1 00:00:09,052 --> 00:00:10,575 Is Monster Squada cult movie? 2 00:00:10,619 --> 00:00:14,318 I think a cult movie is a movie that... 3 00:00:15,537 --> 00:00:22,413 is appreciated in a way that people don't necessarily predict. 4 00:00:22,457 --> 00:00:25,155 But ultimately movies are good or bad 5 00:00:25,199 --> 00:00:27,505 and they're accepted or they're not, 6 00:00:27,549 --> 00:00:29,725 but I don't know What a cult movie is, 7 00:00:29,768 --> 00:00:31,466 so I sure don't know if this is one. 8 00:01:26,129 --> 00:01:28,479 So, I was at a sleepover party at a friend of mine's house, 9 00:01:28,523 --> 00:01:30,394 uh, when I was probably 12 or 13 years old, 10 00:01:30,438 --> 00:01:32,527 and we watched, uh, Raising Arizona 11 00:01:32,570 --> 00:01:35,965 and it's... to this day, 12 00:01:36,008 --> 00:01:38,141 one of the most influential films I ever saw. 13 00:01:38,185 --> 00:01:40,665 It fundamentally changed what I thought movies could be 14 00:01:40,709 --> 00:01:43,233 and got me hooked on the Coen brothers as filmmakers. 15 00:01:45,148 --> 00:01:47,237 Probably the first movie that had a huge impact on me 16 00:01:47,281 --> 00:01:49,065 was King Kong, the original. 17 00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:54,157 It was the first movie that sort of, for me, 18 00:01:54,201 --> 00:01:57,160 created a world within that 19 00:01:57,204 --> 00:01:59,380 137 frame, 20 00:01:59,423 --> 00:02:01,599 the whole world was in that frame 21 00:02:01,643 --> 00:02:04,167 for an hour and a half or however long it was. 22 00:02:04,211 --> 00:02:06,561 And that was-- that was magic to me. 23 00:02:06,604 --> 00:02:09,346 In my teen years, it was probably, uh, Enter the Dragon. 24 00:02:09,390 --> 00:02:11,043 - I told John Saxon of... - Oh, really? 25 00:02:11,087 --> 00:02:12,828 ...I-- I was so excited to work with John 26 00:02:12,871 --> 00:02:14,830 because I saw Enter the Dragon and it blew my mind. 27 00:02:14,873 --> 00:02:17,615 I think my favorite movie growing up was Wizard of Oz 28 00:02:17,659 --> 00:02:20,357 because it was the only movie that played annually, 29 00:02:20,401 --> 00:02:21,924 every year at Thanksgiving. 30 00:02:21,967 --> 00:02:25,362 So I got to see it ten, 15 times. 31 00:02:25,406 --> 00:02:28,409 James Bondand-- and Creature from the Black Lagoon. 32 00:02:28,452 --> 00:02:30,933 You know, I would show up first in line, 33 00:02:30,976 --> 00:02:34,458 sleeping bag, whatever. Anything with monsters. 34 00:02:34,502 --> 00:02:36,330 I saw Chuck Russell's The Blob, 35 00:02:36,373 --> 00:02:38,767 and I left going "I want to be a director." 36 00:02:38,810 --> 00:02:41,683 I think my favorite movie of all time is Back to the Future, 37 00:02:41,726 --> 00:02:44,120 and it's really the first time 38 00:02:44,164 --> 00:02:46,209 that I went to the theater as a kid 39 00:02:46,253 --> 00:02:48,168 and going "I'm watching, like, a masterpiece, 40 00:02:48,211 --> 00:02:49,908 this thing is ripping my mind apart." 41 00:02:49,952 --> 00:02:52,737 Well, Exorcistfor one because I'm Catholic. 42 00:02:52,781 --> 00:02:55,784 For me, when I was in college, it was Suspiria. 43 00:02:55,827 --> 00:02:57,829 It was, like, "Ever seen this movie?" 44 00:02:57,873 --> 00:02:59,788 And people would watch it and their minds would be fucking blown. 45 00:02:59,831 --> 00:03:02,530 Halloween, I would watch with my dad 46 00:03:02,573 --> 00:03:04,575 on VHS, over and over again. 47 00:03:04,619 --> 00:03:06,708 It would scare me to death. 48 00:03:06,751 --> 00:03:08,666 Jawsis my favorite movie of all time. 49 00:03:08,710 --> 00:03:10,625 It's, like, I just love following into that world 50 00:03:10,668 --> 00:03:12,409 and Monster Squadwas one of those movies. 51 00:03:12,453 --> 00:03:14,716 Top five, I would have to say our Monster Squad... 52 00:03:14,759 --> 00:03:16,283 ...Monster Squad... 53 00:03:16,326 --> 00:03:17,675 ...Monster Squad. 54 00:03:17,719 --> 00:03:19,503 - We love The Monster Squad. - We love 55 00:03:19,547 --> 00:03:21,331 - The Monster Squad. - We love it. 56 00:03:21,375 --> 00:03:23,551 One of our all times favorite movies when we were kids. 57 00:03:23,594 --> 00:03:25,248 If my four-year-old could be here, 58 00:03:25,292 --> 00:03:27,772 he would, he just watched the movie Saturday. 59 00:03:27,816 --> 00:03:29,948 He loved it, absolutely loved it. 60 00:03:29,992 --> 00:03:32,473 I love it so much, it changed my life, it just-- 61 00:03:33,430 --> 00:03:36,868 I wanted to be part of that world, and I feel like I am now, 62 00:03:36,912 --> 00:03:39,480 and, um, it is an absolute stone classic. 63 00:03:55,235 --> 00:03:58,586 The Monster Squad is a 1987 film 64 00:03:58,629 --> 00:04:00,283 about a group of kids 65 00:04:00,327 --> 00:04:03,547 that have to fight the classic Universal monsters. 66 00:04:03,591 --> 00:04:05,941 And the squad is really a, a group of misfits, 67 00:04:05,984 --> 00:04:08,117 you know, led by Sean, 68 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,989 with Patrick, and Horace, and Eugene, 69 00:04:11,033 --> 00:04:13,992 the cool kid Rudy, and the little sister, Phoebe. 70 00:04:14,036 --> 00:04:16,734 And the squad has to fight Dracula, 71 00:04:16,778 --> 00:04:18,736 Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy, 72 00:04:18,780 --> 00:04:20,956 Gillman and the Wolfman. 73 00:04:20,999 --> 00:04:23,001 Well, as the lead inThe Monster Squad, that experience 74 00:04:23,045 --> 00:04:25,830 certainly changed my life, and over the years, 75 00:04:25,874 --> 00:04:27,658 I became interested in telling the story 76 00:04:27,702 --> 00:04:29,573 of how it impacted others. 77 00:04:29,617 --> 00:04:31,662 How many here have seen The Monster Squad? 78 00:04:31,706 --> 00:04:34,099 Yeah! 79 00:04:36,493 --> 00:04:39,104 The films in the '80s were so special 80 00:04:40,062 --> 00:04:43,239 because they were a reflection of what was going on in culture. 81 00:04:43,283 --> 00:04:45,328 And it was one of the first times 82 00:04:45,372 --> 00:04:47,852 that kids were really included 83 00:04:47,896 --> 00:04:49,811 in everything that was going on. 84 00:04:49,854 --> 00:04:52,335 And I think those really made a deep impact 85 00:04:52,379 --> 00:04:55,425 on the kids that were coming up at that time. 86 00:04:55,469 --> 00:04:58,341 And now those are the-- those are the creatives of today. 87 00:04:58,385 --> 00:05:01,910 They inspired and led to so many other creative outlets. 88 00:05:01,953 --> 00:05:05,392 An example of that is a 30 second animation 89 00:05:05,435 --> 00:05:07,611 - with some bunnies explaining whatThe Monster Squad is. - Okay, 90 00:05:07,655 --> 00:05:09,918 - second way to kill a vampire-- - Come on, let me in the club. 91 00:05:09,961 --> 00:05:12,050 - Found it at a garage sale. - Van Helsing's diary. 92 00:05:13,138 --> 00:05:15,315 - We got to find the amulet. - Now can I be in the club? 93 00:05:17,142 --> 00:05:19,188 Wolfman's got nards! 94 00:05:19,231 --> 00:05:20,102 The amulet! 95 00:05:21,103 --> 00:05:23,235 - Suck on this. - Hey, asshole! 96 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:24,367 You're not a virgin. 97 00:05:25,977 --> 00:05:26,978 Is she a virgin? 98 00:05:27,022 --> 00:05:28,328 Thank you. 99 00:05:30,155 --> 00:05:31,418 Hold us. 100 00:05:34,769 --> 00:05:35,813 Don't go away! 101 00:05:35,857 --> 00:05:37,772 Bye! 102 00:05:37,815 --> 00:05:40,557 I don't know, to sum that whole movie up. 103 00:05:40,601 --> 00:05:43,168 - In one s-- - Because it's kind of been my whole life. 104 00:05:43,212 --> 00:05:44,866 This is our Rocky Horror. 105 00:05:44,909 --> 00:05:47,085 Monster Squadis a classic. 106 00:05:47,129 --> 00:05:48,565 I guess it is kind of a kid's film. 107 00:05:48,609 --> 00:05:50,001 It was a gateway drug, so-- 108 00:05:50,045 --> 00:05:52,395 There's no movie better than this. 109 00:05:52,439 --> 00:05:55,311 Everybody's seen Freddy, but not everyone is a member of The Monster Squad. 110 00:05:55,355 --> 00:05:58,096 I saw the film at the premiere in 1987. 111 00:05:58,140 --> 00:06:00,925 When did I first experience The Monster Squad? 112 00:06:00,969 --> 00:06:02,579 That would be opening night 113 00:06:02,623 --> 00:06:05,713 at the Core Multiplex, 720 show. 114 00:06:05,756 --> 00:06:08,063 - My entire family went. - The first time I saw 115 00:06:08,106 --> 00:06:10,108 Monster Squad, I was actually in the theater, 116 00:06:10,152 --> 00:06:11,849 and then it was kind of the weird thing where I would note, 117 00:06:11,893 --> 00:06:13,416 then I would talk to my friends at school 118 00:06:13,460 --> 00:06:14,896 and be like, "Yeah, and Monster Squad," 119 00:06:14,939 --> 00:06:17,377 and they'd be like, "I don't know that one." 120 00:06:20,467 --> 00:06:22,294 I've said this to many, many times before, 121 00:06:22,338 --> 00:06:23,513 - I'm going to say it again. - Okay. 122 00:06:23,557 --> 00:06:25,428 This is my favorite movie 123 00:06:25,472 --> 00:06:28,997 to screen for University students. 124 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:30,738 So I meet people and I tell them, 125 00:06:30,781 --> 00:06:32,870 "Yeah, I teach film studies at the University." 126 00:06:32,914 --> 00:06:34,524 And they say, "Oh, you must teach 127 00:06:34,568 --> 00:06:37,179 Citizen Kaneand Casablanca, 128 00:06:37,222 --> 00:06:38,789 you know, Hitchcock."And I say, 129 00:06:38,833 --> 00:06:40,574 "No, have you heard of Monster Squad?" 130 00:06:40,617 --> 00:06:41,966 How many of you, again, 131 00:06:43,577 --> 00:06:45,013 have never seen Monster Squadbefore tonight? 132 00:06:46,754 --> 00:06:49,191 - Wow. - How many of you had never heard 133 00:06:49,234 --> 00:06:50,627 of Monster Squadbefore tonight? 134 00:06:51,889 --> 00:06:53,238 You are welcome. 135 00:06:55,458 --> 00:06:57,417 On the whole, they-- they get it. 136 00:06:57,460 --> 00:07:00,463 They understand that if they're taking this movie too seriously, 137 00:07:00,507 --> 00:07:03,335 then you're not watching this movie correctly. 138 00:07:03,379 --> 00:07:06,513 Where you do get some interesting push back 139 00:07:06,556 --> 00:07:10,604 is there are sections of the film that remain very politically incorrect. 140 00:07:10,647 --> 00:07:12,649 I want to talk about political correctness. 141 00:07:12,693 --> 00:07:15,913 If we were to remake Monster Squad, 142 00:07:15,957 --> 00:07:17,480 what would we have to change? 143 00:07:17,524 --> 00:07:19,613 There's some slut shaming, uh, with the older 144 00:07:19,656 --> 00:07:21,441 - sister who's-- - You're not a virgin, are you? 145 00:07:21,484 --> 00:07:23,312 Automatically ineligible from saving 146 00:07:23,355 --> 00:07:24,444 the world because she's had sex. 147 00:07:24,487 --> 00:07:25,923 Well, Steve, 148 00:07:25,967 --> 00:07:27,098 but he doesn't count! 149 00:07:27,142 --> 00:07:28,317 Doesn't count? 150 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:29,536 Fat shaming. 151 00:07:30,493 --> 00:07:33,017 Oh, man, fat kid farted. Oh, God! 152 00:07:33,061 --> 00:07:35,063 Did not! 153 00:07:35,106 --> 00:07:37,239 I think Horace gets called a faggot at some point. 154 00:07:37,282 --> 00:07:39,023 What did you say, faggot? What did you say? 155 00:07:39,067 --> 00:07:40,851 So, there are-- there are certain things in there 156 00:07:40,895 --> 00:07:43,506 that you can feel the room quiet down a little bit. 157 00:07:43,550 --> 00:07:45,900 I think if it would be made today, 158 00:07:45,943 --> 00:07:49,251 the leader of the squad would probably be Phoebe, 159 00:07:49,294 --> 00:07:53,342 that has to convince a bunch of weird boys to join her. 160 00:07:54,343 --> 00:07:56,911 - And-- And there would... - It would be more multi-ethnic, probably. 161 00:07:56,954 --> 00:07:59,130 ...probably be a funny scene 162 00:07:59,174 --> 00:08:01,611 to decide who's going to read the spell. 163 00:08:01,655 --> 00:08:04,179 The Rudy character could be like, "I'm out." 164 00:08:05,702 --> 00:08:07,269 They've had really good experiences. 165 00:08:07,312 --> 00:08:08,749 They clap and they cheer, and-- 166 00:08:08,792 --> 00:08:10,968 Those are the ones who understand. 167 00:08:12,143 --> 00:08:14,450 They come back and they say that was one of the best ones we did. 168 00:08:14,494 --> 00:08:16,974 Here's how I know that their appreciation is genuine. 169 00:08:17,018 --> 00:08:19,063 The real compliment is, "I can't wait 170 00:08:19,107 --> 00:08:20,674 to introduce this to my friends." 171 00:08:21,892 --> 00:08:25,592 Because their friends are as unlikely to have seen this film 172 00:08:25,635 --> 00:08:27,419 as they were, walking into my class. 173 00:08:38,648 --> 00:08:43,914 The Monster Squadwas a-- an original script in 1985. 174 00:08:45,046 --> 00:08:47,875 I was really, really lucky. I went to UCLA, 175 00:08:47,918 --> 00:08:49,398 wanted to be a film major. 176 00:08:49,441 --> 00:08:50,747 They wouldn't take me, 177 00:08:50,791 --> 00:08:52,183 but I thought the girls were cute 178 00:08:52,227 --> 00:08:53,402 and I loved the campus, so I said, 179 00:08:53,445 --> 00:08:54,316 "I'll be an English major. 180 00:08:54,359 --> 00:08:55,186 I can do that." 181 00:08:56,144 --> 00:08:58,015 And I fell in with this crowd, 182 00:08:58,059 --> 00:09:00,061 and Shane was one of those people. 183 00:09:00,104 --> 00:09:03,760 We were both young, I was 25, he was 26, something like that. 184 00:09:04,674 --> 00:09:07,024 He wanted to be an actor. He was a Theater Arts major. 185 00:09:07,068 --> 00:09:11,594 He was mostly into reading Pulp, uh, Fiction. 186 00:09:13,335 --> 00:09:16,077 I started writing screenplays and he said, "What are you doing?" 187 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:17,905 I said "I'm writing screenplays." And he goes, "Oh, 188 00:09:17,948 --> 00:09:19,559 was it-- what are y-- how's that?" 189 00:09:19,602 --> 00:09:20,995 I said, "Well, it's easier than writing a novel 190 00:09:21,038 --> 00:09:22,649 because it's shorter." 191 00:09:22,692 --> 00:09:23,911 So he said, "Well, let me try." 192 00:09:23,954 --> 00:09:25,129 And I said, "Listen, 193 00:09:25,173 --> 00:09:26,304 I want to do The Little Rascals 194 00:09:26,348 --> 00:09:27,610 meet the Universal monsters." 195 00:09:27,654 --> 00:09:29,307 He goes, "Okay." 196 00:09:29,351 --> 00:09:31,048 It was ignorance in a way 197 00:09:31,092 --> 00:09:32,702 that led to, I think, 198 00:09:32,746 --> 00:09:34,661 the enthusiasm of that first draft. 199 00:09:34,704 --> 00:09:36,924 So we broke the story together. 200 00:09:36,967 --> 00:09:39,709 Eventually we came up with sort of an outline. 201 00:09:39,753 --> 00:09:42,756 I don't even think it was written, I think it was just in our heads. 202 00:09:42,799 --> 00:09:46,237 It wasn't applying a screenwriters template 203 00:09:46,281 --> 00:09:49,240 or, you know, going off of a book by Sid Fields. 204 00:09:49,284 --> 00:09:52,504 It was just, "I'm going to do this pretty much the way 205 00:09:52,548 --> 00:09:54,985 I've set out to and just see what happens," 206 00:09:55,029 --> 00:09:57,684 and the experiment was a very good one for me. 207 00:10:03,167 --> 00:10:05,648 The seed for the movie, and I'm ashamed to say it, 208 00:10:05,692 --> 00:10:08,956 was really spending too much time in my youth watching TV. 209 00:10:08,999 --> 00:10:10,784 They would run the Creature from the Black Lagoon. 210 00:10:10,827 --> 00:10:12,612 They would run Dracula, Frankenstein, 211 00:10:12,655 --> 00:10:14,265 you know, all the old monsters. 212 00:10:15,527 --> 00:10:18,574 As the Universal monster rallies went along, 213 00:10:18,618 --> 00:10:21,621 they got cheaper and worse and worse. 214 00:10:21,664 --> 00:10:25,537 And the genius to me was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. 215 00:10:26,669 --> 00:10:29,367 And what I think we liked about it the most was that 216 00:10:29,411 --> 00:10:31,587 Abbott and Costello were funnier than they'd ever been. 217 00:10:37,637 --> 00:10:39,421 To take those two guys 218 00:10:39,464 --> 00:10:41,945 and then do the Universal monsters, 219 00:10:41,989 --> 00:10:44,382 and play the monster straight, 220 00:10:44,426 --> 00:10:47,429 even as a kid, I knew something very special was going on there, 221 00:10:47,472 --> 00:10:49,649 because the monsters were actually scarier in that movie 222 00:10:49,692 --> 00:10:52,521 than they are in the previous, like, three or four... 223 00:10:52,564 --> 00:10:54,349 Universal monster movies. 