out of it since finding out the news.After finally settling in for the night, I put on my comfort movie to try and get some sleep, but I was reminded how I met my friend John. It put a smile on my face - the power of cinema.I first met him a few years back at a mutual friends birthday party, I didn't know many people there so I snuck outside the bar for a quick "holy shit my social anxiety can be really insane sometimes and I need to run 1,000,000 miles away RIGHT THE F NOW" smoke break. Shortly aftwardward he came outside to the same such smoke break and we immediately began talking about music, movies and our mutual love for horror as we smoked half a pack of cigs and downed more tequila shots than we should have. It turned out to be an awesome party and a great time, and because of that interaction with him I loosened up big time and met some really cool people, who I'm still friends with to this day. At one point he asked me if I ever saw The Monster Squad and I began gushing about how it was my first "favorite movie" as we endlessly quoted the film:Det. Del Crenshaw: [about the killer in the 12th Groundhog Day movie] I thought they killed him in the last one.Sean: They did, he returns from the grave.Det. Del Crenshaw: He always returns from the grave. If they blew him up, put his head in a blender and mailed the rest of him to Norway, he would still return from the grave!Sean: That was part 7.Everyone looked at us like we were a bunch of dorks, which we were, as we instantly became friends, also talking about the many problematic elements of this movie. We kept in touch over the years and always planned on going to a horror convention together, unfortunately that won't happen now. He was a great person and an even better friend. A friend who would always have a joke to crack if you were feeling down while offering a shoulder to lean on or a half smoked cigarette but to kick against the pricks if you needed it.R.I.P. John^^^^^^ the power of movies and friendship.

Reece3.0

absolutely no clue how half the things in this movie were allowed… Dracula legit calls a 5-year-old girl a bitch in this 💀💀💀

Ian West5.0

This is one of the most important movies in my idiot life and I can go on and on with the trope filled ‘I was a monster kid growing up etc’ stuff that we’ve heard a million times but I won’t. I will say this though... 1. Duncan Regehr as sociopath Dracula is the only version of my favorite character that ever scared the shit out of me. He’s like the terminator in that final scene when he shows up shrouded in pulsating electric currents and wipes out 47 cops before traumatizing a child actor who had no idea what she was in for in. Every Eve of October I think of the scene where he says “let it begin” as my fall festivities are underway, and if I’m being completely honest... he’s Easily the scariest incarnation of the character in my eyes over all the other sacred cow actors to play the part. I love that there’s no ‘oceans of time’ love story or ‘far greater things await man than death’ musings here, plus when he gets staked and pimp van helsing shows up to grab him as they fall into limbo is like professor moriarty and Sherlock Holmes going over the Reichenbach Falls—the only satisfying solution worthy of these two monolithic adversaries.2. The makeup and monster design here is so fucking good. This is the best looking creature and the best looking mummy and I stand by that. The wolf man actually being a man wolf is so satisfying to loser pisshead nerds like me because I can’t stand werewolves that are just giant wolves.3. I love that the horror scenes are played straight.4. Tom Noonan in the treehouse having that reaction to the Frankenstein monster mask hits me harder than any Frankenstein monster moment ever except for maybe the “I love dead, hate living” scorcher from 52 years before Monster Squad came out 5. Stephen Macht is my favorite movie dad and I think the most important series of events in this movie revolve around him. When’s he’s talking to Sean about Groundhog Day while getting dressed for marriage counseling which ends up with him joining Sean on the roof with a sack of Burger King and says “what I miss?” as he grabs the binoculars to peep a slasher movie with his son is one of my favorite moments in any movie. Also when he plows through the town square blasting his gun at Dracula in bat form before pulling out a stick of dynamite to finish the job is straight up Rambo dad material. His interactions with his partner Stan Shaw (who I also love) were all great and we were robbed of a series of buddy cop movies featuring both of those characters. Love him so much in this and in the undervalued Graveyard Shift... can’t wait till y’all wake up on that one.5 stars. Monster Squad Rules.