"Monster" Loving....

"WOLFMAN HAS NARDS!!!"

Yes, the moment I've been waiting for since the arrival of DVDs finally occurred on Tuesday, April 27, when I purchased the two-disc 20th Anniversary Edition of "Monster Squad."

Feel free to go "huh?" at any moment now.

You wouldn't be the first people to scratch their heads when I drop this title. In fact, I must have gone up to at least a good 200 people that I know (gosh! I know a lot of people!! Who knew?!) and told them in this giggly, giddy voice, "FREAKIN' MONSTER SQUAD, MAN!!!! IT'S COMING OUT TODAY!!!" This was met with eye roll after eye roll or "What the fuck is that?!?!"

Hey, one man's obscure 80's bomb is another man's cult classic. And I, fair readers, am a proud member of the cult that is "Monster Squad." Hey, some people have their "Goonies," (and don't get me wrong...I love me some fuckin' "Goonies") but some of us have "Squad."

Essentially, the movie is about a group of monster-obsessed kids who find themselves in over their heads when the--Dum, dum, DUMMMMM!!!--Forces of Evil (i.e. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy, and The Gill Man) come to their town and wreak havoc. Cheesy right? WRONG!! This movie, co-written by Shane Black (screenwriter of "Lethal Weapon" and "The Last Boyscout") and directed by Fred Dekker, is pretty rough and tough for being a PG-13 movie from the '80s. The creature make-up was done by the brilliant Stan Winston ("Predator," "Terminator," "Edward Scissorhands," etc.) and the awesome, rousing score is by Bruce Broughton ("Dances with Wolves").

Anyway, this disc is pretty much a "Squad" lover's wet dream. The fact that the movie itself is finally on DVD--with two separate audio commentaries from cast and crew--is amazing enough! That it has a whole second disc with a feature-length retrospective/making of documentary, deleted scenes, original trailers puts me on a whole new plane of nostalgic euphoria.

So, Thursday night, I made myself a drink, stuck the DVD into the player, plopped myself backward onto the couch, and watched the film. I have to admit, though, that I was afraid I was going to hate it, this time. I was. I was truly terrified that when I watched it for the first time in 18-19 years, I was going to feel embarrassed and depressed when I discovered that it was just another craptastic '80s movie.

Thank G-d, that those fears were unfounded.

By the movie's end, I was hugging myself, in tears. I mean, yeah, it's a fucking monster movie, right? I know, I'm a cheese ball. But I just remembered the power it had over me in my youth and how happy and energized it use to make me feel whenever I would put on the cable-recorded BETA (lol!) copy we had. [BLOGGER'S NOTE: One thing I noticed is how it seemed like such a longer movie when I was eight or nine. The movie has a fairly short running time of 86 minutes. It's so funny how time seems to stretch everything out when you're young. Like, riding the car on a family trip seems to take forever when you're little and now it's like--BAM!!--you're there] As I watched it, I shouted out lines ("I'm in the goddamn club, aren't I?") at the TV as the characters recited them in the movie. It was like my own private midnight movie and I loved every second of it.

And that was before I even watched the joy-gasmic documentary about the movie!!!

That's what I love about the DVD format. They can do so much with movies that are all but forgotten. Now, I can expose this terrific flick to anyone and everyone who has yet to see it. For that, I am truly jumping for joy. Well, okay, maybe not jumping...but frolicking (yes, you read that right--I said "frolicking") about in my apartment. The act of jumping causes me to wheeze like a motherfucker.

Anyways, go. Buy it. Now. It's only $14.99. You'll have a blast!!

I guess all I need now is a two-disc special edition of "Fright Night" ("YOU'RE SO COOL, BREWSTER, AH-HAHAHA!!!!") and I'll officially be the happiest man alive...

...and "Adventures in Babysitting"...

...and maybe, just maybe, "Howard the Duck."

Shhhhh...