224 00:10:54,392 --> 00:10:56,786 So that was kind of our idea, that was the notion. 225 00:10:56,830 --> 00:10:59,310 The basis for it was to create a story 226 00:10:59,354 --> 00:11:03,880 that had Spielberg elements, but didn't scrimp on the idea 227 00:11:03,924 --> 00:11:06,187 that what they're doing is real and, you know, he really stakes 228 00:11:06,230 --> 00:11:07,841 a girl in the heart in The Monster Squad. 229 00:11:14,674 --> 00:11:16,719 So he wrote the first draft 230 00:11:16,763 --> 00:11:18,155 mostly by himself, 231 00:11:18,199 --> 00:11:20,418 I think I may have written a couple scenes, 232 00:11:20,462 --> 00:11:23,030 while I was shooting and in post-production on Night of the Creeps. 233 00:11:25,249 --> 00:11:27,251 - Really? - We got a long draft, 234 00:11:27,295 --> 00:11:29,514 had to cut it down a little bit for budget and things like that. 235 00:11:29,558 --> 00:11:31,342 And it was, of course, a thousand pages long 236 00:11:31,386 --> 00:11:33,040 and I had to cut it down to, 237 00:11:33,083 --> 00:11:35,564 you know... a 102 or whatever it was. 238 00:11:35,607 --> 00:11:37,522 But the first draft, I thought, 239 00:11:37,566 --> 00:11:40,308 was one of the better things I'd done. It was pure enthusiasm. 240 00:11:41,788 --> 00:11:43,354 And then he went off and wrote Lethal Weapon 241 00:11:43,398 --> 00:11:44,834 and sold it immediately. 242 00:11:44,878 --> 00:11:46,314 He sold it so fast that Lethal Weapon, 243 00:11:46,357 --> 00:11:48,098 I think, came out before The Monster Squad. 244 00:11:48,142 --> 00:11:50,797 It was a crazy time. Everything happened very fast. 245 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,016 I think Fred and Shane crossed the line. 246 00:11:53,060 --> 00:11:55,497 Personally, I mean, I remember watching this as a kid. 247 00:11:55,540 --> 00:11:57,804 Now, I'm in a dark movie theater, 248 00:11:57,847 --> 00:12:00,241 I bring my brother Barry, he's like, "I don't want to see a kids movie," 249 00:12:00,284 --> 00:12:01,938 but my mom forces him to go with me, 250 00:12:01,982 --> 00:12:03,157 and I haven't watched it in a while, 251 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:04,201 but, from what I remember, 252 00:12:04,245 --> 00:12:05,289 it's burned into my brain, 253 00:12:05,333 --> 00:12:09,250 it begins with a Batman ha-- 254 00:12:09,293 --> 00:12:10,512 webbed hand. 255 00:12:10,555 --> 00:12:12,035 And then, uh, there's a-- 256 00:12:12,079 --> 00:12:13,863 a vampire eating a possum, 257 00:12:13,907 --> 00:12:15,560 and there's blood dripping down, 258 00:12:15,604 --> 00:12:17,780 and then, all of a sudden, Van Helsing burst in, 259 00:12:17,824 --> 00:12:19,869 and there're skeletons ripping out of the floor, 260 00:12:19,913 --> 00:12:22,654 and I'm 11, and I'm terrified. 261 00:12:22,698 --> 00:12:24,482 And I look at my brother and, like, "Maybe we should go." 262 00:12:24,526 --> 00:12:25,875 And he's like, "No, we should stay." 263 00:12:25,919 --> 00:12:27,616 That's what makes this movie so awesome, 264 00:12:27,659 --> 00:12:29,052 like, that's burned in my brain 265 00:12:29,096 --> 00:12:30,837 almost as a traumatic experience. 266 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,187 And then, back here is... 267 00:12:34,928 --> 00:12:36,146 the edit suite. 268 00:12:38,366 --> 00:12:40,977 Which-- this is basically-- it's my high school bedroom. 269 00:12:41,021 --> 00:12:43,675 I-- I just, like, saved it. 270 00:12:43,719 --> 00:12:45,677 Do you remember these? These were from when we were, like, 271 00:12:45,721 --> 00:12:47,462 seven, eight years old, 272 00:12:47,505 --> 00:12:48,811 these Universal monsters. 273 00:12:48,855 --> 00:12:50,900 Instead of storyboarding, I acted out 274 00:12:50,944 --> 00:12:53,816 action sequences with action figures for my DP, 275 00:12:53,860 --> 00:12:55,426 and you'd, like, put cameras on them and stuff, 276 00:12:55,470 --> 00:12:56,819 and, like, that's how we figure 277 00:12:56,863 --> 00:12:58,212 - stuff out. - Not a bad way to do it. 278 00:12:58,255 --> 00:13:00,692 Brittany has died a lot. 279 00:13:00,736 --> 00:13:02,825 I was 12 when I saw Monster Squad. 280 00:13:02,869 --> 00:13:04,958 So I was one of those kids 281 00:13:05,001 --> 00:13:07,917 and you had this incredible script 282 00:13:07,961 --> 00:13:10,877 where-- where the kids actually spoke like kids. 283 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:13,705 And there were few movies that-- that did that back then, 284 00:13:13,749 --> 00:13:15,707 where it didn't feel like adults 285 00:13:15,751 --> 00:13:18,885 writing what they think kids would sound like. 286 00:13:18,928 --> 00:13:21,626 In The Monster Squad, our dialogue and our exchanges 287 00:13:21,670 --> 00:13:25,282 are there because that's how kids interacted with each other, 288 00:13:25,326 --> 00:13:26,370 and they still do today. 289 00:13:26,414 --> 00:13:27,763 Fred and Shane... 290 00:13:28,677 --> 00:13:30,766 they were-- they were kids that 291 00:13:30,810 --> 00:13:33,290 were saying and acting the way I did in the 1980s. 292 00:13:34,248 --> 00:13:35,858 It sounds like these writers were like, 293 00:13:35,902 --> 00:13:37,555 you know, spying on me and my friends 294 00:13:37,599 --> 00:13:39,601 because this is how we talk. This is how we sound 295 00:13:39,644 --> 00:13:41,646 and this is the kind of language that we use. 296 00:13:43,605 --> 00:13:46,347 They weren't parodies of kids, and they weren't stupid, 297 00:13:46,390 --> 00:13:47,783 and they-- they weren't dumbed down, 298 00:13:47,827 --> 00:13:49,480 like, they were very smart. 299 00:13:50,917 --> 00:13:54,050 It's everything. It's the kids, it's the neighborhood, 300 00:13:54,094 --> 00:13:55,878 it's the creepy guy in the neighborhood 301 00:13:55,922 --> 00:13:58,185 that everybody thinks is a bad guy and who turns out 302 00:13:58,228 --> 00:14:00,840 to be the most sympathetic character who saves the day. 303 00:14:00,883 --> 00:14:02,972 It's all of these effortless jokes 304 00:14:03,016 --> 00:14:06,280 about growing up and sexuality and-- 305 00:14:06,323 --> 00:14:09,587 w-- without ever losing the innocence of being kids. 306 00:14:09,631 --> 00:14:11,502 Like, it's such a good movie, man. 307 00:14:11,546 --> 00:14:16,072 Th-- the characters were the consistency 308 00:14:16,116 --> 00:14:18,335 throughout the movie. If you have these characters 309 00:14:18,379 --> 00:14:20,337 that you can put them in a drama, 310 00:14:20,381 --> 00:14:22,383 you put them in a comedy, it just so happens 311 00:14:22,426 --> 00:14:24,037 that they happen to be in a horror movie 312 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,604 or a sci-fi movie or maybe a mash-up of the two, 313 00:14:26,648 --> 00:14:29,346 if those characters are compelling in any genre, 314 00:14:29,390 --> 00:14:32,959 you can put them through anything you want, and we will care. 315 00:14:33,002 --> 00:14:35,352 But you could tell that they sort of had that voice 316 00:14:35,396 --> 00:14:37,224 of the generation in their minds. 317 00:14:37,267 --> 00:14:38,573 They sort of knew, like, 318 00:14:38,616 --> 00:14:40,618 "These kids are real kids, you know, 319 00:14:40,662 --> 00:14:41,924 and we're going to take these real kids 320 00:14:41,968 --> 00:14:43,099 that are maybe a little too real, 321 00:14:43,143 --> 00:14:44,753 and put them in this, like, 322 00:14:44,796 --> 00:14:45,797 crazy situation." 323 00:14:45,841 --> 00:14:46,973 It's the kind of thing 324 00:14:47,016 --> 00:14:48,670 that Hollywood today dies for, 325 00:14:48,713 --> 00:14:50,585 you know, this high concept idea. 326 00:14:50,628 --> 00:14:52,326 Anybody who does these things 327 00:14:52,369 --> 00:14:55,546 is-- is operating partially subconsciously. 328 00:14:55,590 --> 00:14:58,332 But there was a mythic cord, apparently, 329 00:14:58,375 --> 00:14:59,550 in The Monster Squad, 330 00:15:00,551 --> 00:15:02,466 that we may have tried for, 331 00:15:02,510 --> 00:15:04,468 but didn't realize would resonate. 332 00:15:20,006 --> 00:15:22,965 Taking the monster seriously 333 00:15:23,009 --> 00:15:25,663 applies to our approach to the whole movie. 334 00:15:25,707 --> 00:15:28,492 I mean, when we were casting, for instance, 335 00:15:28,536 --> 00:15:33,671 if they had that kind of John Waters winky, Rocky Horrorapproach, 336 00:15:33,715 --> 00:15:35,630 I just said, "Nice to meet you." 337 00:15:35,673 --> 00:15:37,675 Duncan Regehr came in 338 00:15:37,719 --> 00:15:40,287 and scared the shit out of us, 339 00:15:40,330 --> 00:15:42,289 and I went, "Okay, that's the guy." 340 00:15:42,332 --> 00:15:44,813 I knew that I had to fill some pretty big shoes. 341 00:15:44,856 --> 00:15:46,858 I mean th-- this character 342 00:15:46,902 --> 00:15:49,296 has been played by some pretty wonderful actors, 343 00:15:50,253 --> 00:15:53,126 but I wanted it to be 344 00:15:53,169 --> 00:15:58,044 a character that was more sociopathic in nature. 345 00:15:59,045 --> 00:16:01,830 So, less bestial. 346 00:16:01,873 --> 00:16:06,226 I had the availability to approach this one 347 00:16:06,269 --> 00:16:07,575 with some psychology to it. 348 00:16:09,490 --> 00:16:12,797 And that was certainly part of the discussions that I had with Fred, 349 00:16:12,841 --> 00:16:15,844 who was, at that time, more into the bestial side of it. 350 00:16:15,887 --> 00:16:18,499 And I said, "We've got to find this other level 351 00:16:19,413 --> 00:16:22,590 in order for it to work, in order to take this character 352 00:16:22,633 --> 00:16:25,462 in another direction, retain the histrionics." 353 00:16:25,506 --> 00:16:27,116 So he is arch, 354 00:16:28,161 --> 00:16:30,598 but he's malevolent. 355 00:16:30,641 --> 00:16:33,209 It was a question of finding some compromises 356 00:16:33,253 --> 00:16:36,952 and there were certainly a lot of differences of opinion 357 00:16:36,996 --> 00:16:39,781 about how things should be done. 358 00:16:39,824 --> 00:16:41,913 But those things always work 359 00:16:41,957 --> 00:16:46,570 towards making a better creative product in the end. 360 00:16:46,614 --> 00:16:47,919 And that's what we did. 361 00:16:47,963 --> 00:16:49,747 We also had Peter Hyams, 362 00:16:49,791 --> 00:16:53,055 who was a, you know, a veteran and he was definitely 363 00:16:53,099 --> 00:16:55,188 a-- a wonderful guy to bounce ideas off of, 364 00:16:55,231 --> 00:16:59,061 and it was very, very helpful to both of us to have him there. 365 00:17:01,455 --> 00:17:03,805 The biggest drama on The Monster Squad 366 00:17:03,848 --> 00:17:06,416 was that Peter wanted to fire me the first week. 367 00:17:07,504 --> 00:17:10,203 And the reason was that, uh, 368 00:17:10,246 --> 00:17:13,032 I wasn't shooting the movie 369 00:17:13,075 --> 00:17:15,599 kind of in the way that he would have shot it. 370 00:17:16,644 --> 00:17:18,515 He taught me some valuable lessons. 371 00:17:18,559 --> 00:17:22,737 In my head, I see the movie and it may cut together, 372 00:17:22,780 --> 00:17:25,131 but, if it doesn't, 373 00:17:25,174 --> 00:17:28,308 I'm screwed because I haven't done enough coverage, A, 374 00:17:28,351 --> 00:17:30,049 and B, and this is the important thing, 375 00:17:30,092 --> 00:17:32,225 is that the entire crew understands 376 00:17:32,268 --> 00:17:34,270 what the whole scene is. 377 00:17:34,314 --> 00:17:37,578 And what Peter taught me was basically directing 101, 378 00:17:37,621 --> 00:17:40,624 which is always start with a master shot, 379 00:17:40,668 --> 00:17:43,192 so that the crew knows exactly what's happening 380 00:17:43,236 --> 00:17:45,455 from the beginning of the scene to the end of the scene. 381 00:17:45,499 --> 00:17:47,457 And once I got the lessons 382 00:17:47,501 --> 00:17:50,112 on week two and he didn't fire me, 383 00:17:50,156 --> 00:17:53,942 every scene in the movie I shot a wide master shot 384 00:17:53,985 --> 00:17:56,162 and they're wide and they're beautiful and they look good, 385 00:17:56,205 --> 00:17:58,077 but they're all big wide master shots and, 386 00:17:59,339 --> 00:18:01,906 uh, you know, I think that set his mind at ease. 387 00:18:01,950 --> 00:18:03,560 Take a drink for every master shot, 388 00:18:03,604 --> 00:18:05,388 let's-- but let's make it a drinking game. 389 00:18:06,737 --> 00:18:10,263 Well, everybody always asks us what our favorite part of this movie is. 390 00:18:10,306 --> 00:18:14,484 It's the final action sequence where we're doing the final battle. 391 00:18:14,528 --> 00:18:18,227 We're on the back lot of Warner Brothers. 392 00:18:18,271 --> 00:18:21,274 Uh, it felt like we lived in that town, 393 00:18:21,317 --> 00:18:23,972 it was like, "This is epic, this is huge. 394 00:18:24,015 --> 00:18:27,062 Like, this is-- this is probably the biggest thing 395 00:18:27,106 --> 00:18:28,324 I'm ever going to do." 396 00:18:28,368 --> 00:18:29,804 Even Fred to this day 397 00:18:29,847 --> 00:18:31,762 says the last 20 minutes of this movie 398 00:18:31,806 --> 00:18:33,068 are his favorite. 399 00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:35,026 Peter left me alone for the-- 400 00:18:35,070 --> 00:18:37,072 more than the second half of the shoot. 401 00:18:37,116 --> 00:18:40,119 The whole town square sequence, the finale of the movie, 402 00:18:40,162 --> 00:18:41,511 uh, he completely left me alone. 403 00:18:41,555 --> 00:18:42,599 That's my favorite part of the movie, 404 00:18:42,643 --> 00:18:44,340 not because he wasn't there. 405 00:18:44,384 --> 00:18:47,038 I'm just saying he-- he gave me the keys to the car, 406 00:18:47,082 --> 00:18:49,389 and I drove the car and I think I drove it pretty well. 407 00:18:51,260 --> 00:18:54,002 The last reel in that movie is still my favorite thing I've ever done. 408 00:18:54,045 --> 00:18:56,265 ...eyes real big because you're scared that you're going to lose him. 409 00:18:56,309 --> 00:18:58,006 - No, no, no, you're sad, you're sad... - No. 410 00:18:58,049 --> 00:19:00,356 ...No, no. No-- and he's trying to go, 411 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,010 no, no-- and you can say that. 412 00:19:02,053 --> 00:19:03,881 - No, no-- Be more sad... - No, no. 413 00:19:03,925 --> 00:19:05,666 - ...be more sad-- - No, no, no, 414 00:19:05,709 --> 00:19:07,146 - no. - And then he goes. 415 00:19:08,495 --> 00:19:10,627 And then you're real sad because he's gone. 416 00:19:12,412 --> 00:19:13,761 But you still look at him b-- up at him 417 00:19:13,804 --> 00:19:15,110 because you see him going in. 418 00:19:15,980 --> 00:19:17,591 No... 419 00:19:20,202 --> 00:19:22,987 - Good. - It was really just a lot of fun for me. 420 00:19:23,031 --> 00:19:27,078 And because I brought my four-year-old there, 421 00:19:27,122 --> 00:19:29,037 there were scenes where, you know, 422 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,736 where Wolfman beat the shit out of me in one scene, 423 00:19:32,780 --> 00:19:35,565 and to see little Jesse look at me 424 00:19:35,609 --> 00:19:36,958 with eyes like, "Oh, my God, 425 00:19:37,001 --> 00:19:38,525 they're doing this to my father." 426 00:19:38,568 --> 00:19:40,353 I think we went outside, 427 00:19:40,396 --> 00:19:42,746 and Wolfman's parts started to come back together again, 428 00:19:42,790 --> 00:19:44,444 and when I had my little kid 429 00:19:44,487 --> 00:19:46,228 there looking at that 430 00:19:46,272 --> 00:19:50,972 and seeing Wolfman's arm come and attach to his body. 431 00:19:51,015 --> 00:19:54,584 He looked at me and he said, "Daddy, how do they do that?" 432 00:19:54,628 --> 00:19:59,850 Most of the monsters were very cognizant of being human. 433 00:19:59,894 --> 00:20:03,463 However, I was petrified of Duncan. 434 00:20:05,552 --> 00:20:09,643 Because Duncan was just a man, and he had red eyeballs 435 00:20:09,686 --> 00:20:11,253 because he wore red contact lenses, 436 00:20:11,297 --> 00:20:13,516 and fangs, and that wasn't fucking normal. 