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Late To The Party: ‘The Monster Squad’ (1987)

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Chris Fischer

It is with no great pleasure that I must admit to the crime of never once watching The Monster Squad before in my life, but here we are. Thankfully, even though this film is a classic 80’s movie that many have grown up with, I was able to avoid spoilers and experience this one hundred percent blind, and I could not have been more thankful for that.

Everything about this flick just oozes 80’s charm from the monster design, to the set design and acting. The only thing that could possibly make Monster Squad even more a product of the 80’s would be if Van Halen had composed the entire soundtrack. However, with that thought in mind, that does sound like it would be pretty awesome.

The plot to The Monster Squad is a relatively simple one, but enjoyable enough that it doesn’t detract from the overall experience. Monsters are real, bad shit happens, and it’s up to the local monster enthusiasts to save the day before the world is consumed by evil. Simple enough, but the real reason you’re watching the flick is for the characters, and their interactions to the insanity unfolding around them.

Image Credit: The Monster Squad

The child actors were great in this movie, especially considering it’s a “family” movie from 1987. I say family like that because for a PG-13 movie, it treads on some seriously dark territory. From the crumbling marriage of Sean and Phoebe’s parents, to Scary German Guy being a Holocaust survivor, The Monster Squad is not afraid to explore the darker side of humanity.

The titular monster squad all have real on-screen chemistry and genuinely feel like a group of young friends bonding over their mutual love of the horror genre. Even the side characters like Scary German Guy, yes that’s the only name the character is given, feel genuine and his interactions with the children are a joy to see on screen, if not just a tad bit on the creepy side.

And it’s not just the human characters who excel, the monsters are fantastic in their own right.  The star of the bunch of misfits being none other than Frankenstein’s monster, who was sent to kill our young protagonists and instead befriends the young monster hunters. Watching the monster learn and interact on screen, albeit brief, was genuinely heartwarming and I certainly had a smile on my face during every one of his scenes.

Image Credit: The Monster Squad

Other than Frankenstein’s monster we are treated to The Mummy, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Wolfman and finally, Count Dracula himself. The mummy and good old fishman felt like throwaway characters, as they never really do much during the course of the film other than be the butt of a few jokes here and there. The Wolfman is a little better, but the few scenes where he is human are incredibly brief and don’t add much to the experience.

GIF Credit: The Monster Squad

As for Count Dracula, for me he was hit and miss. I personally thought it was a fantastic idea to not have him utter a single word until almost twenty minutes into the movie, giving off a more sinister vibe and having his first words be bone chilling. And then the actor beings to over act and phone it in a bit, essentially becoming a parody of the character, he’s portraying.

The overacting is not a problem necessarily, but it is jarring when in one scene Dracula is doing a serviceable job at being creepy and foreboding, only for the next screen to have him screaming and hammering away at a wall looking for his stolen amulet. The camp does begin to show itself during those moments, and it’s hard to tell if the scene is supposed to be taken seriously or not.

When Monster Squad starts out strong, and holds your attention until the final credit roll that much cannot be denied. What it does well it does extremely so, unfortunately the same goes for when the film stumbles. And it’s at these moments that the experience is diluted, though thankfully not ruined.

Image Credit: The Monster Squad

Look, Monster Squad is a damn good time, even when it’s trying a little too hard to be scary or funny. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but what movie is? I enjoyed my time with The Monster Squad, and all that 80’s fun has certainly gotten me even more excited for the premiere of Stranger Things season two this Friday.

Be sure to tune in next week for another edition of Late To The Party, this time we’ll be taking a look at 2006’s Hatchet.

Feature Image Credit: Chris Fischer

 

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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