One of the quintessential vintage monster movies. Inspired in part by the "The Little Rascals", "The Goonies" (this film and that Richard Donner movie obviously giving rise to Abram's "Super 8") and the all-time champion Universal classics. This movie is pure awesomeness, headed by Fred Dekker and with special effects by none other than Stan Winston (the man behind "Jurassic Park" and other legends, enough said). If you, like me, saw Stephen Sommer's "Van Helsing" and felt your favorite monsters had been turned into CGI monstrosities, then this is for you.
Every monster is somewhat updated, but for the most part they retain their classic features. The make-up and animatronics are done quite awesomely. Duncan Regehr is so great as Dracula ("Meeting adjourned"
.BOOM!!) and Tom Noonan is just fantastic as Frankenstein's Monster. The 'Gill Man' and the Mummy look pretty bad-ass as well. Enhancing these beasts are great sets and a spectacular score by Bruce Broughton.
Andrew Gower, Ryan Lambert, Stephen Macht, Leonardo Cimino are all very good in their simple but very enjoyable characters. Brent Chalem will always be remembered as Horace, R.I.P.
The tone of the film is odd but that's what makes it so memorable. I can see why at the time of its release why audiences may have been put off by the movie. After all, plenty of swearing, strong content, but the leads are children. Who exactly was the target audience? The dialogue is snazzy, the comedy well-staged and yet these characters feel very real to us. That's really where the audience is; anyone who is willing to embrace the characters really. And no worry, all along there is some excellent carnage. After all, if nothing else, the film answers the age old question if a silver bullet really is the only way to kill a werewolf.
Loads of fun and a classic that's for damned sure. In honor of Fat Kid: "Wolfman's got nards!!"