437 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:14,865 And poor Ashley Bank, 438 00:20:14,909 --> 00:20:17,128 when Dracula lifted her up, 439 00:20:17,172 --> 00:20:19,087 I don't think anyone bothered to tell her that he was going to go, 440 00:20:19,130 --> 00:20:22,221 "You bitch," and, like... 441 00:20:22,264 --> 00:20:25,006 A lot of the movie was prepared 442 00:20:25,049 --> 00:20:28,357 with those kids not knowing what was going to happen next, 443 00:20:28,401 --> 00:20:32,143 so that they had a better sense of the reality it-- of it as being reality. 444 00:20:32,187 --> 00:20:35,843 And Fred pulled me over and he said, "All right, you're going to go on that wooden plank, 445 00:20:35,886 --> 00:20:37,714 then, you know, it's going to rise up, 446 00:20:37,758 --> 00:20:39,586 and he's going to say something to you, 447 00:20:39,629 --> 00:20:42,066 and at some point in the scene, you're going to scream." 448 00:20:42,980 --> 00:20:45,853 And being the actor that I am, I said, "When? 449 00:20:45,896 --> 00:20:49,291 When am I supposed to scream? I follow directions, when am I supposed to do it?" 450 00:20:49,335 --> 00:20:52,294 And Fred looked at me and he said, "You'll know." 451 00:20:52,338 --> 00:20:54,601 You know, you get wrapped up into the-- 452 00:20:54,644 --> 00:20:56,603 the whole magic of, um, 453 00:20:56,646 --> 00:21:00,215 the lights and the atmosphere, 454 00:21:00,259 --> 00:21:01,869 the smoke, 455 00:21:01,912 --> 00:21:04,088 the coolness of the evening. 456 00:21:04,132 --> 00:21:04,959 And... 457 00:21:06,265 --> 00:21:08,963 it sweeps you up and takes you with it really. 458 00:21:09,006 --> 00:21:13,228 And that-- th-- that feeds you and forces it further. 459 00:21:13,272 --> 00:21:14,882 Um... 460 00:21:14,925 --> 00:21:16,536 And she was there for it, 461 00:21:16,579 --> 00:21:18,668 you know, I didn't have a lot of work to do 462 00:21:18,712 --> 00:21:20,409 because she was actually terrified. 463 00:21:22,455 --> 00:21:25,153 His eyes were closed and his mouth was shut. 464 00:21:25,196 --> 00:21:26,763 And they said action, 465 00:21:26,807 --> 00:21:28,939 and he opened his eyes, 466 00:21:28,983 --> 00:21:31,594 he opened his mouth, and he hissed at me. 467 00:21:33,379 --> 00:21:34,815 That girl can scream. 468 00:21:35,772 --> 00:21:39,080 She scared me, actually, it was, um, it's the truth of it. 469 00:21:39,123 --> 00:21:42,431 My first scream was so intensely afraid 470 00:21:42,475 --> 00:21:43,998 that I don't think it was long enough. 471 00:21:44,041 --> 00:21:45,695 Because the first time... 472 00:21:45,739 --> 00:21:48,219 ...she screamed and it scared the crap out of her 473 00:21:48,263 --> 00:21:51,397 so bad that it took her breath out and she went, "Ye--" 474 00:21:54,530 --> 00:21:56,271 And there was no scream... 475 00:21:56,315 --> 00:21:58,229 ...so they had to do it again. 476 00:21:58,273 --> 00:22:01,320 They said, "You need to scream longer." 477 00:22:01,363 --> 00:22:03,583 And so, that second scream was the second take. 478 00:22:06,499 --> 00:22:08,109 Phoebe! That's my daughter! 479 00:22:09,458 --> 00:22:12,287 Now, I think she turned out okay. 480 00:22:12,331 --> 00:22:14,768 I don't think we, uh, we did any permanent damage, 481 00:22:14,811 --> 00:22:18,293 but scaring the hell out of kids was-- seemed like a great idea. 482 00:22:18,337 --> 00:22:21,601 And then the laughs played against that in a wonderful way. 483 00:22:30,523 --> 00:22:32,568 Welcome to the mad-- mad house and the mess. 484 00:22:32,612 --> 00:22:34,309 But this is-- this is the fun part 485 00:22:34,353 --> 00:22:36,180 - because this is where everything happens. - Mm-hm. 486 00:22:36,224 --> 00:22:37,660 We us-- everybody is so used to seeing it, 487 00:22:37,704 --> 00:22:39,575 - like, the finished product. - Yes. 488 00:22:39,619 --> 00:22:42,883 I-- I think I was 17 when Monster Squadcame out. 489 00:22:42,926 --> 00:22:44,667 I already knew I would dig it 490 00:22:44,711 --> 00:22:46,365 because it's the monsters-- it's the classic monsters, 491 00:22:46,408 --> 00:22:49,237 but the local cinema had called me and had said, 492 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,152 "We're doing - Dream Warriors. 493 00:22:51,195 --> 00:22:52,936 Would you dress up as Freddy Krueger and, 494 00:22:52,980 --> 00:22:55,417 you know, come in and scare the audience?" 495 00:22:55,461 --> 00:22:56,723 It went down really well. 496 00:22:56,766 --> 00:22:58,202 They used to call me and said, "Hey, 497 00:22:58,246 --> 00:22:59,290 The Monster Squad it's coming in. 498 00:22:59,334 --> 00:23:00,291 Will you do something for that?" 499 00:23:00,335 --> 00:23:01,467 And I said, "Hell, yes. 500 00:23:01,510 --> 00:23:02,511 No, I'd love to do that." 501 00:23:02,555 --> 00:23:03,556 I played The Mummy, 502 00:23:03,599 --> 00:23:04,731 I was a lot skinnier then. 503 00:23:04,774 --> 00:23:06,123 And my other three friends were 504 00:23:06,167 --> 00:23:07,516 Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. 505 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:08,822 It was a really good big deal within 506 00:23:08,865 --> 00:23:10,258 all the local press, it was fun. 507 00:23:10,301 --> 00:23:12,042 Oh, these were my kits for, um, 508 00:23:12,086 --> 00:23:13,348 a movie called The Shape of Water. 509 00:23:13,392 --> 00:23:14,784 Oh, I've hear-- I've heard of it. 510 00:23:14,828 --> 00:23:16,438 After I did that and the pictures were paid 511 00:23:16,482 --> 00:23:18,745 in the local paper, a company in London, 512 00:23:18,788 --> 00:23:20,181 Weekend Television, contacted me 513 00:23:20,224 --> 00:23:22,096 to do some makeup to one of their TV shows. 514 00:23:22,139 --> 00:23:24,403 So, we're The Monster Squad is what this particular producer 515 00:23:24,446 --> 00:23:25,969 saw when he brought me in, 516 00:23:26,013 --> 00:23:27,318 ironically not to do monsters, 517 00:23:27,362 --> 00:23:28,842 it was to do old age makeups. 518 00:23:28,885 --> 00:23:31,061 So that f-- pushed my career even further. 519 00:23:31,105 --> 00:23:33,629 Yeah, this is a-- well, you can see it's, 520 00:23:33,673 --> 00:23:36,371 it's some applying thi-- it's actually the very first applyings 521 00:23:36,415 --> 00:23:38,982 that Doug Jones wore in The Shape of Water. 522 00:23:39,026 --> 00:23:41,071 So these weren't just mock-ups, 523 00:23:41,115 --> 00:23:43,378 - these were actual-- - No, these are the actual very first, 524 00:23:43,422 --> 00:23:45,511 first day of shooting ones. And I know exactly 525 00:23:45,554 --> 00:23:48,296 because Guillermo told me exactly where he wanted the spots. 526 00:23:48,339 --> 00:23:51,038 Yeah, because when he put that whole suit on, 527 00:23:51,995 --> 00:23:54,476 - he's in the suit all day long. - Yep. 528 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,131 - And takes one hand off so he can have... - At lunchtime, 529 00:23:57,174 --> 00:23:58,306 - so he can uses a bathroom. - ...some salad. 530 00:23:58,349 --> 00:23:59,612 Actually, this is great stuff-- 531 00:23:59,655 --> 00:24:01,440 What's interesting about 532 00:24:01,483 --> 00:24:04,268 creature making is everybody in the modern era 533 00:24:04,312 --> 00:24:06,619 of special effects and creature design, 534 00:24:06,662 --> 00:24:09,317 we're all kids at one time and they saw these classic monsters. 535 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:11,275 And so, they really put that enthusiasm 536 00:24:11,319 --> 00:24:15,715 into making their iteration of these classic monsters. 537 00:24:15,758 --> 00:24:19,066 I'm Tom Woodruff Jr., I'm the co-owner and co-founder of a ADI. 538 00:24:19,109 --> 00:24:23,157 I'm John Rosengrant and I'm one of the owners of Legacy Effects. 539 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,204 I'm Shane Mahan, another co-owner of Legacy Effects. 540 00:24:28,510 --> 00:24:29,511 I'm Steve Wang. 541 00:24:29,555 --> 00:24:31,078 I was hired by Stan Winston 542 00:24:31,121 --> 00:24:32,601 back in 1986 543 00:24:32,645 --> 00:24:35,125 to be the art director slash, 544 00:24:35,169 --> 00:24:37,127 uh, builder of the Gillman creature 545 00:24:37,171 --> 00:24:38,868 along with this gentleman here, Matt Rose. 546 00:24:40,740 --> 00:24:42,481 Alec Gillis was my business partner here 547 00:24:42,524 --> 00:24:44,352 and I actually worked for Stan Winston 548 00:24:44,395 --> 00:24:47,224 for several years during which we did Monster Squad. 549 00:24:47,268 --> 00:24:51,098 On Monster Squad, I headed up the team to create the Wolfman. 550 00:24:51,141 --> 00:24:54,275 My responsibility was the Mummy. 551 00:24:54,318 --> 00:24:56,712 When Stan told us about the show, 552 00:24:56,756 --> 00:24:59,019 "Monster Squad, it's got all these monsters." 553 00:24:59,062 --> 00:25:00,934 And the first thing we heard was, 554 00:25:00,977 --> 00:25:03,502 "And Universal said we can redo the monsters." 555 00:25:05,025 --> 00:25:06,505 And those early monster movies 556 00:25:06,548 --> 00:25:08,289 were really targeted for adults. 557 00:25:08,332 --> 00:25:11,118 And they wer-- came out during the Great Depression. 558 00:25:11,161 --> 00:25:14,687 And they came out of a period of enormous economic anxiety, 559 00:25:14,730 --> 00:25:17,037 a sense of fear, whether you were goin-- you know, 560 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,127 whether your parents are going to put food on the table the next day. 561 00:25:20,170 --> 00:25:22,216 We'r-- we're both 20 years old. I'm standing there, like, 562 00:25:22,259 --> 00:25:24,261 kind of, you know, like excited, 563 00:25:24,305 --> 00:25:25,741 thinking, "Oh, my God, we're getting to build 564 00:25:25,785 --> 00:25:26,742 the Creature from the Black Lagoon." 565 00:25:29,789 --> 00:25:31,747 That was totally cool. 566 00:25:34,533 --> 00:25:37,579 Stan then said, "No, Universal said no." 567 00:25:37,623 --> 00:25:41,322 They put the hammer down fast on because they trademark those looks. 568 00:25:41,365 --> 00:25:43,150 We could use the characters. 569 00:25:43,193 --> 00:25:46,806 We just had to be careful not to recreate 570 00:25:46,849 --> 00:25:50,113 the exact look of the old, uh, Jack Pierce makeups 571 00:25:50,157 --> 00:25:53,595 because even then, they were using those at the theme park. 572 00:25:53,639 --> 00:25:55,728 We were a little, you know, 573 00:25:55,771 --> 00:25:57,425 crestfallen for a couple of days, 574 00:25:57,468 --> 00:25:59,122 but then everyone rose to the occasion. 575 00:25:59,166 --> 00:26:02,430 And so, what we had to do is adjust, 576 00:26:02,473 --> 00:26:04,301 you know, make minor adjustments. 577 00:26:04,345 --> 00:26:06,913 Okay, fine. You can't beat the cool out of this project. 578 00:26:08,131 --> 00:26:11,352 Stan actually drew and sketched by pencil 579 00:26:11,395 --> 00:26:15,399 the characters themselves, so we sort of watched him develop these looks. 580 00:26:15,443 --> 00:26:17,053 When we were doing the creature builds, 581 00:26:17,097 --> 00:26:19,621 Stan was always good about splitting up the work. 582 00:26:19,665 --> 00:26:21,449 The great thing about Stan was 583 00:26:21,492 --> 00:26:25,105 that he was incredibly supportive of these people 584 00:26:25,148 --> 00:26:26,802 that he had hired because he trusted them. 585 00:26:26,846 --> 00:26:29,544 And so, he gave them projects, in this case, 586 00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:33,548 specific monsters that they had never done before and didn't even know if they could do. 587 00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:35,550 "Alec, you're going to do the bat transformation. 588 00:26:35,594 --> 00:26:37,073 John, well, you'll do the Wolfman. 589 00:26:37,117 --> 00:26:39,075 Shane will do the Mummy, and Matt and Steve, 590 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:40,120 you guys will do the Gillman." 591 00:26:40,163 --> 00:26:41,643 This was one of those jobs 592 00:26:41,687 --> 00:26:44,994 where it really didn't matter which one. 593 00:26:45,038 --> 00:26:47,867 It's like, "Oh, shoot, I got stuck with Wolfman." 594 00:26:47,910 --> 00:26:49,346 I remember kind of looking to everybody and saying, 595 00:26:49,390 --> 00:26:50,739 "Oh, so, how do y-- 596 00:26:50,783 --> 00:26:52,262 how do you guys make monster suits?" 597 00:26:52,306 --> 00:26:53,655 And it was just silence. 598 00:26:53,699 --> 00:26:55,309 And then it kind of dawned on me. 599 00:26:55,352 --> 00:26:58,573 "Oh, let the newbies figure it out." 600 00:27:00,706 --> 00:27:03,534 We got to present a lot of Wolfmans 601 00:27:03,578 --> 00:27:05,754 to end up with the final one. 602 00:27:05,798 --> 00:27:08,061 We got to do the Werewolf of London, 603 00:27:08,104 --> 00:27:10,280 and the whole transitions in the phone booth 604 00:27:10,324 --> 00:27:13,196 were, you know, doing some old-school laying hair on 605 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,504 an-- and uti-- utilizing some prosthetics and teeth 606 00:27:16,547 --> 00:27:18,637 I'd made, and contacts. 607 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,508 In the final one, y-- you know, 608 00:27:20,551 --> 00:27:22,553 I kept saying, "Stan, let's get some 609 00:27:22,597 --> 00:27:25,731 of the Oliver Reed the Hammer look into it, too." 610 00:27:26,688 --> 00:27:30,126 That's kind of the lighter brown fur with the different patterns. 611 00:27:30,170 --> 00:27:31,998 - Torn shirt. - The torn shirt. 612 00:27:32,041 --> 00:27:34,696 The white-- whitish kind of torn shirt. 613 00:27:34,740 --> 00:27:36,393 Our Mummy is completely different, 614 00:27:36,437 --> 00:27:38,787 that was a choice of mine because I th-- 615 00:27:38,831 --> 00:27:40,789 I thought we already had a big lumbering monster, 616 00:27:40,833 --> 00:27:42,486 so let's make the Mummy little. 617 00:27:42,530 --> 00:27:43,531 The real mummies, 618 00:27:43,574 --> 00:27:44,924 if you go to a museum, 619 00:27:44,967 --> 00:27:46,577 they're very diminutive, 620 00:27:46,621 --> 00:27:49,842 they-- they're very small, thin people, 621 00:27:49,885 --> 00:27:54,629 and maybe that'd be a good contrast to Tom Noonan and-- and it sort of worked out. 622 00:27:54,673 --> 00:27:57,632 And Tom Woodruff, who I just worked with on the Predator, 623 00:27:57,676 --> 00:28:01,201 always wanted to play the monster as well as make them. 624 00:28:01,244 --> 00:28:04,378 He's creating and making the Frankenstein's monster's applications 625 00:28:04,421 --> 00:28:05,988 for Tom to wear on his face and head, 626 00:28:06,032 --> 00:28:07,990 and he gets to be in the Gillman suit. 627 00:28:08,034 --> 00:28:10,166 Playing Gillman was a-- 628 00:28:10,210 --> 00:28:12,734 It had its own challenges, a little bit different from the makeup. 629 00:28:12,778 --> 00:28:15,563 Once he was in that suit, he couldn't really get out. 630 00:28:15,606 --> 00:28:18,784 That Gillman suit is really a one-piece, 631 00:28:18,827 --> 00:28:21,351 full-length bodysuit that you get glued into, 632 00:28:21,395 --> 00:28:24,703 and he's in there for 12, 15 hours a day. 633 00:28:24,746 --> 00:28:27,314 To the very first day that I was glued into the suit, 634 00:28:27,357 --> 00:28:28,794 we did the work in the lagoon, 635 00:28:28,837 --> 00:28:30,752 and it was a cold night. 636 00:28:30,796 --> 00:28:32,275 During lunch, I remember, 637 00:28:32,319 --> 00:28:33,668 I just went to the dressing room. 638 00:28:33,712 --> 00:28:35,409 I laid down and actually fell asleep. 639 00:28:35,452 --> 00:28:37,063 You're not eating, and you're not drinking anything. 640 00:28:37,106 --> 00:28:38,934 I remember waking up during that lunch break 641 00:28:38,978 --> 00:28:40,457 and nobody was with me. 642 00:28:40,501 --> 00:28:42,111 I think you only had two little peepholes 643 00:28:42,155 --> 00:28:44,374 to actually see out of in that-- in that helmet part. 644 00:28:44,418 --> 00:28:47,769 I didn't know where I was, I just felt like my body was completely locked, 645 00:28:47,813 --> 00:28:49,728 and I could feel my heart rate going up 646 00:28:49,771 --> 00:28:51,294 and my breathing was getting shallow. 