Ten-Year Itch

Editor’s Note: Ten-Year Itch is a weekly column focusing on a film or album at least 10 years old and deserving of a second look.

With Halloween approaching, it is time to give the scary movie collection an overhaul.

Do not settle for watching the “Halloween” entry starring Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks on late-night TV again. There are so many hidden gems out there with actual scares and decent filmmaking.

In 1987, “Monster Squad” was released as an entry into the “Goonies”/”Lost Boys” canon. The films feature children in sticky situations where they must make big life decisions, except “Squad” does not feature Corey Feldman or Corey Haim.

The film is about three young friends with a passion for horror films who sit up in a tree house dreaming of slaying monsters. Through a series of mishaps — one involving a plane crash carrying the coffins of Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula and another concerning an amulet balancing the good and evil in the world — the boys get their wish.

These young friends take Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon head-on in attempt to squander a newly awakened Dracula from taking over the world.

The look of the film is classic 80s campy nonsense, which is a good thing. There is gory violence and snarky dialogue, but it is all used to the film’s betterment.

As the friends fight to defeat monsters, they must take serious actions and make adult-level decisions. Where most films would treat the child characters as if they grew up immediately when the problem arose, this film keeps the boys grounded in reality. They are still trading juvenile barbs and calling testicles “nards.”  The attention to youthful innocence gives the film a semblance of reality, or at least as much reality that can be attached to a film about fighting monsters.

Another unique aspect to this film is there is no real moral dilemma solved. The film is a feature about boys loving and embracing danger. They do not learn about the pitfalls of greed or the beauty of a loving relationship; it is an hour and a half of them talking dirty and kicking monster rear.

The film failed terribly at the box office, only making back a little more than a quarter of its budget. In the two decades since its release, it has found a cult following prompting its release on DVD.

Run, drive, hop on someone’s back to get to a rental spot (or download it, not that The Pulse staff would condone the sort of behavior) and give this film a chance.

Luke McCormick can be reached
at 536-3311 ext. 275