One hundred and twenty years ago, Dracula and his bad guy posse tried to upset the delicate balance between good and evil (I’ll let you figure out which way he wanted to tip it) but was foiled, if temporarily, by Van Helsing and his good guy posse. Twenty years ago (that’s one hundred years ago), a group of kids — no, not kids — a group of nerds were given the same challenge. Stop Dracula and other classic monsters from destroying the amulet that held everything in equilibrium. And it was rad.

It took them 20 years, but Monster Squad is finally out on DVD. I remember watching this movie over and over again on tape and HBO, soaking in every moment like a Gillman soaking in swamp water. I watched it again last night to see if it would hold up and, somehow, it got better. If you’ve never heard of or seen Monster Squad, that’s a personality flaw in need of immediate correction. Because the Wolfman has nards. And that’s important.

I did get sad during the bonus features after realizing that Fat Kid died 10 years ago of pneumonia. As we watched the retrospective and they talked about everyone else, I quipped “Oh, watch…they’re not showing Fat Kid because he’s dead.” Then they started showing slow motion clips of Fat Kid whining, whimpering, and brandishing a shot gun with soft music playing behind it. Then I knew that I was right. Poor Fat Kid.

His name…was Horace.

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Filed under: Movies