647 00:28:51,338 --> 00:28:53,383 I can't imagine the claustrophobic feel 648 00:28:53,427 --> 00:28:56,343 that you'd be glued into this foam, 649 00:28:56,386 --> 00:28:58,388 latex suit that's soaked with water 650 00:28:58,432 --> 00:29:01,130 in this giant creature head that you can't see out of. 651 00:29:01,174 --> 00:29:04,481 And I had-- I just kind of talk myself down 652 00:29:04,525 --> 00:29:06,353 an-- and remember that I'm in the suit, and I-- 653 00:29:06,396 --> 00:29:09,051 Still, it wa-- it was frantic, just a frantic few seconds. 654 00:29:09,095 --> 00:29:10,923 I don't think everybody can do stuff like that. 655 00:29:10,966 --> 00:29:13,099 The fact that he played the creature 656 00:29:13,142 --> 00:29:15,405 and that he continued after that to continue to play monsters is, 657 00:29:15,449 --> 00:29:18,017 uh, shows how-- how devoted he is. 658 00:29:18,060 --> 00:29:19,758 What we do, 659 00:29:19,801 --> 00:29:21,672 no matter how well we make it, is... 660 00:29:22,848 --> 00:29:24,458 really a piece of plastic, 661 00:29:24,501 --> 00:29:26,808 you know, it could be a beautiful model 662 00:29:26,852 --> 00:29:29,942 or whatever, but it's the action that brings it to life. 663 00:29:29,985 --> 00:29:32,640 That's really the final thing 664 00:29:32,683 --> 00:29:34,816 because, if it's just sitting there as a-- 665 00:29:34,860 --> 00:29:37,384 as a display, that can be great and dynamic, 666 00:29:37,427 --> 00:29:40,300 but in film, you need the actor to bring it up. 667 00:29:40,343 --> 00:29:44,565 Steve Wang and Matt Rose did a great job on the Gillman. 668 00:29:44,608 --> 00:29:48,656 For its day, set the tone for so many things. 669 00:29:48,699 --> 00:29:50,571 I will go on record 670 00:29:52,703 --> 00:29:55,924 and say I think our creatures is one of the best monster costumes ever filmed. 671 00:29:55,968 --> 00:29:57,926 Having been involved in other suits in the past, 672 00:29:57,970 --> 00:29:59,841 and also having studied a lot 673 00:29:59,885 --> 00:30:02,365 how monsters-- monster suits were made back in the old days, 674 00:30:02,409 --> 00:30:04,846 they usually made it in sections and parts and they just kind of like 675 00:30:04,890 --> 00:30:07,196 put it-- put it on, they'd do zippers and do-- 676 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,590 and sometimes you'd just see where all the seams are. 677 00:30:09,633 --> 00:30:11,244 So the way that Matt and I did it 678 00:30:11,287 --> 00:30:13,333 is, you know, we still did our body cast 679 00:30:13,376 --> 00:30:14,725 and we sculpted the whole suit, 680 00:30:14,769 --> 00:30:16,162 but instead of making it in sections, 681 00:30:16,205 --> 00:30:19,121 the main body was all molded just as one. 682 00:30:19,165 --> 00:30:21,863 And-- and, was it the first shot he went right into the lagoon? 683 00:30:21,907 --> 00:30:23,952 - Yeah. - We're seeing you do the suit, 684 00:30:23,996 --> 00:30:27,956 this perfect suit, they say, "Put it in the water." "What?" 685 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:29,828 Remember how nervously we were because it's, like, 686 00:30:29,871 --> 00:30:31,699 we're-- we're gluing the hands on, we were, like... 687 00:30:31,742 --> 00:30:33,657 "Okay, I think it's working." 688 00:30:33,701 --> 00:30:35,964 And then we were-- we're putting the feet on, you know, 689 00:30:36,008 --> 00:30:37,531 "All right, that seam went away." 690 00:30:37,574 --> 00:30:39,272 And following, we're gluing th-- the head, 691 00:30:39,315 --> 00:30:41,883 his big giant seam, I would put it on. 692 00:30:41,927 --> 00:30:44,451 And we're starting to glue, and Matt was in the front and I'm in the back, 693 00:30:44,494 --> 00:30:46,714 and we're, like, gluing it on, and then looked at him, 694 00:30:46,757 --> 00:30:47,889 Matt looked at me, and we're just, like, 695 00:30:47,933 --> 00:30:50,283 "It works." 696 00:30:50,326 --> 00:30:53,416 I mean, it fit like a tailored suit, 697 00:30:53,460 --> 00:30:57,029 - it really did-- - Stan got so many compliments when he walked out, 698 00:30:57,072 --> 00:30:59,205 all the people are like, "I was in business 30 years, 699 00:30:59,248 --> 00:31:00,815 I've never seen anything like this before," you know, 700 00:31:00,859 --> 00:31:02,512 and Stan is like, "Thank you. Thank you. 701 00:31:02,556 --> 00:31:05,994 I did it all, me, me! And the-- these two helped." 702 00:31:06,038 --> 00:31:07,909 Stan was always a jokester, you know. 703 00:31:07,953 --> 00:31:09,476 The question is how do you create 704 00:31:09,519 --> 00:31:11,043 a new Creature in Black Lagoon? Well, 705 00:31:12,392 --> 00:31:14,829 you just have Stan Winston's guys design it 706 00:31:14,873 --> 00:31:16,962 and build it, and-- and sculpt it. 707 00:31:29,061 --> 00:31:30,932 We wrapped the movie and you've got six, 708 00:31:30,976 --> 00:31:32,978 eight months before it comes out and-- 709 00:31:33,021 --> 00:31:34,805 It felt... 710 00:31:34,849 --> 00:31:36,807 like, all of a sudden, like, 711 00:31:36,851 --> 00:31:38,548 your life was going to change... 712 00:31:38,592 --> 00:31:39,941 drastically. 713 00:31:39,985 --> 00:31:42,204 Fred and Shane and the guys, 714 00:31:42,248 --> 00:31:44,424 they all got together in a limo on our opening night, 715 00:31:44,467 --> 00:31:46,165 and we drove around Los Angeles 716 00:31:46,208 --> 00:31:48,036 and went to all the theaters that it was playing it. 717 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,691 And we went to probably five or six theaters. 718 00:31:51,822 --> 00:31:53,346 I will not forget that. 719 00:31:53,389 --> 00:31:55,304 We went to one actually in the valley. 720 00:31:55,348 --> 00:31:59,700 There was seven or eight people in the theater, I think. 721 00:32:00,701 --> 00:32:02,877 Seven or eight people in the theater 722 00:32:02,921 --> 00:32:05,967 which seats 300 people. 723 00:32:06,011 --> 00:32:08,013 It was crushing. 724 00:32:08,056 --> 00:32:09,797 I walked out of that movie thinking, 725 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:12,017 "I can't wait until the newspaper 726 00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:14,497 comes out on Monday morning," because that's when they would a-- 727 00:32:14,541 --> 00:32:17,109 they would have the top ten movies for the weekend. 728 00:32:17,152 --> 00:32:18,937 I hoped it was Monster Squad and unfortunately, 729 00:32:18,980 --> 00:32:20,939 it wasn't. And I was really bummed. 730 00:32:20,982 --> 00:32:23,419 Well, listen, it was a huge hit. 731 00:32:23,463 --> 00:32:25,117 And by it, I mean The Lost Boys. 732 00:32:26,379 --> 00:32:29,686 The Lost Boys came out two weeks 733 00:32:29,730 --> 00:32:31,732 before The Monster Squad. 734 00:32:32,820 --> 00:32:37,042 Two weeks later, we come out and we tank. 735 00:32:37,085 --> 00:32:39,000 And it was incredibly disappointing. 736 00:32:39,044 --> 00:32:42,395 My review of Monsters Squad appeared in the LA Times 737 00:32:42,438 --> 00:32:45,702 on August 14th 1987. 738 00:32:45,746 --> 00:32:48,618 "The Monster Squadis such fun. 739 00:32:48,662 --> 00:32:50,533 It makes you wish you were a kid again. 740 00:32:50,577 --> 00:32:53,667 Although you can never regain childhood innocence, 741 00:32:53,710 --> 00:32:56,409 you can find compensation in being able to appreciate 742 00:32:56,452 --> 00:32:59,368 the artistry with which director Fred Dekker 743 00:32:59,412 --> 00:33:02,197 and co-writer Shane Black, have brought 744 00:33:02,241 --> 00:33:05,853 to this horror comedy-adventure aimed at youngsters." 745 00:33:05,896 --> 00:33:08,812 Yeah, and not all the critics were so generous. 746 00:33:08,856 --> 00:33:11,206 Vincent Canby of the New York Timeswrote, 747 00:33:11,250 --> 00:33:13,817 a mildly scathing review 748 00:33:13,861 --> 00:33:17,604 of The Monster Squad which I think makes it plain 749 00:33:17,647 --> 00:33:20,433 that this is never going to be a movie for him 750 00:33:20,476 --> 00:33:22,609 because the last line of his review says, 751 00:33:22,652 --> 00:33:25,307 "The Monster Squad includes vulgar language 752 00:33:25,351 --> 00:33:29,703 and some sequences that could scare already emotionally troubled four-year-olds." 753 00:33:31,357 --> 00:33:33,489 - Well... - As a kid, you're relegated 754 00:33:33,533 --> 00:33:35,404 to whoever was in your local newspaper 755 00:33:35,448 --> 00:33:37,102 or maybe Siskel and Ebert. 756 00:33:37,145 --> 00:33:38,755 I would say a good majority 757 00:33:38,799 --> 00:33:40,540 of the people writing the print reviews 758 00:33:40,583 --> 00:33:44,326 for newspapers weren't film lovers themselves so much. 759 00:33:44,370 --> 00:33:46,154 They-- they were assigned that duty. 760 00:33:46,198 --> 00:33:48,243 You think about the impact 761 00:33:48,287 --> 00:33:50,289 that it had at the time, 762 00:33:50,332 --> 00:33:52,900 when newspaper reviews could make or break 763 00:33:52,943 --> 00:33:56,077 a movie that might need critical support 764 00:33:56,121 --> 00:33:59,211 to find its audience, in a time when audiences 765 00:33:59,254 --> 00:34:01,387 largely depended on critics 766 00:34:01,430 --> 00:34:04,520 to tell them what is worth seeing and what is not. 767 00:34:04,564 --> 00:34:07,001 Let's not tiptoe around it, the movie bombed, 768 00:34:07,045 --> 00:34:08,481 the movie bombed. 769 00:34:08,524 --> 00:34:11,179 "Guys, uh, better luck next time. 770 00:34:11,223 --> 00:34:13,877 This movie just, no one's seeing it, 771 00:34:13,921 --> 00:34:16,489 no one knows about it. No one cares." 772 00:34:16,532 --> 00:34:19,709 I mean, I don't even know if I remember 773 00:34:19,753 --> 00:34:22,060 that I knew when the release date was. 774 00:34:22,103 --> 00:34:26,107 I just remember thinking that people should've been talking about it more. 775 00:34:26,151 --> 00:34:28,501 That's all. 776 00:34:28,544 --> 00:34:30,764 But I remember the profound disappointment, 777 00:34:30,807 --> 00:34:32,940 because you spent two years on these things 778 00:34:32,983 --> 00:34:36,074 and you know in an afternoon 779 00:34:36,117 --> 00:34:38,554 whether it's gone or it's going to stay. 780 00:34:38,598 --> 00:34:41,470 By Friday night, latest Saturday morning, it's like, 781 00:34:41,514 --> 00:34:45,953 "Well, you're movie is a hit," or, "Yeah, next time." 782 00:34:45,996 --> 00:34:49,435 I'd-- I didn-- I wanted it to all go away. 783 00:34:49,478 --> 00:34:50,914 I said, "No more acting. 784 00:34:52,002 --> 00:34:55,223 I don't want anyone t-- to know that that happened." 785 00:34:56,181 --> 00:34:58,400 And so, I would never talk about it. 786 00:34:58,444 --> 00:34:59,880 I wouldn't let anyone know. 787 00:35:01,011 --> 00:35:03,927 I wouldn't let girlfriends know. 788 00:35:03,971 --> 00:35:05,581 When movies come out, 789 00:35:05,625 --> 00:35:08,236 they get a-- a limited time to perform. 790 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,673 They get all kinds of conditions and circumstances 791 00:35:10,717 --> 00:35:12,675 that have nothing to do with the quality of the movie, 792 00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:14,416 where it's released, the date it's released. 793 00:35:14,460 --> 00:35:15,678 How many screens, 794 00:35:15,722 --> 00:35:17,854 what's going on that week. 795 00:35:17,898 --> 00:35:20,335 I saw that it was a PG-13 rating. 796 00:35:21,249 --> 00:35:22,120 And I thought... 797 00:35:23,643 --> 00:35:25,819 "No." At that time, 798 00:35:25,862 --> 00:35:27,864 I-- I said to my wife, I said, 799 00:35:27,908 --> 00:35:32,042 "I don't think that mothers are going to schlep their kids 800 00:35:32,086 --> 00:35:35,568 to this movie, to get them in, to watch it with them." 801 00:35:35,611 --> 00:35:37,657 True is the fact it didn't last, 802 00:35:37,700 --> 00:35:41,095 and I think it had to do a lot with that rating. 803 00:35:41,139 --> 00:35:43,228 When this film was released, it was rated at 15, 804 00:35:43,271 --> 00:35:46,231 which means that anybody under the age of 15 805 00:35:46,274 --> 00:35:47,797 wasn't able to see this film theatrically 806 00:35:47,841 --> 00:35:49,538 and wasn't able to rent the VHS tape. 807 00:35:49,582 --> 00:35:51,714 You had to be 15 or older to see this film. 808 00:35:51,758 --> 00:35:54,108 So, when it was released, it was clearly marketed 809 00:35:54,152 --> 00:35:57,111 towards that Goonies-y sort of, you know, 810 00:35:57,155 --> 00:35:59,026 teen adventure film audience 811 00:35:59,069 --> 00:36:01,159 whose films typically were rated PG. 812 00:36:01,202 --> 00:36:03,596 No one who wanted to see it could see it, I couldn't see it. 813 00:36:03,639 --> 00:36:05,424 I think it's also a testament 814 00:36:05,467 --> 00:36:08,601 to the fact that the movie was maybe not properly 815 00:36:08,644 --> 00:36:10,690 marketed or marketed enough 816 00:36:10,733 --> 00:36:13,475 back then and it's crazy to think of what a year would have made, 817 00:36:13,519 --> 00:36:15,782 if they just sat on it for a few more months 818 00:36:15,825 --> 00:36:19,220 and then released it with, "From the writer of Lethal Weapon." 819 00:36:19,264 --> 00:36:21,222 I thought we had an ability to appeal 820 00:36:21,266 --> 00:36:22,789 to some people on a, 821 00:36:22,832 --> 00:36:25,618 a more nostalgic emotional level 822 00:36:25,661 --> 00:36:28,098 than just simply the cartoon version 823 00:36:28,142 --> 00:36:31,014 that I think the ads would-- suggested the movie to be. 824 00:36:31,058 --> 00:36:33,539 Because we just had these "wanted" posters 825 00:36:33,582 --> 00:36:36,368 all over around billboards and it just-- it was like mug shots of the monsters 826 00:36:36,411 --> 00:36:38,631 with, like, a call to action, but nowhere to go. 827 00:36:38,674 --> 00:36:41,242 It's really hard to find stuff from The Monster Squad, 828 00:36:41,286 --> 00:36:43,592 but then I joined eBay in 2005 and I was like, 829 00:36:43,636 --> 00:36:46,421 "Oh, my God, look at all this great stuff." 830 00:36:46,465 --> 00:36:49,163 Right? So I'll-- I'll check in every couple days 831 00:36:49,207 --> 00:36:51,992 - and... - Not too many people have that. 832 00:36:52,035 --> 00:36:53,341 Probably a good reason for it. 833 00:36:58,216 --> 00:36:59,913 You know, I-- got it and then I was like, 834 00:36:59,956 --> 00:37:01,654 "Well, that's not even Duncan. 835 00:37:01,697 --> 00:37:03,656 That looks like a Halloween mask costume 836 00:37:03,699 --> 00:37:06,224 - in a, like, a Kmart or something. - Yeah, I don't know-- 837 00:37:06,267 --> 00:37:08,530 Wanted poster, like an Old West, 838 00:37:08,574 --> 00:37:10,445 - but new mug shot type thing. - Right. 839 00:37:10,489 --> 00:37:14,623 "For felony neck biting, unlawful blood-sucking, 840 00:37:14,667 --> 00:37:16,886 and assault and bat-tery." 841 00:37:17,887 --> 00:37:20,803 - Yeah. - Mummy. 842 00:37:20,847 --> 00:37:24,372 "Armed bandage and statutory wrap." 843 00:37:24,416 --> 00:37:28,463 Today I think if you even brought that idea 844 00:37:28,507 --> 00:37:33,468 to the conference room table in an ad pitch, 845 00:37:34,426 --> 00:37:36,428 you might be cleaning out your desk. 846 00:37:36,471 --> 00:37:38,908 Like, so-- that got-- that got greenlit, 847 00:37:38,952 --> 00:37:41,302 that got greenlit, right? 848 00:37:41,346 --> 00:37:43,086 That was on billboards, 849 00:37:43,130 --> 00:37:45,741 like, giant billboards in LA and across the country. 850 00:37:45,785 --> 00:37:48,135 - It's probably why the movie didn't do well. - Oh-- 851 00:37:48,178 --> 00:37:50,050 And the next weekend, 852 00:37:50,093 --> 00:37:51,791 it didn't get any better. 853 00:37:51,834 --> 00:37:56,709 I never, ever, ever got the sense 854 00:37:56,752 --> 00:38:01,104 that this movie was finding a new audience 855 00:38:01,148 --> 00:38:04,456 or that its original audience were enjoying it again. 856 00:38:04,499 --> 00:38:06,109 None whatsoever. 857 00:38:06,153 --> 00:38:07,415 I was still licking my wounds. 858 00:38:08,329 --> 00:38:10,810 Until 2006. 859 00:38:10,853 --> 00:38:15,858 Which is-- so that's roughly 16 years, 860 00:38:15,902 --> 00:38:19,775 before I had a clue that people liked this movie. 