The Monster Squad (BD)

Co-written by Shane Black, who also wrote “Lethal Weapon” (1987) and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2006), “The Monster Squad” (1987) over the years has developed into something of a cult classic. Upon its initial theatrical release, “The Monster Squad” bombed at the box-office, earning a meager $4 million on a budget of $12 million. As a result, “The Monster Squad” was only released in a VHS edition for home video, not until much later on DVD.  In 2007, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the movie’s release, Lionsgate finally issued an elaborate two-disc edition that was long overdue (since the DVD format was launched in 1997). Now, Lionsgate with the Blu-ray release of “The Monster Squad” has given its fans a chance to experience this cult classic in hi-def.


The story is straightforward. Count Dracula comes back from the dead to retrieve an ancient amulet that will give him more powers. However, he only has until midnight to execute his plans. In order to fulfill his rogue plans of gaining access to the powerful amulet, Count Dracula creates a team of allies: a Mummy, a Wolfman, a Gillman, and the Frankenstein monster. Meanwhile, one of the teenagers overhears his father talking to a colleague in a police station about a monster resembling a Wolfman being sighted. A group of six teenagers then form an underground group, “The Monster Squad,” in a local tree house.


Thereafter, Dracula orders the Frankenstein monster to retrieve the missing Van Helsing diary. It appears one of the teenagers has access to this diary that Dracula is looking for. The diary is written in German, which is later translated by a harmless  old stranger. He tells the group that the balance of evil and good in the world will tilt in favor of evil by the next midnight. Instead of retrieving the diary, the Frankenstein monster befriends a little girl. He stays with other teenagers without harming them. The translation of the diary reveals the location of the amulet in a local cathedral, where Dracula and his minions arrive for the final showdown.


“The Monster Squad” is clearly influenced by “Ghostbusters” (1984) and “Goonies” (1985). In fact, it is a mix of both the movies. “Ghostbusters” combined an adult theme with ghosts whereas “Goonies” was more focused on young teenagers. “The Monster Squad” successfully combines the themes of monsters with young teens, something that was seldom done before. In the process, “The Monster Squad” retains some of its uniqueness within the horror genre.


The movie, while combining the elements of the recent hits, also pays homage to old monster movie classics like “Frankenstein” (1931), “Dracula” (1931),  “The Mummy” (1932), “The Wolfman” (1941), and “Young Frankenstein” (1974). The scene where the young girl holds the Frankenstein monster’s hand is reminiscent of Boris Karloff in the old “Frankenstein” movie and Peter Boyle from “Young Frankenstein.” It does not come as a surprise that Tom Noonan in playing the role of the Frankenstein monster bears a resemblance to Boris Karloff. Having said this, of all the monsters in the movie, the Frankenstein one is the most menacing as compared to their leader, Dracula. On the contrary, Dracula, played by Duncan Regehr, is almost too pretty, so it actually tones down the villainous aspect depicted by his character. The other monsters, like the “Wolfman,” “Gillman,” and “Mummy” were only used as sidekicks of Dracula. Their presence is hardly threatening and only felt during the action scenes.


The movie’s short running time definitely adds to the experience. The story is fast paced, and the script lays down the structure of the story and its character very well. However, there are a couple of glaring plot holes, which at times can be distracting. First, one assumes that Dracula knew that the teenagers from “The Monster Squad” possessed the diary. Second, the Frankenstein monster is aware of the location of the teenagers. Of course, I don’t expect the Frankenstein monster to drive around like the T-100 character from the “Terminator 2” movie, but it would have been great to get some insight on how he found the teenagers. The acting is above-average, and at times I thought the character of the Frankenstein monster was the best of the entire bunch. Because of this, “The Monster Squad” overall is an enjoyable and a thrilling experience.


Video:
Lionsgate released a two-disc Special Edition of “The Monster Squad” in 2007. It appears that Lionsgate used the same master for this Blu-ray release. I was surprised to see how good this film looked on Blu-ray, its being a low-budget movie. The colors are consistently sharp and vibrant throughout the running time. Likewise, the skin tones are lifelike and vivid. However, in a couple of scenes, mainly night scenes, I thought black levels were not as solid as they should have been. The night scenes tend to be a tad softer than the daytime scenes, too. There is grain present throughout, evidently more in the night scenes, giving movie a film-like texture. I was able to spot minor specks but nothing intrusive to the overall film experience. The movie is encoded in an MPEG-4 format in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1.


Audio: For this release, the audio on the “The Monster Squad” Blu-ray is boosted by the presence of 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. For a low-budget movie like this, the sound design was fairly limited to the front channels. The dialogue is clear and audible all the way through the movie, but I felt, there were a lot of moments in the film where the use of surround sound would have added to the overall experience. Nevertheless, the audio does its job, although not up to the same level of the releases from the same period.


Extras:
This Blu-ray release is labeled as the “20th Anniversary Edition.” However, we appear to get the same edition that Lionsgate released in 2007, with all the extras ported over from that release.


First, we have two audio commentaries:  one with the director, Fred Dekker, and some of “The Monster Squad” actors, and the second with the director and the director of photography, Bradford May.


Next is a five-part retrospective featurette, “Monster Squad Forever!” featuring interviews with the crew. Here, the director talks about his fascination with monster films and why he wanted to direct a monster flick. We also get insights into the writing process for this movie and how the project was funded by Rob Cohen of the “The Fast and the Furious” fame.


Then we have an interview, “A conversation with Frankenstein,” with Tom Noonan, where he talks about his acting career and the makeup process involved for this movie.


We also get a collection of five deleted or extended scenes presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio, followed by an animated storyboard sequence.


Finally, included is the original theatrical trailer, astill gallery, and a TV spot.


Parting Thoughts:
“The Monster Squad” has enough going for it that it resonates well with both a teenage and adult age group. The homage to old Hollywood monster flicks is conceived well on the screen. Despite minor shortcomings, I felt “The Monster Squad” offered plenty of entertainment value in terms of action, drama, and horror. Lionsgate is on a roll in terms of delivering movies on the Blu-ray format. This Blu-ray release has above-average audio and video qualities along with all the extras from the previous release. Even so, Lionsgate has competitively priced this catalog title, so fans should definitely check it out.