PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Releasing on August 14, 1987, Fred Dekker’s The Monster Squad turns 35 in 2022, and to celebrate, we have compiled a list of fun facts.
Synopsis:
Five youngsters find themselves up against the combined might of Dracula, the Mummy, the Gill Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster who arrive in town in search of a magic amulet.
The Monster Squad brings back so many memories for me. I remember my parents had it on a plain black VHS tape that my dad had made. It was also the first time my parents allowed me to swear the famous line: “Scary German Guy’s bitching.” best moment of my life.
Top Ten Fun Facts About The Monster Squad
1. The scene where Dracula lifts Phoebe up and she screams was done in one take. Duncan Regehr wouldn’t wear his red contacts or fangs around five year old Ashley Bank because it scared her too much. For the scene, director Fred Dekker just told Ashley to scream once the platform raised her. When she asked, “When?” Dekker told her, “Oh, you’ll know,” and proceeded to shoot. The terrified scream you hear when Dracula opens his eyes is Ashley’s genuine scream of fright.
2. According to director Fred Dekker, Shane Black’s first draft of the screenplay was so huge that the opening of the film featured Van Helsing accompanied by zeppelins and hundreds of men on horseback storming Dracula’s castle. Dekker stated that this sequence would have cost more than the final budget of the film.
3. Liam Neeson was paid for a bit part that was never shot.
4. According to director Fred Dekker, the film was cut by 13 minutes because some executives didn’t want it to run more than 90 minutes.
5. In 2006, Wizard magazine made a list of the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time, and Dracula was ranked as #30 on the list. But surprisingly, it was for Duncan Regehr’s performance in this film, which was chosen over all other versions of the character. Regehr’s Dracula is still considered to be one of the absolute best interpretations of the character.
6. Saved By The Bell’s Dustin Diamond had a small role as a kid who tries to trade baseball cards with the boys, but this was later cut.
7. Mary Ellen Trainor, who plays the mother of the lead characters, also plays a mother of sibling children in The Goonies (1985).
8. The Monster Squad as the same line, “Dead guys do not get up and walk away by themselves,” followed by a shot of a dead guy walking down the street, as in Night of the Creeps (1986), also written and directed by Fred Dekker.
9. Seth Green screen-tested for a role and even read with Andre Gower, who was cast as Sean. The two became good friends.
10. The noise the rats make during the opening scene is actually squealing guinea pigs. The rats seen in this same opening shot are actually armadillos.