861 00:38:20,689 --> 00:38:21,864 That's the God's truth. 862 00:38:49,414 --> 00:38:51,241 The Monster Squad! 863 00:39:03,428 --> 00:39:05,430 - Oh, my God! Hi! - How are you? 864 00:39:08,084 --> 00:39:09,216 How you doing? 865 00:39:10,609 --> 00:39:11,958 Welcome! 866 00:39:12,001 --> 00:39:15,614 We're doing 17 Alamos in 17 days. 867 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:20,619 Only because of you guys that keep filling up 868 00:39:20,662 --> 00:39:21,968 - these damn theaters. - Yes. 869 00:39:23,970 --> 00:39:27,408 Monster Squadfans are very special and th-- they're a little bit 870 00:39:27,452 --> 00:39:29,889 tighter connected to this movie than most genres fans. 871 00:39:29,932 --> 00:39:31,978 I don't think anybody in here doesn't have 872 00:39:32,021 --> 00:39:34,894 a special connection with this movie for some reason, right? 873 00:39:34,937 --> 00:39:38,680 Uh, it hit and connected somewhere that stayed with you. 874 00:39:38,724 --> 00:39:40,639 And after five or six years... 875 00:39:40,682 --> 00:39:42,336 it just got to be overwhelming 876 00:39:42,380 --> 00:39:46,166 how interesting this fan dynamic is with this movie. 877 00:39:51,606 --> 00:39:55,393 Dance to this for the, uh, Horrorhound of Cincinnati. 878 00:39:55,436 --> 00:39:57,612 It is probably one of my favorite pieces, uh, 879 00:39:57,656 --> 00:39:59,440 if someone ends up making a t-shirt, 880 00:39:59,484 --> 00:40:01,442 let me know because I'll gladly buy at least like 881 00:40:01,486 --> 00:40:03,662 seven of them so I can wear them every single day of the week. 882 00:40:03,705 --> 00:40:07,143 I decorated my garage in the way that I imagined. 883 00:40:07,187 --> 00:40:11,104 Rudy and Sean and Patrick decorating their tree house 884 00:40:11,147 --> 00:40:12,758 with all the monster stuff. 885 00:40:12,801 --> 00:40:15,151 I saw that and instantly I was like, 886 00:40:15,195 --> 00:40:17,937 "Man, I would want to emulate something like that." 887 00:40:17,980 --> 00:40:19,460 You can step into a room in your-- 888 00:40:19,504 --> 00:40:20,809 you can look at someone's tattoos now 889 00:40:20,853 --> 00:40:22,463 because those are collections too. 890 00:40:22,507 --> 00:40:25,379 And you could understand and not have to ask, like, 891 00:40:25,423 --> 00:40:27,642 "W-- what movies do you like?" It's like, well, 892 00:40:27,686 --> 00:40:29,557 they could possibly be tattooed on someone's arms 893 00:40:29,601 --> 00:40:31,298 or, if you look around a room, 894 00:40:31,341 --> 00:40:32,995 you could pick up on it pretty quick. 895 00:40:34,170 --> 00:40:36,303 My first experience with The Monster Squad 896 00:40:36,346 --> 00:40:38,523 was, uh, spending the night over at a buddy's house. 897 00:40:38,566 --> 00:40:41,482 So we, uh, turned it on, I was probably seven or eight. 898 00:40:41,526 --> 00:40:43,353 And it was on HBO or something like that. 899 00:40:43,397 --> 00:40:46,966 And we sat there and, uh, wolfed down popcorn 900 00:40:47,009 --> 00:40:50,404 and watched the most amazing movie of our lives. 901 00:40:50,448 --> 00:40:52,885 Everything we had seen up till then, it all had been kid's stuff, 902 00:40:52,928 --> 00:40:55,670 and this was the first-- the first taste of something dangerous. 903 00:41:12,078 --> 00:41:15,298 Back in the '70s, cable was what you did to get television 904 00:41:15,342 --> 00:41:19,215 if you were in the mountains. By the time that had been exploited 905 00:41:19,259 --> 00:41:21,479 to the point where it's economically feasible, 906 00:41:21,522 --> 00:41:23,002 then they went into the cities. 907 00:41:23,045 --> 00:41:26,048 The growth kept going and going and going. 908 00:41:26,092 --> 00:41:29,530 I was at HBO when The Monster Squadfirst aired. 909 00:41:29,574 --> 00:41:32,577 We knew that, by the time a film came out of the theaters 910 00:41:32,620 --> 00:41:36,537 and maybe went to VHS, 95 % of people had not seen it. 911 00:41:36,581 --> 00:41:40,193 We put it in front of a network of 20 or 25 million households, 912 00:41:40,236 --> 00:41:42,543 somebody would watch Monster Squadin HBO, 913 00:41:42,587 --> 00:41:45,241 tell his next door neighbor, the word got out. 914 00:41:45,285 --> 00:41:48,897 Monster Squad developed a word of mouth. 915 00:41:48,941 --> 00:41:52,335 I think it was either HBO or-- or The Preview Channel, 916 00:41:52,379 --> 00:41:54,555 I think that's what it was called before HBO. 917 00:41:54,599 --> 00:41:56,688 Monster Squadwas on a lot, um, 918 00:41:56,731 --> 00:41:59,038 Beastmasterwas always on, Dragonslayer. 919 00:41:59,081 --> 00:42:03,085 And those were the movies that really shaped my youth. 920 00:42:03,129 --> 00:42:06,654 Pretty much the early days of HBO were pretty gold in the sense that, 921 00:42:06,698 --> 00:42:08,569 if you missed an '80s movie, 922 00:42:08,613 --> 00:42:11,050 it would play a hundred times 923 00:42:11,093 --> 00:42:12,834 in a row over and over again. 924 00:42:12,878 --> 00:42:14,053 If you grew up in the 80s, 925 00:42:14,096 --> 00:42:15,794 you knew, when you watched HBO 926 00:42:15,837 --> 00:42:17,447 or any of those cable channels back then, 927 00:42:17,491 --> 00:42:19,275 that eight o'clock was this, like, 928 00:42:19,319 --> 00:42:22,017 magical time where, like, the world changed. 929 00:42:22,061 --> 00:42:25,630 I think that was even before we owned a VCR. 930 00:42:25,673 --> 00:42:27,719 I think we rented our first VCR. 931 00:42:27,762 --> 00:42:29,459 And then, eventually I would go 932 00:42:29,503 --> 00:42:31,418 and rent it when it wasn't on cable. 933 00:42:31,461 --> 00:42:33,333 The first time I ever saw Monster Squad, 934 00:42:33,376 --> 00:42:35,465 my mom had taken me to the video store, 935 00:42:35,509 --> 00:42:38,077 and I was maybe seven or eight years old, 936 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,906 and I was a die-hard horror fan and my mom let me watch 937 00:42:40,949 --> 00:42:42,429 pretty much whatever I wanted. 938 00:42:42,472 --> 00:42:44,257 And I was having a slumber party that night, 939 00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:47,739 and I wanted a horror film, but mom was scared to death 940 00:42:47,782 --> 00:42:49,479 that all the other parents were going to freak out 941 00:42:49,523 --> 00:42:51,394 if she brought home, like, Nightmare on Elm Street, 942 00:42:51,438 --> 00:42:52,874 and I got to watch it with all the other girls. 943 00:42:52,918 --> 00:42:54,528 So she was looking for something 944 00:42:54,572 --> 00:42:57,139 that was a little bit more kid-friendly. 945 00:42:57,183 --> 00:42:59,011 And she handed me The Monster Squad 946 00:42:59,054 --> 00:43:00,665 while we were standing in the middle of the video store 947 00:43:00,708 --> 00:43:02,057 and she said, "How about this?" 948 00:43:02,101 --> 00:43:04,407 And I said, "Oh, this looks perfect!" 949 00:43:04,451 --> 00:43:07,541 And I took it home and we watched it during the slumber party that night, 950 00:43:07,585 --> 00:43:10,675 and half the girls got scared and half of them loved it, 951 00:43:10,718 --> 00:43:12,677 and it became one of my favorite movies 952 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:14,504 throughout my entire adolescence. 953 00:43:14,548 --> 00:43:16,550 I couldn't tell you when I first saw it. 954 00:43:16,594 --> 00:43:18,160 I can't ever remember a time 955 00:43:18,204 --> 00:43:21,555 when I didn't have a reliable VHS copy. 956 00:43:21,599 --> 00:43:23,078 I can't remember a time when there wasn't 957 00:43:23,122 --> 00:43:25,167 a Monster Squad, kind of, in my life. 958 00:43:25,211 --> 00:43:27,387 The sad fact at the time was, there were certain movies 959 00:43:27,430 --> 00:43:29,215 that were being sold to the public and certain ones 960 00:43:29,258 --> 00:43:31,565 that were just being shipped off to video stores. 961 00:43:31,609 --> 00:43:34,350 And if you wanted to buy a movie, you basically had to buy it with, 962 00:43:34,394 --> 00:43:37,049 uh, distribution license locked into the tape. 963 00:43:37,092 --> 00:43:39,138 So the tapes cost like 100 dollars. 964 00:43:39,181 --> 00:43:41,488 So it built up an obsession 965 00:43:41,531 --> 00:43:43,185 where every time we'd go to the video store, 966 00:43:43,229 --> 00:43:45,797 that's what I'd rent because I couldn't own it. 967 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:50,802 And then, it disappeared for 19 years. 968 00:43:50,845 --> 00:43:53,718 It wasn't on anybody's mind for a very long time. 969 00:43:57,156 --> 00:43:58,026 Sure. 970 00:43:59,637 --> 00:44:01,203 Right off the bat, there you go. 971 00:44:01,247 --> 00:44:02,596 Right off the bat. 972 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:04,598 Oh, man, the whole squad all together. 973 00:44:05,555 --> 00:44:08,776 Yeah, obviously, I love there is like a unique style on it, you know. 974 00:44:08,820 --> 00:44:12,040 My entire apartment is covered in posters, some of The Monster Squad. 975 00:44:12,084 --> 00:44:14,956 And, uh, a lot of it is that now when I walk 976 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:19,221 by that Monster Squadposter, that Lost Boysposter or something, 977 00:44:19,265 --> 00:44:21,702 I immediately sort of have a flash to the entire movie in my head. 978 00:44:21,746 --> 00:44:24,400 Oh, my God, look at this. 979 00:44:24,444 --> 00:44:26,402 Just so cool. 980 00:44:26,446 --> 00:44:28,578 - Just so cool. - And that's the same guy that's over there. 981 00:44:28,622 --> 00:44:30,711 The same guy, Geoff Trapp, yeah, this guy is 982 00:44:30,755 --> 00:44:33,018 - a Monster Squadfan. - It's got a little, uh, dynamite. 983 00:44:33,061 --> 00:44:35,020 In The Monster Squad they made those business cards 984 00:44:35,063 --> 00:44:37,544 and i-- it inspired me to make my own business card. 985 00:44:37,587 --> 00:44:41,156 "We kill monsters for pleasure. No job too weird." 986 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:43,419 Uh, and we never actually did or performed any jobs. 987 00:44:43,463 --> 00:44:45,595 We just like to have the cards. 988 00:44:45,639 --> 00:44:47,293 - Holy crap. - Okay. Now this-- 989 00:44:47,336 --> 00:44:50,078 What the hell is this? This is crazy. 990 00:44:50,122 --> 00:44:52,951 It's something you love seen through the eyes of somebody else. 991 00:44:52,994 --> 00:44:55,475 And you just totally, instantly connect to it. 992 00:44:55,518 --> 00:44:57,782 I don't know if I'll ever stop collecting, uh, 993 00:44:57,825 --> 00:44:59,261 if I ever see any cool Monster Squadstuff. 994 00:44:59,305 --> 00:45:01,394 I'm always going to think about buying it 995 00:45:01,437 --> 00:45:02,830 because it's just, you know, it reminds me 996 00:45:02,874 --> 00:45:04,919 of the-- th-- some of the best times. 997 00:45:22,371 --> 00:45:24,243 Is Monster Squada cult movie? 998 00:45:24,286 --> 00:45:25,940 I don't know what a cult movie is. 999 00:45:25,984 --> 00:45:28,551 I mean, it's either a weird movie that people like... 1000 00:45:30,379 --> 00:45:31,467 or... 1001 00:45:33,165 --> 00:45:36,081 I struggle with the word "cult" 1002 00:45:36,124 --> 00:45:38,126 with films sometimes because, to me, 1003 00:45:38,170 --> 00:45:39,824 a cult film is something like 1004 00:45:41,913 --> 00:45:45,699 Rocky Horroror even The Room, for better or for worse. 1005 00:45:45,743 --> 00:45:48,049 But they're movies that kind of just missed, 1006 00:45:48,093 --> 00:45:50,095 yet, for some reason, people still love them. 1007 00:45:50,138 --> 00:45:51,705 That's what it is. That's what a cult movie is. 1008 00:45:51,749 --> 00:45:53,794 It's a weird movie that people like. 1009 00:45:53,838 --> 00:45:56,275 I think that cult films 1010 00:45:56,318 --> 00:45:59,669 emerge from exploitation genres. 1011 00:45:59,713 --> 00:46:01,889 Cult, over time, 1012 00:46:01,933 --> 00:46:04,152 I don't think means the same thing that it used to. 1013 00:46:04,196 --> 00:46:06,720 Because cult meant something that nobody knew about 1014 00:46:06,764 --> 00:46:10,419 except, like, a very small cult of people. 1015 00:46:10,463 --> 00:46:13,596 Over time, I think it doesn't mean that same thing. 1016 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:16,730 I think it now means something that was wildly popular 1017 00:46:16,774 --> 00:46:18,732 but not financially successful. 1018 00:46:18,776 --> 00:46:21,648 I don't think a movie that doesn't do well 1019 00:46:21,691 --> 00:46:23,215 but then finds its audience later. 1020 00:46:23,258 --> 00:46:24,651 Because It's a Wonderful Life did that, 1021 00:46:24,694 --> 00:46:25,695 The Wizard of Ozdid that, 1022 00:46:25,739 --> 00:46:27,654 a lot of movies did that. 1023 00:46:27,697 --> 00:46:29,830 If you ask five different people what a cult film is, 1024 00:46:29,874 --> 00:46:31,658 you will get five different answers. 1025 00:46:31,701 --> 00:46:35,662 Even if you ask five different expert film academics 1026 00:46:35,705 --> 00:46:38,621 what a cult film is, you will get five completely different answers. 1027 00:46:38,665 --> 00:46:40,885 Well, I mean, a cult film is often a film 1028 00:46:40,928 --> 00:46:44,105 that didn't fully find its audience when it first came out. 1029 00:46:44,149 --> 00:46:46,542 That people discover on their own 1030 00:46:46,586 --> 00:46:48,849 and feel like it's a kind of private fantasy universe 1031 00:46:48,893 --> 00:46:52,374 that they can feel a particular connection with. 1032 00:46:52,418 --> 00:46:54,681 All of a sudden, it's like you find lifelong friends 1033 00:46:54,724 --> 00:46:57,118 because you have this one weird thing in common 1034 00:46:57,162 --> 00:47:00,078 - that nobody else knows about. - They clearly had the same thing, 1035 00:47:00,121 --> 00:47:01,906 where "I love this, no one else loves it." 1036 00:47:01,949 --> 00:47:04,430 Kind of a, uh, members-only 1037 00:47:04,473 --> 00:47:06,867 kind of mentality to it, like a secret club. 1038 00:47:06,911 --> 00:47:09,696 Probably not the crowd that's going to seeTransformers. 1039 00:47:09,739 --> 00:47:12,655 But it's like what real film lovers watch. 1040 00:47:12,699 --> 00:47:15,789 When you first see it, it seems very kind of, 1041 00:47:15,833 --> 00:47:18,313 like, uh, out of the mainstream. 1042 00:47:18,357 --> 00:47:20,925 And it seems oftentimes very odd and bizarre. 1043 00:47:20,968 --> 00:47:25,277 And yet, at its core, the theme is something 1044 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,670 that really resonates in kind of a universal way. 1045 00:47:27,714 --> 00:47:31,413 When I think of a cult film, I think of my smaller films, 1046 00:47:31,457 --> 00:47:33,763 uh, that have reached a certain audience 1047 00:47:33,807 --> 00:47:36,157 and usually at a certain time in their lives. 1048 00:47:36,201 --> 00:47:39,639 Usually when they're young. It's like hearing that great rock song 1049 00:47:39,682 --> 00:47:42,685 when you get your first kiss or something, you always are going to remember it. 1050 00:47:42,729 --> 00:47:44,296 So the Monster Squad fits into that 1051 00:47:44,339 --> 00:47:46,515 because it was a movie that didn't do too well 1052 00:47:46,559 --> 00:47:48,866 at the box office, and then came out on VHS 1053 00:47:48,909 --> 00:47:50,824 and cable and it just sort of existed. 1054 00:47:50,868 --> 00:47:52,217 So people had to find it on their own. 1055 00:47:52,260 --> 00:47:53,522 I don't think 1056 00:47:53,566 --> 00:47:55,437 of Monster Squadas a-- 1057 00:47:55,481 --> 00:47:57,352 as a cult film, I just don't. 1058 00:47:57,396 --> 00:48:00,094 Oh, a 1000 % Monster Squad is a cult film. 1059 00:48:00,138 --> 00:48:02,967 What makes it cult, what earns it that right, 1060 00:48:03,010 --> 00:48:06,666 is that it's something that wasn't financially successful, 1061 00:48:06,709 --> 00:48:10,670 but has fans and those fans are rabid and loyal. 1062 00:48:10,713 --> 00:48:12,498 It's always been huge. 1063 00:48:12,541 --> 00:48:15,980 And, if anything, I would call it a classic 1064 00:48:16,023 --> 00:48:17,720 more than a cult film. 1065 00:48:17,764 --> 00:48:20,767 I mean, for me, it-- very definition of a cult movie, 1066 00:48:20,810 --> 00:48:22,508 because when I saw it as a kid, 1067 00:48:22,551 --> 00:48:24,553 in my mind, it was as big as all the other movies 1068 00:48:24,597 --> 00:48:27,208 I loved. But I noticed no one else seemed 1069 00:48:27,252 --> 00:48:29,515 to have either seen it or even heard of it. 1070 00:48:29,558 --> 00:48:31,473 So what if it wasn't, you know, 1071 00:48:31,517 --> 00:48:33,780 number one at the box office for a year straight 1072 00:48:33,823 --> 00:48:36,435 or something like that, none of that matters. 1073 00:48:36,478 --> 00:48:40,439 It's nothing other than time that allows a movie to resonate more, 1074 00:48:40,482 --> 00:48:43,355 it's like, it's like marination. 1075 00:48:43,398 --> 00:48:45,879 I just think it's a word though, it's like, there's a whole bunch of words 1076 00:48:45,923 --> 00:48:48,926 that are really helpful in-- in conversations. 1077 00:48:48,969 --> 00:48:51,711 And I just don't know that that one is. 1078 00:48:51,754 --> 00:48:54,366 But ultimately movies are good or bad, 1079 00:48:54,409 --> 00:48:56,672 and they're accepted or they're not. 1080 00:48:56,716 --> 00:48:58,979 But I don't know what a cult movie is. 1081 00:48:59,023 --> 00:49:00,720 So I sure don't know if this is one. 1082 00:49:03,549 --> 00:49:07,335 Where's the 35mm projector? Can I see it? 1083 00:49:07,379 --> 00:49:10,251 Oh, yeah, that's the stuff. 1084 00:49:10,295 --> 00:49:12,862 This is a film. It's going through the thing. 1085 00:49:12,906 --> 00:49:15,169 It's, you know, then it comes out and it's... 1086 00:49:19,217 --> 00:49:21,306 This is the part that people don't know 1087 00:49:21,349 --> 00:49:24,178 - when they're watching a movie. What's happening? - We-- Yeah. 1088 00:49:24,222 --> 00:49:26,398 Not just behind the scenes of making the film, 1089 00:49:26,441 --> 00:49:28,052 but actually showing the film. 1090 00:49:28,095 --> 00:49:30,750 My inspirational section of my life, 1091 00:49:30,793 --> 00:49:32,621 which was basically the '70s and '80s 1092 00:49:32,665 --> 00:49:36,016 of film-- uh, this is what it was. 1093 00:49:36,060 --> 00:49:38,410 - Yeah. - This is how it was shown to me. 1094 00:49:38,453 --> 00:49:40,890 So this is how I want to see it for the rest of my life. 1095 00:49:40,934 --> 00:49:43,241 You know, it's just awesome to watch it go by. 1096 00:49:43,284 --> 00:49:45,417 - It's definitely arou-- - No, is like my heart's like fluttery. 1097 00:49:45,460 --> 00:49:47,767 With the motor, right? 1098 00:49:49,638 --> 00:49:53,599 It starts... you know, like I just felt like that, like, "Here we go!" 1099 00:50:15,621 --> 00:50:19,799 It's now 11 years since Tim League and Eric Vespe 1100 00:50:19,842 --> 00:50:23,020 from Ain't It Cool News put together the first cast union screening 1101 00:50:23,063 --> 00:50:26,762 at the old original Alamo here in Austin in 2006. 1102 00:50:26,806 --> 00:50:30,070 That all started with one man, Eric Vespe. 1103 00:50:30,114 --> 00:50:32,420 I don't think, at that time, I'd ever seen it projected. 1104 00:50:32,464 --> 00:50:35,989 I was familiar with it. I'd seen it, it-- honestly, 1105 00:50:36,033 --> 00:50:39,949 uh, didn't make that much of an impression on me, I guess, 1106 00:50:39,993 --> 00:50:42,256 because I think I was into different things. 1107 00:50:42,300 --> 00:50:43,736 I just wanted to watch the movie. 1108 00:50:43,779 --> 00:50:46,173 Eric's enthusiasm for the film, 1109 00:50:46,217 --> 00:50:47,566 it was undeniable. 1110 00:50:47,609 --> 00:50:49,394 And, uh, he made a really strong case. 1111 00:50:49,437 --> 00:50:52,049 And, you know, frankly, it doesn't really take much 1112 00:50:52,092 --> 00:50:54,138 for me to say yes to projects. 1113 00:50:54,181 --> 00:50:57,141 He said, "If, like, maybe if you can find some people, 1114 00:50:57,184 --> 00:50:59,143 some of the cast and if they're willing to come out, 1115 00:50:59,186 --> 00:51:00,970 you know, for a coach ticket, maybe we-- 1116 00:51:01,014 --> 00:51:03,277 we'll set up one screening, you know, on one weekend." 1117 00:51:03,321 --> 00:51:06,976 This could either suck and there was, like, five people there, 1118 00:51:07,020 --> 00:51:08,891 and we'll just go to Austin and have fun. 1119 00:51:08,935 --> 00:51:10,545 And so I really have the easy part. 1120 00:51:10,589 --> 00:51:12,678 I just have to open up the doors, uh, 1121 00:51:12,721 --> 00:51:16,029 find a film print and, uh, and go. 1122 00:51:16,073 --> 00:51:17,596 Hi, I'm Matt Pennachi. 1123 00:51:17,639 --> 00:51:20,903 - Normally a 35mm film collector. - Adam Hulin. 1124 00:51:20,947 --> 00:51:23,254 And we had many, many adventures 1125 00:51:23,297 --> 00:51:26,996 going to a lot of run-down, burned-out, 1126 00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:29,521 closed down, dangerous locations, 1127 00:51:29,564 --> 00:51:32,045 searching for 35mm prints over the years. 1128 00:51:32,089 --> 00:51:34,743 And, uh, one of the best ones we ever found 1129 00:51:34,787 --> 00:51:37,224 was a print of The Monster Squad. 1130 00:51:37,268 --> 00:51:39,574 At the time we acquired that print, 1131 00:51:39,618 --> 00:51:42,577 we had bought it from a collector in New Zealand. 1132 00:51:42,621 --> 00:51:45,537 That's one of the last places in the world that prints go to die, 1133 00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:47,713 - South Africa and New Zealand... - The last stops 1134 00:51:47,756 --> 00:51:50,759 - on the world tour. - ...because nobody wants to pay the postage 1135 00:51:50,803 --> 00:51:53,240 - To get them back. - Once they get that far away, they don't want them back. 1136 00:51:53,284 --> 00:51:56,113 And we started getting bombarded with requests for it. 1137 00:51:57,070 --> 00:51:59,377 And then, it came to our attention that 1138 00:51:59,420 --> 00:52:02,684 there were no known prints of this film left in North America. 1139 00:52:02,728 --> 00:52:05,513 - Which we're not aware of that. - We weren't aware of that at all. 1140 00:52:05,557 --> 00:52:08,647 Amongst the myriad of other prints we had, 1141 00:52:08,690 --> 00:52:10,388 a lot of them were sold to the Drafthouse. 1142 00:52:10,431 --> 00:52:13,695 But even at that point, we didn't realize how-- 1143 00:52:13,739 --> 00:52:15,915 how much of a unicorn this print was. 1144 00:52:15,958 --> 00:52:18,004 So we picked Easter Sunday, 1145 00:52:18,047 --> 00:52:19,527 they put up the tickets online saying, 1146 00:52:19,571 --> 00:52:21,225 "Monster Squad reunion screening," 1147 00:52:21,268 --> 00:52:23,096 you know, director, the cast. 1148 00:52:23,140 --> 00:52:25,316 And Eric Vespe and I got in touch. 1149 00:52:25,359 --> 00:52:27,405 My head spun for a second. I'm like, 1150 00:52:27,448 --> 00:52:30,059 "Wait, you know this movie?" 1151 00:52:30,103 --> 00:52:32,192 And they ended up putting together 1152 00:52:32,236 --> 00:52:35,064 what became the-- kind of the seminal event of Monster Squad. 1153 00:52:35,108 --> 00:52:37,589 Was not expecting... 1154 00:52:37,632 --> 00:52:40,418 ...even remotely what actually occurred. 1155 00:52:40,461 --> 00:52:43,203 - And it sold out. - Uh, it sold out real fast. 1156 00:52:43,247 --> 00:52:46,424 I-- I think at the time, faster than anything I've ever sold out 1157 00:52:46,467 --> 00:52:48,948 at the Alamo before, and they added a second screening. 1158 00:52:48,991 --> 00:52:53,909 - Oh, my God, what is happening? - And e-- and everybody was like, "I love this movie!" 1159 00:52:53,953 --> 00:52:56,303 And I was like, "You've seen this movie? Okay." 1160 00:52:57,522 --> 00:52:59,785 It just... 1161 00:52:59,828 --> 00:53:05,312 I-- I, I couldn't believe... the attention 1162 00:53:05,356 --> 00:53:07,009 that this thing was getting. 1163 00:53:07,053 --> 00:53:09,795 That first screening at the Alamo, 1164 00:53:09,838 --> 00:53:12,406 was a real eye-opener. 1165 00:53:12,450 --> 00:53:15,366 And then, to show up at the Drafthouse 1166 00:53:15,409 --> 00:53:19,326 and see the line of people 1167 00:53:19,370 --> 00:53:23,548 going around the block waiting to get in 1168 00:53:23,591 --> 00:53:25,506 was astounding to me. 1169 00:53:25,550 --> 00:53:28,683 And it was like this amazing, 1170 00:53:28,727 --> 00:53:32,600 retro, nostalgic party jam. 1171 00:53:32,644 --> 00:53:34,602 You know, the floodgates just opened, 1172 00:53:34,646 --> 00:53:36,996 that film played somewhere 1173 00:53:37,039 --> 00:53:39,346 every single weekend in the month of October. 1174 00:53:39,390 --> 00:53:41,261 Half the questions were like, 1175 00:53:41,305 --> 00:53:43,655 "When is this movie coming out on DVD?" 1176 00:53:43,698 --> 00:53:45,526 And we were all like, "Never. 1177 00:53:45,570 --> 00:53:48,747 I don't think, like, I don't think anyone is releasing it." 1178 00:53:48,790 --> 00:53:52,011 You know, the question got asked, "Where is our DVD?" 1179 00:53:52,054 --> 00:53:53,926 But Fred, you know, said, 1180 00:53:53,969 --> 00:53:56,363 "Hey, you guys are the ones that would make this happen. 1181 00:53:56,407 --> 00:53:59,061 Write letters, write emails, make posts." 1182 00:53:59,105 --> 00:54:03,327 I remember being on DVD forums 1183 00:54:03,370 --> 00:54:06,199 in 2005-2006, when I was seventeen, eighteen. 1184 00:54:06,243 --> 00:54:08,593 People being like, "Can we get Monster Squadon DVD?" 1185 00:54:08,636 --> 00:54:10,464 I was alone in my office at work and I was like, 1186 00:54:10,508 --> 00:54:11,770 "Okay, I'm going to leave the charge on this, 1187 00:54:11,813 --> 00:54:12,901 this is something that I feel like 1188 00:54:12,945 --> 00:54:14,076 needs to happen." 1189 00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:15,774 So one of my ideas was when-- 1190 00:54:15,817 --> 00:54:17,602 when I heard there was a letter writing campaign again, 1191 00:54:17,645 --> 00:54:20,257 I wanted this to get seen, not just throw it into a pile. 1192 00:54:20,300 --> 00:54:22,128 So I got a bunch of index cards 1193 00:54:22,171 --> 00:54:24,739 and crayons and magic markers and stuff like that, 1194 00:54:24,783 --> 00:54:26,437 and, basically, I would either write in 1195 00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:28,526 some of the characters from the movie, like Eugene, 1196 00:54:28,569 --> 00:54:30,745 like desperately wanting this on DVD. 1197 00:54:30,789 --> 00:54:33,008 I think I wrote like 60 letters into the company, 1198 00:54:33,052 --> 00:54:36,055 just to try to get their attention because I was afraid that-- 1199 00:54:36,098 --> 00:54:38,666 that this jam wouldn't make it to DVD. 1200 00:54:38,710 --> 00:54:40,451 I'd like to think that it wasn't obsessive, 1201 00:54:40,494 --> 00:54:43,236 but, um, I think that, all total, it was like 60 note cards 1202 00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:44,890 or something like that, that I sent. 1203 00:54:44,933 --> 00:54:49,460 So I actually had a bootleg DVD I bought off eBay. 1204 00:54:49,503 --> 00:54:51,200 I even had a bootleg DVD. 1205 00:54:51,244 --> 00:54:53,333 So I had to go onto eBay and get the, uh, 1206 00:54:53,377 --> 00:54:56,336 bootleg DVD that was ripped from the Japanese LaserDisc. 1207 00:54:56,380 --> 00:54:58,033 Nowadays, everything comes out. 1208 00:54:58,077 --> 00:55:00,340 Some specialty labels putting out every movie, 1209 00:55:00,384 --> 00:55:03,343 but there was a time, especially when DVD was a new format, 1210 00:55:03,387 --> 00:55:05,214 that that wasn't the case. 1211 00:55:05,258 --> 00:55:07,391 And, in particular, Fred Dekker's movies were the ones 1212 00:55:07,434 --> 00:55:09,654 that everyone talked about saying, "When is Monster Squad 1213 00:55:09,697 --> 00:55:12,178 and Night of the Creeps coming out on DVD?" 1214 00:55:12,221 --> 00:55:14,223 The fan base was letting people know, 1215 00:55:14,267 --> 00:55:17,139 "Hey, we really want to re-embrace this movie. Can we own it?" 1216 00:55:17,183 --> 00:55:21,013 And Lionsgate, they were very smart and very, very attuned 1217 00:55:21,056 --> 00:55:24,625 to what was going on out there, and they threw it out there and they did it right. 1218 00:55:24,669 --> 00:55:28,237 I realized that Monster Squad had made a big impact 1219 00:55:28,281 --> 00:55:31,763 about the time it was coming out on DVD. 1220 00:55:31,806 --> 00:55:33,808 No one was prepared 1221 00:55:33,852 --> 00:55:36,028 for how successful it would end up being. 1222 00:55:37,421 --> 00:55:40,598 It was their highest selling catalog title that they had that year. 1223 00:55:40,641 --> 00:55:42,861 And even I was kind of taken aback by that. Because I was like, 1224 00:55:42,904 --> 00:55:44,863 "Wow, I knew that there were a lot of fans out there, 1225 00:55:44,906 --> 00:55:46,168 but that can't just be 1226 00:55:46,212 --> 00:55:48,170 people my age buying this. 1227 00:55:48,214 --> 00:55:49,737 This is their kids going for this. 1228 00:55:49,781 --> 00:55:51,478 This is a whole other generation, you know, 1229 00:55:51,522 --> 00:55:53,741 picking up the cover and going. "Hey, what is this?" 1230 00:55:53,785 --> 00:55:56,353 Because of Monster Squadsuccess, 1231 00:55:56,396 --> 00:55:58,920 it ended up winning a Saturn Award for best, uh, 1232 00:55:58,964 --> 00:56:00,748 special edition DVD that year. 1233 00:56:00,792 --> 00:56:02,576 It brought me a lot of attention. 1234 00:56:02,620 --> 00:56:06,014 It was a big calling card for me for a lot of years. 1235 00:56:13,805 --> 00:56:16,373 Probably the first time I saw Brent 1236 00:56:16,416 --> 00:56:18,723 was in the grocery store with his mother. 1237 00:56:18,766 --> 00:56:21,029 I had my daughter Rachel with me. 1238 00:56:21,073 --> 00:56:23,467 And he kind of had a little crush on her. 1239 00:56:23,510 --> 00:56:26,339 So every time he saw her, 1240 00:56:26,383 --> 00:56:28,428 he would hide behind the produce 1241 00:56:28,472 --> 00:56:30,865 and then pop up and I thought it was really cute. 1242 00:56:34,347 --> 00:56:37,350 We were out on the beach and we were on the swings 1243 00:56:37,394 --> 00:56:40,005 and he's like, "Hey, you want to be my girlfriend?" 1244 00:56:40,048 --> 00:56:42,660 And I said, "Okay, but what does that mean?" 1245 00:56:42,703 --> 00:56:45,532 And he said, "I think it means we walk around holding hands." 1246 00:56:45,576 --> 00:56:47,099 And I said, "Okay, we could try that." 1247 00:56:51,669 --> 00:56:55,455 Brent asked me to go to a wrestling match. 1248 00:56:55,499 --> 00:56:57,849 He's like, "Don't worry. I'm going to take you to a nice dinner before." 1249 00:56:57,892 --> 00:57:00,591 He wanted it to be really special. 1250 00:57:00,634 --> 00:57:02,244 One of my friends had made fun of him, 1251 00:57:02,288 --> 00:57:04,029 calling him fat. 1252 00:57:04,072 --> 00:57:06,031 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our show. 1253 00:57:06,074 --> 00:57:09,077 Tonight's question, what makes Fat Kid fat? 1254 00:57:09,121 --> 00:57:11,340 - Fat Kid? - Get out of here, EJ. 1255 00:57:11,384 --> 00:57:13,473 And it made him so sad. 1256 00:57:13,517 --> 00:57:15,475 And I remember he just ran out crying. 1257 00:57:19,392 --> 00:57:23,483 His defining moment, when he levels up in this movie, 1258 00:57:23,527 --> 00:57:25,006 I mean, that's-- 1259 00:57:25,050 --> 00:57:28,401 that's really that-- the nerd justice. 1260 00:57:28,445 --> 00:57:30,751 "My name is Horace." 1261 00:57:34,451 --> 00:57:37,410 Hey, Fat Kid, good job. 1262 00:57:37,454 --> 00:57:39,978 My name is Horace. 1263 00:57:41,762 --> 00:57:44,156 Having him go through that experience in real life, 1264 00:57:44,199 --> 00:57:47,202 and then having to get do-- to do that in the movie was pretty cool to see. 1265 00:57:47,246 --> 00:57:49,727 Brent Chalem passed away in 1997. 1266 00:57:49,770 --> 00:57:55,559 It's a big hole that he can't experience it himself 1267 00:57:55,602 --> 00:57:58,605 and or have great crowds like Alamo crowds 1268 00:57:58,649 --> 00:58:01,216 show him that, like, Ashley said it the other day, 1269 00:58:01,260 --> 00:58:03,044 it's like he's got the best arch in the movie. 1270 00:58:03,958 --> 00:58:06,483 Oh. Um, can you go really quick? 1271 00:58:06,526 --> 00:58:07,571 I'm still, like, freaking out about-- 1272 00:58:07,614 --> 00:58:09,355 about Brent-- 1273 00:58:09,398 --> 00:58:11,096 When I was growing up, I was Horace. 1274 00:58:11,139 --> 00:58:14,621 I was a fat kid in Town & Country surf and skate shirts. 1275 00:58:14,665 --> 00:58:16,144 I didn't find out the Brent passed away 1276 00:58:16,188 --> 00:58:18,756 until the-- the DVD push. 1277 00:58:18,799 --> 00:58:23,064 I think mainly because I felt so connected to him 1278 00:58:23,108 --> 00:58:25,371 that now that the DVD was coming out and people were, like, 1279 00:58:25,414 --> 00:58:27,721 loving this and it was on huge news sites and everything, 1280 00:58:27,765 --> 00:58:31,377 it's like, you know, this is where it would pay off. 1281 00:58:31,420 --> 00:58:34,119 And I thought, "Man, I'm never going to get to meet that guy." 1282 00:58:35,250 --> 00:58:38,776 And, um, you know, it's-- it's really sad and upsetting 1283 00:58:38,819 --> 00:58:40,255 that he couldn't be here for this. 1284 00:58:40,299 --> 00:58:42,301 It was wintertime and... 1285 00:58:43,520 --> 00:58:44,825 we got a call. 1286 00:58:45,739 --> 00:58:47,567 He got pneumonia. 1287 00:58:47,611 --> 00:58:50,788 He went to a local hospital and after two or three days, 1288 00:58:50,831 --> 00:58:54,052 instead of waiting till he was completely healed, 1289 00:58:54,095 --> 00:58:58,360 they sent him home with oxygen in his nose, 1290 00:58:58,404 --> 00:59:01,320 and it became dislodged that night. 1291 00:59:01,363 --> 00:59:04,715 He couldn't breathe, so they took him back to the hospital 1292 00:59:04,758 --> 00:59:06,760 in the emergency room. 1293 00:59:06,804 --> 00:59:09,763 And, unfortunately, they did something in the emergency room 1294 00:59:09,807 --> 00:59:11,243 that caused his death. 1295 00:59:11,286 --> 00:59:15,682 They gave him the wrong... medication 1296 00:59:15,726 --> 00:59:18,163 for an asthmatic and he went into a coma. 1297 00:59:18,206 --> 00:59:19,991 We, um, packed up right away. 1298 00:59:20,034 --> 00:59:23,081 I didn't realize how-- how serious it was. 1299 00:59:23,124 --> 00:59:27,955 We all sat with him. We sat with him in the intensive care. 1300 00:59:27,999 --> 00:59:31,393 I do remember, though, the doctors giving us a time period. 1301 00:59:31,437 --> 00:59:34,396 It was like, "He's got about three or four hours 1302 00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:36,268 and he's going to pass, so you need to go in there 1303 00:59:36,311 --> 00:59:37,399 and you need to say goodbye." 1304 00:59:39,097 --> 00:59:45,146 Then he-- he passed and we were all so upset. 1305 00:59:45,190 --> 00:59:48,628 I kind of went into a-- a crazy time after that. 1306 00:59:48,672 --> 00:59:52,414 I got panic attacks and just-- it was not a good time 1307 00:59:52,458 --> 00:59:54,591 and just-- that really affected me, 1308 00:59:54,634 --> 00:59:56,897 um, knowing that he wasn't there anymore. 1309 00:59:59,770 --> 01:00:02,207 - I look the same. This is me. - That's after hair. 1310 01:00:02,250 --> 01:00:04,601 - That's after the hair? Yes. Yeah? - Yes. About a year after. 1311 01:00:07,778 --> 01:00:12,043 And this, that's a picture of Betty Ann, his mom, 1312 01:00:12,086 --> 01:00:16,830 and Brent and always the dog and this-- it was an article 1313 01:00:16,874 --> 01:00:19,920 that they posted about all his commercial time, 1314 01:00:19,964 --> 01:00:21,705 and the commercials that he was in. 1315 01:00:21,748 --> 01:00:24,011 When he went to the first interview, 1316 01:00:24,055 --> 01:00:25,665 it was because his parents said no. 1317 01:00:25,709 --> 01:00:28,015 A lot of his friends were extras in film. 1318 01:00:28,059 --> 01:00:29,887 He called up. 1319 01:00:29,930 --> 01:00:32,193 He looked up the number and called up 1320 01:00:32,237 --> 01:00:33,891 to get himself an interview. 1321 01:00:33,934 --> 01:00:36,154 And they wrote him back. 1322 01:00:36,197 --> 01:00:38,112 He filled out the form himself, 1323 01:00:38,156 --> 01:00:39,461 he was seven years old. 1324 01:00:39,505 --> 01:00:41,115 And when I got the call 1325 01:00:41,159 --> 01:00:43,378 that they were going to be doing this documentary 1326 01:00:43,422 --> 01:00:44,728 on Monster Squad, 1327 01:00:44,771 --> 01:00:46,294 I went, "Wow. 1328 01:00:46,338 --> 01:00:48,470 Thirty years later and then I found out 1329 01:00:48,514 --> 01:00:50,037 what a following it has. 1330 01:00:50,081 --> 01:00:53,606 And one of the biggest people that they remember 1331 01:00:53,650 --> 01:00:55,477 is the lines that Brent said." 1332 01:00:56,653 --> 01:00:59,786 I think I'm more sad now than I was then. 1333 01:01:01,745 --> 01:01:05,096 It was so rad for him to go on these things, you know. 1334 01:01:05,139 --> 01:01:07,228 I'm sad that he's missed out on all of this 1335 01:01:07,272 --> 01:01:12,190 because I think that he would've really enjoyed this 1336 01:01:12,233 --> 01:01:14,714 and it-- and people would've loved him. 1337 01:01:14,758 --> 01:01:16,020 There's a big piece missing. 1338 01:01:17,935 --> 01:01:21,155 You know, one of the characters that really connected and resonates 1339 01:01:21,199 --> 01:01:24,681 with the majority of the fans is not around... 1340 01:01:26,334 --> 01:01:27,640 to experience that. 1341 01:01:29,076 --> 01:01:32,123 That really is the most unfortunate... 1342 01:01:33,559 --> 01:01:36,867 thing that we could possibly have 1343 01:01:36,910 --> 01:01:40,000 in this amazing resurgence of this movie. 1344 01:01:40,044 --> 01:01:42,350 One, they can't see him, 1345 01:01:42,394 --> 01:01:45,049 and two, he can't be a part of that. 1346 01:01:45,092 --> 01:01:48,879 "My name is Horace." 1347 01:01:48,922 --> 01:01:51,969 Awesome. 1348 01:01:55,537 --> 01:01:58,410 And everybody that related to Horace, right? 1349 01:01:58,453 --> 01:02:00,804 Everybody that related to getting their ass kicked 1350 01:02:00,847 --> 01:02:03,023 loved the moment where he pumps the shotgun 1351 01:02:03,067 --> 01:02:05,504 and proves he's the only one of these kids with any fucking balls. 1352 01:02:05,547 --> 01:02:08,289 Like, that's incredible wish fulfillment as a kid, 1353 01:02:08,333 --> 01:02:11,031 it's why I wanted to be a part of that movie so hard. 1354 01:02:11,075 --> 01:02:13,164 That is so iconic, 1355 01:02:13,207 --> 01:02:15,470 seeing a kid cock a shotgun 1356 01:02:15,514 --> 01:02:17,037 and blow away Gillman. 1357 01:02:17,081 --> 01:02:19,387 It cuts from the wide shot to the close shot, 1358 01:02:19,431 --> 01:02:21,955 where he goes, "My name... is Horace." 1359 01:02:21,999 --> 01:02:24,262 And the crowd went fucking apeshit. 1360 01:02:24,305 --> 01:02:27,526 I aspire to do something that good in a movie someday 1361 01:02:27,569 --> 01:02:30,224 because I just think that that's pure cinema. 1362 01:02:30,268 --> 01:02:31,922 You just don't get better than that. 1363 01:02:31,965 --> 01:02:34,054 That was one of those moments that made me think, 1364 01:02:34,098 --> 01:02:37,188 like, "I want to be able to do that to an audience." 1365 01:02:37,231 --> 01:02:38,755 People are going to be saying that 1366 01:02:38,798 --> 01:02:40,669 for thousands of years. 1367 01:02:40,713 --> 01:02:43,716 And it's such a fucking travesty 1368 01:02:43,760 --> 01:02:45,805 that Brent doesn't get to see that. 1369 01:02:45,849 --> 01:02:48,895 He definitely knows, like, he's definitely watching all this 1370 01:02:48,939 --> 01:02:51,637 and, um, he-- he's there. 1371 01:02:51,680 --> 01:02:54,596 Brent is living on through this legacy. 1372 01:02:54,640 --> 01:02:56,903 He did it with his whole heart, 1373 01:02:56,947 --> 01:03:01,821 and he brought life even to a monster movie. 1374 01:03:19,273 --> 01:03:23,495 The Alamo called me and said, would I be interested in doing 1375 01:03:23,538 --> 01:03:26,106 a 30th anniversary tour. 1376 01:03:26,150 --> 01:03:30,197 We got Ryan and Ashley, and Ashley's baby. 1377 01:03:30,241 --> 01:03:33,810 We ended up doing 17 cities in 17 days. 1378 01:03:33,853 --> 01:03:37,422 And half of those had dual screenings in the same night. 1379 01:03:37,465 --> 01:03:39,163 I knew what to expect with the screenings. 1380 01:03:39,206 --> 01:03:40,817 We-- we knew there was going to be Q&A 1381 01:03:40,860 --> 01:03:41,905 and questions, we're going to meet people. 1382 01:03:41,948 --> 01:03:44,168 The traveling part... 1383 01:03:44,211 --> 01:03:47,867 ...of the tour was a whirlwind. 1384 01:03:47,911 --> 01:03:49,913 We know what town we're in? 1385 01:03:49,956 --> 01:03:51,653 - Where are we? - Yeah. 1386 01:03:51,697 --> 01:03:53,177 Let's look at-- We could look on the-- 1387 01:03:53,220 --> 01:03:54,831 There is a flip-flop festival around here. 1388 01:03:54,874 --> 01:03:58,182 That's a.... 1389 01:03:58,225 --> 01:04:00,619 - Cool! - See it? 1390 01:04:00,662 --> 01:04:02,229 - No. - Hang-- Okay, now look. 1391 01:04:02,273 --> 01:04:03,665 - Now look at the sun. - Wha-- 1392 01:04:03,709 --> 01:04:05,276 Wait until that cloud gets back. 1393 01:04:05,319 --> 01:04:07,060 I'm blind. 1394 01:04:10,890 --> 01:04:12,761 Coming out to test for Monster Squad, 1395 01:04:12,805 --> 01:04:15,025 it was probably like the third time I've been in California, 1396 01:04:15,068 --> 01:04:18,942 but it really cemented that idea that, if you want to act, 1397 01:04:18,985 --> 01:04:20,421 LA is the place to be. 1398 01:04:20,465 --> 01:04:22,032 You know, about a year or two after that, 1399 01:04:22,075 --> 01:04:23,250 he ended up moving to LA, 1400 01:04:23,294 --> 01:04:24,425 he's had great success 1401 01:04:24,469 --> 01:04:26,601 because he's an intelligent, 1402 01:04:26,645 --> 01:04:28,125 very talented individual. 1403 01:04:28,168 --> 01:04:29,474 You know, The Monster Squad, you know, 1404 01:04:29,517 --> 01:04:30,605 it's really come full circle for me. 1405 01:04:30,649 --> 01:04:31,911 You know, I get to work 1406 01:04:31,955 --> 01:04:33,782 with Shane Mahan and John Rosengrant 1407 01:04:33,826 --> 01:04:35,567 on a-- on a beautiful movie, The Shape of Water. 1408 01:04:35,610 --> 01:04:37,525 Only seeing him now is making me realize that, 1409 01:04:37,569 --> 01:04:39,484 "Yeah, I know all those guys," 1410 01:04:39,527 --> 01:04:41,094 and I got André Gower right here, so. 1411 01:04:41,138 --> 01:04:42,748 He designed and fabricated 1412 01:04:42,791 --> 01:04:44,924 the amphibian man for The Shape of Water. 1413 01:04:44,968 --> 01:04:46,970 And Mike Hill to create that aesthetic 1414 01:04:47,013 --> 01:04:49,798 is just a fascinating story with someone who, as a kid, 1415 01:04:49,842 --> 01:04:51,496 saw The Monster Squad in the theaters. 1416 01:04:51,539 --> 01:04:53,890 This is a zine I did, it's called I heart Rudy, 1417 01:04:53,933 --> 01:04:57,937 it's about Rudy and also about the Squad. 1418 01:04:57,981 --> 01:04:59,678 You can say that 1419 01:05:00,592 --> 01:05:04,639 the movie Monster Squad and the horror genre in general 1420 01:05:04,683 --> 01:05:07,860 is a boys club and I wanted to get that girl's perspective. 1421 01:05:07,904 --> 01:05:12,821 And I also modeled it after the '80s teeny bopper magazines of the day, 1422 01:05:12,865 --> 01:05:15,563 like Bop, TeenBeat, Big Bopper. 1423 01:05:15,607 --> 01:05:19,437 It was almost like I had stumbled upon Monster Squad, 1424 01:05:19,480 --> 01:05:22,744 like I found a bag of cash in the street or something, 1425 01:05:22,788 --> 01:05:24,616 and no one else seemed to know about it. 1426 01:05:24,659 --> 01:05:27,358 That's definitely why I started Friday Night Frights. 1427 01:05:27,401 --> 01:05:30,578 I kind of just wanted to be like a Johnny Appleseed of horror movies. 1428 01:05:30,622 --> 01:05:32,711 In some ways, it was fun to come full circle 1429 01:05:32,754 --> 01:05:35,932 and show Monster Squad to a sold-out crowd 1430 01:05:35,975 --> 01:05:38,978 here at Friday Night Frights with Fred Dekker there 1431 01:05:39,022 --> 01:05:42,677 to be able to appreciate the fact that all these years later, 1432 01:05:42,721 --> 01:05:44,505 people still love his movie. 1433 01:05:45,898 --> 01:05:47,117 Run! 1434 01:05:47,160 --> 01:05:48,814 - Kick him in the nards! - Run! 1435 01:05:48,857 --> 01:05:50,903 - Kick him in the nards! - He doesn't have nards! 1436 01:05:50,947 --> 01:05:52,687 You know, The Goldbergsis a comedy, 1437 01:05:52,731 --> 01:05:54,994 essentially, the way I pitched it was 1438 01:05:55,038 --> 01:05:56,691 a movie geek growing up in the '80s. 1439 01:05:56,735 --> 01:05:59,651 When I saw Monster Squad, I think-- 1440 01:05:59,694 --> 01:06:01,870 outside of some Mel Brooks jokes, 1441 01:06:01,914 --> 01:06:04,612 the idea that Wolfman has nards 1442 01:06:04,656 --> 01:06:08,442 was so crazy-funny to me. 1443 01:06:08,486 --> 01:06:12,794 And it's just one of those jokes that kind of defined my sense of humor. 1444 01:06:12,838 --> 01:06:14,666 Do it, do it! 1445 01:06:16,668 --> 01:06:18,452 Wolfman's got nards! 1446 01:06:18,496 --> 01:06:20,498 Come on! Come on! 1447 01:06:22,065 --> 01:06:23,588 Every character on my show 1448 01:06:23,631 --> 01:06:26,069 is constantly going nards in some sort 1449 01:06:26,112 --> 01:06:28,897 because I taught it to everyone through The Monster Squad. 1450 01:06:28,941 --> 01:06:31,988 What was that? Punch your brother in the nards? 1451 01:06:32,031 --> 01:06:34,642 Good luck and cover your nards. 1452 01:06:34,686 --> 01:06:35,904 Nards, definitely the nards. 1453 01:06:35,948 --> 01:06:37,036 Oh, nards. 1454 01:06:37,080 --> 01:06:38,211 All you did was keep us in line 1455 01:06:38,255 --> 01:06:39,169 and let us get hit in the nose, 1456 01:06:39,212 --> 01:06:40,039 head, face and nards. 1457 01:06:40,083 --> 01:06:41,127 In the nards! 1458 01:06:41,171 --> 01:06:42,389 Everybody's just standing around 1459 01:06:42,433 --> 01:06:43,912 scratching their nards. 1460 01:06:43,956 --> 01:06:46,350 How many words for nards do you people know? 1461 01:06:46,393 --> 01:06:48,787 And people recognize, "Oh, that's The Monster Squad." 1462 01:06:48,830 --> 01:06:53,357 So this show was about giving a shout out to the movies that-- that shaped us. 1463 01:06:53,400 --> 01:06:55,011 Right now, every day I wake up 1464 01:06:55,054 --> 01:06:57,230 and I go and make a show 1465 01:06:57,274 --> 01:06:59,493 called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 1466 01:06:59,537 --> 01:07:01,539 And for me, the biggest thing it does is 1467 01:07:01,582 --> 01:07:02,931 it allows me to have... 1468 01:07:03,889 --> 01:07:05,804 kind of a squad of four heroes 1469 01:07:05,847 --> 01:07:08,111 just beat up and kill monsters every week. 1470 01:07:08,154 --> 01:07:11,114 It's pretty simple. 1471 01:07:11,157 --> 01:07:14,117 Oh, that love of genre and movies 1472 01:07:14,160 --> 01:07:16,641 led me to work at a video store. 1473 01:07:16,684 --> 01:07:18,338 And then, working at the video store, 1474 01:07:18,382 --> 01:07:20,036 it was cool because I got to talk about movies. 1475 01:07:20,079 --> 01:07:21,907 And then, one day, you're in high school 1476 01:07:21,950 --> 01:07:23,996 and they say, "What do you want to do with your life?" 1477 01:07:24,040 --> 01:07:26,085 And you've been watching The Monster Squad and these movies, 1478 01:07:26,129 --> 01:07:27,652 you know, "I want to get paid to watch movies." 1479 01:07:27,695 --> 01:07:29,654 "How do you get paid to watch movies?" 1480 01:07:29,697 --> 01:07:31,090 "Uh, well, you become a film critic." 1481 01:07:31,134 --> 01:07:33,092 Certainly Monster Squadwa-- 1482 01:07:33,136 --> 01:07:35,181 was a pretty big influence on Beyond The Gates, 1483 01:07:35,225 --> 01:07:38,706 like, kind of the three touchstones for it to pour. 1484 01:07:38,750 --> 01:07:41,753 Phantasm, The Gateand Monster Squad. 1485 01:07:41,796 --> 01:07:43,711 Knights of Badassdom is definitely 1486 01:07:43,755 --> 01:07:47,106 one of the influences that was derived from Monster Squad 1487 01:07:47,150 --> 01:07:49,543 for better for worse, depending on if you've seen the movie. 1488 01:07:49,587 --> 01:07:51,980 I wanted to make the sequel 1489 01:07:52,024 --> 01:07:54,418 to The Monster Squad or the sequel to The Goonies 1490 01:07:54,461 --> 01:07:57,899 where we've all seen them now grown up 20, 30 years later. 1491 01:07:57,943 --> 01:08:00,337 I wanted to see what-- what all these kids did. 1492 01:08:00,380 --> 01:08:02,339 I had a movie night with my cast 1493 01:08:02,382 --> 01:08:04,602 and we watched An American Werewolf in London, 1494 01:08:05,603 --> 01:08:07,561 Goonies, Monster Squad. 1495 01:08:07,605 --> 01:08:09,911 Sitting down with Steve Zahn and Peter Dinklage 1496 01:08:09,955 --> 01:08:12,131 watching The Monster Squad-- Yeah, picture that one. 1497 01:08:12,175 --> 01:08:17,136 I had a VHS recording of Monster Squadfrom HBO growing up 1498 01:08:17,180 --> 01:08:19,269 and I used to watch it every day. 1499 01:08:19,312 --> 01:08:22,054 And, um, that sparked my interest 1500 01:08:22,098 --> 01:08:24,056 in the classic monsters, 1501 01:08:24,926 --> 01:08:27,103 and introduced me to practical effects 1502 01:08:27,146 --> 01:08:29,931 and creature effects and-- and Stan Winston. 1503 01:08:29,975 --> 01:08:32,760 And I started professionally sculpting toys, 1504 01:08:32,804 --> 01:08:35,720 the Creature From The Black Lagoonspecifically, 1505 01:08:35,763 --> 01:08:37,330 um, when I was 15. 1506 01:08:37,374 --> 01:08:39,680 And from that, it just led me to a career 1507 01:08:39,724 --> 01:08:43,554 of creating monsters for movies for 15 years now. 1508 01:08:43,597 --> 01:08:45,251 When I think about the just-- 1509 01:08:45,295 --> 01:08:47,384 just how important the Gillman was to me, 1510 01:08:47,427 --> 01:08:50,474 my career was always about the monster, 1511 01:08:50,517 --> 01:08:52,476 and I didn't know that this would be such a-- 1512 01:08:52,519 --> 01:08:54,391 a formative beginning because, uh, 1513 01:08:54,434 --> 01:08:56,349 it showed a-- it showed that I could do it. 1514 01:08:56,393 --> 01:08:58,612 It showed tha-- that I was respected for what I did 1515 01:08:58,656 --> 01:09:02,094 which meant I could continue to do more of it and be in other suits. 1516 01:09:02,138 --> 01:09:05,228 I wonder, had I not done that, had I not gotten over that, 1517 01:09:05,271 --> 01:09:08,187 that, that feeling of, "Am I good enough to do this?" 1518 01:09:08,231 --> 01:09:11,408 Had I not done it early enough, I would still be making monsters, 1519 01:09:11,451 --> 01:09:13,801 bu-- but it wouldn't feel as complete to me as it is, 1520 01:09:13,845 --> 01:09:18,023 being able to-- to be the monster at the other end of the schedule. 1521 01:09:18,066 --> 01:09:21,505 I think I try to put as much of myself 1522 01:09:21,548 --> 01:09:24,943 into the characters that I write. 1523 01:09:24,986 --> 01:09:27,815 And it all goes back to the movies I saw 1524 01:09:27,859 --> 01:09:31,123 when I was eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 1525 01:09:31,167 --> 01:09:34,779 uh, an-- and thinking, "I know these kids, I'm one of these kids." 1526 01:09:34,822 --> 01:09:39,218 And, uh, that's-- that's how those movies spoke to me. 1527 01:09:39,262 --> 01:09:42,352 I mean, I-- I think I-- I probably did try to start 1528 01:09:42,395 --> 01:09:44,658 my own Monster Squad at one point. 1529 01:09:44,702 --> 01:09:48,009 What I do now is, every Wednesday night, no matter what, 1530 01:09:48,053 --> 01:09:51,883 we come here into this, you know, sanctuary. 1531 01:09:53,928 --> 01:09:58,455 And, you know, we are surrounded by monsters and some robots. 1532 01:09:59,717 --> 01:10:01,632 We'll build model kits, we'll draw. 1533 01:10:03,111 --> 01:10:06,506 And I think it's important because it's-- 1534 01:10:06,550 --> 01:10:09,553 it's a chance for us to kind of creatively take a breath 1535 01:10:09,596 --> 01:10:11,424 away from the things 1536 01:10:11,468 --> 01:10:13,513 that we do on a daily basis. 1537 01:10:13,557 --> 01:10:16,603 And for me, it's tricky because I have a creative job, 1538 01:10:16,647 --> 01:10:20,477 but I-- I have to understand not to take that for granted, 1539 01:10:20,520 --> 01:10:23,349 and I think this is kind of a nice counterbalance. 1540 01:10:23,393 --> 01:10:25,351 - Like, in 1990, it was the first time I saw... - Yeah. 1541 01:10:25,395 --> 01:10:27,745 ...Monster Squad,I'd just drawn an invite, you go, 1542 01:10:27,788 --> 01:10:30,269 - "What is this? What am I even watching?" It was so good. - Yeah. 1543 01:10:31,314 --> 01:10:33,577 Like, me coming here and doing something that's almost, 1544 01:10:33,620 --> 01:10:35,622 in a way, creatively selfish, 1545 01:10:35,666 --> 01:10:39,931 allows me to go back to work, and it fuels that work. 1546 01:10:54,511 --> 01:10:57,209 An-- and I'm with a bunch of goofy guys in here, and we-- and, you know, 1547 01:10:57,253 --> 01:11:00,256 we're laughing and stuff like that about off things here and there, 1548 01:11:00,299 --> 01:11:03,998 but, at the same time, it's like we are very fueled visually 1549 01:11:04,042 --> 01:11:09,526 as-- as artists. This place almost is purposefully saturating me 1550 01:11:09,569 --> 01:11:12,311 with that stuff and reminding me visually. 1551 01:11:12,355 --> 01:11:14,835 I think the dream was always to, you know, 1552 01:11:14,879 --> 01:11:17,316 "Hey, let's have a-- let's have a monster club. 1553 01:11:17,360 --> 01:11:19,013 Like, no one else can come to this." 1554 01:11:19,057 --> 01:11:21,407 But that's what you do when you're in your 40's. 1555 01:11:21,451 --> 01:11:23,191 You can't do that in your 30's. 1556 01:11:23,235 --> 01:11:24,758 - No? - Not really. 1557 01:11:44,387 --> 01:11:46,911 All right. So we're waiting for the administrator 1558 01:11:46,954 --> 01:11:48,434 who we just spoke to to see if, um, 1559 01:11:48,478 --> 01:11:50,480 we can get permission to take the crew in 1560 01:11:50,523 --> 01:11:53,526 and bring us in there to go surprise Douglas and say hi. 1561 01:11:53,570 --> 01:11:56,660 That's the kid for the-- that didn't come 1562 01:11:56,703 --> 01:11:58,488 yesterday to the screening. 1563 01:11:58,531 --> 01:12:00,272 Hopefully we can get in there and give him 1564 01:12:00,316 --> 01:12:02,056 - a little... - Surprise! 1565 01:12:02,100 --> 01:12:03,319 ...A little surprise. 1566 01:12:08,541 --> 01:12:10,717 You mind if we come in and hang out for a little bit? 1567 01:12:10,761 --> 01:12:12,893 You sure? We got a crew with us, you're fine with that? 1568 01:12:13,894 --> 01:12:15,809 How you doing? I'm going to give you that. 1569 01:12:17,420 --> 01:12:20,031 - How you feeling? So, this is Douglas. - Hey, buddy. 1570 01:12:20,074 --> 01:12:22,250 - Nice to see, I'm Ryan. Here. - Douglas. 1571 01:12:22,294 --> 01:12:24,035 Oh, we taught you could make it last night, man. 1572 01:12:24,078 --> 01:12:26,820 Oh, I'm-- I'm sorry too, I wanted to, but-- 1573 01:12:26,864 --> 01:12:30,346 I'd rather you be with us than-- I'd rather you be with us than in here, yeah. 1574 01:12:30,389 --> 01:12:31,999 You feeling better, though, a little bit or... 1575 01:12:32,043 --> 01:12:33,914 - Uh, getting there. - Okay, good. 1576 01:12:33,958 --> 01:12:35,829 He was so upset when he heard he wouldn't get-- 1577 01:12:35,873 --> 01:12:37,744 I know, that's why we had to come say hi. 1578 01:12:37,788 --> 01:12:40,312 Yeah, we came to, uh, represent a little bit. 1579 01:12:41,357 --> 01:12:44,882 For me, it's beyond words. I mean, it's-- 1580 01:12:44,925 --> 01:12:48,581 The movie's been a part-- a huge part of my life. Uh-- 1581 01:12:49,582 --> 01:12:51,976 And you all are standing right in front of me. I don't know. 1582 01:12:52,019 --> 01:12:54,195 I don't really know what to say about that. Yeah. 1583 01:12:54,239 --> 01:12:56,894 How old were you when you first saw it, you remember? 1584 01:12:56,937 --> 01:13:00,201 Oh, man, probably, probably five, 1585 01:13:00,245 --> 01:13:01,812 - maybe. - Wow, you started early. 1586 01:13:01,855 --> 01:13:03,509 - Yeah, very early. - All right, I like that. 1587 01:13:03,553 --> 01:13:05,685 Yeah, me and Louise sat in boxes 1588 01:13:05,729 --> 01:13:07,470 and watch it in front of the TV. 1589 01:13:07,513 --> 01:13:09,820 You used to sit up late and watch it, 1590 01:13:09,863 --> 01:13:12,518 - together, you used to watch it together. - Oh, yeah. 1591 01:13:13,867 --> 01:13:17,436 I think Monster Squadis a movie about outcasts 1592 01:13:17,480 --> 01:13:20,831 and y-- if you identified with that movie, 1593 01:13:20,874 --> 01:13:22,485 you're an outcast. 1594 01:13:22,528 --> 01:13:25,052 It's so sweet. It's just so sweet. 1595 01:13:25,096 --> 01:13:27,881 Phoebe really wanting Frankenstein's monster to stay, 1596 01:13:27,925 --> 01:13:31,102 and like, "Don't go!" And she gives him her, like, 1597 01:13:31,145 --> 01:13:33,626 stuffed animal, her little dog, that, like, 1598 01:13:33,670 --> 01:13:35,846 she has with her the entire time. 1599 01:13:35,889 --> 01:13:38,457 It's on her belt, it's always with her, keeping her safe. 1600 01:13:38,501 --> 01:13:42,940 And so, she throws out to him so he's safe and limbo like-- 1601 01:13:42,983 --> 01:13:46,247 Oh, I'm going to cry, I am crying. It's-- it's the best. 1602 01:13:48,119 --> 01:13:50,513 I want to call it, you know, th-- the-- 1603 01:13:50,556 --> 01:13:52,645 I don't even know, I don't have a word to describe 1604 01:13:52,689 --> 01:13:54,299 what it means to our family. 1605 01:13:54,342 --> 01:13:56,127 How the movie plays into my life? 1606 01:13:56,170 --> 01:13:58,651 I was 12. My name is Shawn. 1607 01:13:58,695 --> 01:14:01,480 I got in trouble for drawing in class, but also, 1608 01:14:01,524 --> 01:14:04,483 five months before the movie opens, 1609 01:14:04,527 --> 01:14:06,833 um, I'd been diagnosed with HIV. 1610 01:14:06,877 --> 01:14:08,879 And it was devastating for me and my family. 1611 01:14:08,922 --> 01:14:10,184 I was kicked out of school. 1612 01:14:11,055 --> 01:14:13,187 You know. 1613 01:14:13,231 --> 01:14:16,190 Leaving Ecuador at 13 years old was really tough 1614 01:14:16,234 --> 01:14:18,932 because it was like going from one planet to another. 1615 01:14:18,976 --> 01:14:22,675 I know for me, personally, having a physical disability, 1616 01:14:22,719 --> 01:14:25,417 childhood wasn't always the easiest. 1617 01:14:25,461 --> 01:14:29,508 I never really felt like I fit in anywhere. 1618 01:14:29,552 --> 01:14:33,556 For my situation as an only child and being more of an introvert, 1619 01:14:33,599 --> 01:14:36,994 I would usually latch on to one or two people, 1620 01:14:37,037 --> 01:14:38,996 and so I'd have one or two close friends. 1621 01:14:39,039 --> 01:14:42,260 I remember that night, hearing about this monster movie, 1622 01:14:42,303 --> 01:14:44,610 small town in Waynesboro, Virginia. 1623 01:14:44,654 --> 01:14:47,134 And me being able to go with my friends and sit there, 1624 01:14:47,178 --> 01:14:49,180 and get lost in the movie, 1625 01:14:49,223 --> 01:14:53,358 and forget about some of the things that, you know, where happening. 1626 01:14:53,401 --> 01:14:55,534 Monster Squad, for me, was just kind of sort of, like, 1627 01:14:55,578 --> 01:14:58,189 it was that group of friends that I needed 1628 01:14:58,232 --> 01:15:01,105 when I kind of sort of didn't have friends at the time. 1629 01:15:01,148 --> 01:15:05,675 There's a comfort to it. And so, that emotional comfort of coming home. 1630 01:15:05,718 --> 01:15:07,894 It just sort of gives you a refresher. 1631 01:15:07,938 --> 01:15:11,507 Monster Squad definitely helped me at a time when I needed it. 1632 01:15:11,550 --> 01:15:14,553 I blocked out a lot of that time period, but I remember, 1633 01:15:14,597 --> 01:15:17,774 I remember going to that movie and sitting there. 1634 01:15:17,817 --> 01:15:20,820 I felt normal again, you know, I didn't feel like a monster. 1635 01:15:20,864 --> 01:15:23,780 And I like that I have that memory. 1636 01:15:23,823 --> 01:15:26,130 Movies like Monster Squad, um, 1637 01:15:26,173 --> 01:15:29,829 in a-- in a weird way kind of gave me that, 1638 01:15:29,873 --> 01:15:33,398 um, safe net when I didn't feel safe. 1639 01:15:33,441 --> 01:15:35,356 It's just so emotional, like, 1640 01:15:35,400 --> 01:15:38,272 this movie has been with me forever. 1641 01:15:38,316 --> 01:15:41,188 So, it's just something that I've always known, 1642 01:15:41,232 --> 01:15:43,103 I could always go back to it. 1643 01:15:43,147 --> 01:15:44,409 It's helped me through some really hard times, 1644 01:15:44,452 --> 01:15:46,063 just being able to, like, 1645 01:15:46,106 --> 01:15:49,457 take a break and just smile and, like, 1646 01:15:49,501 --> 01:15:50,763 feel accepted. 1647 01:15:52,069 --> 01:15:52,939 So... 1648 01:16:10,130 --> 01:16:14,091 How did Monster Squad affect my life personally? 1649 01:16:14,134 --> 01:16:17,355 Um, I think it's my best movie. 1650 01:16:17,398 --> 01:16:22,621 I think it's reached the widest audience of anything, uh, 1651 01:16:22,665 --> 01:16:24,536 that I've done as a director. 1652 01:16:25,624 --> 01:16:31,108 And it's sort of killed my career for a period of time. 1653 01:16:32,326 --> 01:16:36,940 I think it's probably my epithet-- 1654 01:16:36,983 --> 01:16:38,289 it's probably going to be on my... 1655 01:16:39,595 --> 01:16:41,161 gravestone, and I'm... 1656 01:16:42,423 --> 01:16:43,686 ambivalent about that. 1657 01:16:44,643 --> 01:16:47,951 The analogy I make is, you do a piano concerto 1658 01:16:48,865 --> 01:16:50,954 in front of an audience, 1659 01:16:50,997 --> 01:16:53,870 and a couple people applaud and then they leave. 1660 01:16:53,913 --> 01:16:55,567 And then, 20 years later, 1661 01:16:55,611 --> 01:16:57,177 somebody comes up to you in the street and goes, 1662 01:16:58,048 --> 01:17:01,965 "I saw that piano concerto you did. That was incredible." 1663 01:17:02,008 --> 01:17:03,793 There's such a disconnect 1664 01:17:04,794 --> 01:17:08,058 from what you did to the response 1665 01:17:08,101 --> 01:17:11,409 that it's really hard to codify emotionally. 1666 01:17:11,452 --> 01:17:13,716 It's like shooting a basket in 1987 1667 01:17:13,759 --> 01:17:16,936 and then it doesn't go in until 2006. 1668 01:17:16,980 --> 01:17:18,677 That's-- that's weird. 1669 01:17:18,721 --> 01:17:22,202 That's really hard for me to kind of make sense of. 1670 01:17:23,116 --> 01:17:25,336 It's not-- it's not the sexy answer. 1671 01:17:25,379 --> 01:17:27,033 It's not the answer you want and it doesn't, 1672 01:17:27,077 --> 01:17:29,209 you know, sort of wrap things up with a bow. 1673 01:17:29,253 --> 01:17:31,821 I mean, I-- I don't-- I don't mean to downplay it. 1674 01:17:31,864 --> 01:17:34,258 I just have a very personal relationship with it 1675 01:17:34,301 --> 01:17:36,042 because I put my heart and soul int-- into it 1676 01:17:36,086 --> 01:17:38,218 and nobody noticed for 20 years. 1677 01:17:43,397 --> 01:17:45,225 London was a total dream. 1678 01:17:45,269 --> 01:17:47,053 I was like that's definitely not happening. 1679 01:17:49,926 --> 01:17:53,494 It's just something that, when you try to explain it to people, 1680 01:17:55,409 --> 01:17:59,196 there's a-- th-- they just-- it-- they can't get a grasp on it. 1681 01:17:59,239 --> 01:18:02,547 They're like, "What did you do in 2017?" 1682 01:18:02,590 --> 01:18:03,417 You're like, 1683 01:18:04,941 --> 01:18:06,682 "I went out and met a bunch of people 1684 01:18:08,858 --> 01:18:12,252 that feel very strongly about something that I did when I was 15." 1685 01:18:13,776 --> 01:18:16,822 And, uh, you got to love them. 1686 01:18:17,780 --> 01:18:19,085 I got a dog called Rudy as well. 1687 01:18:19,129 --> 01:18:21,261 You have a dog-- your dog's name is Rudy? 1688 01:18:21,305 --> 01:18:23,916 - I gave it when I was five years old. Thank you, sir. - That's awesome. 1689 01:18:23,960 --> 01:18:26,005 So we set up a screening 1690 01:18:26,049 --> 01:18:27,746 in London, at the Prince Charles Cinema, 1691 01:18:27,790 --> 01:18:30,314 which is something I've always wanted to attend. 1692 01:18:30,357 --> 01:18:33,491 We get there and we have a mom and her daughter, 1693 01:18:33,534 --> 01:18:36,059 and we learned that even 30 years later, 1694 01:18:36,102 --> 01:18:39,497 the 15 rating still holds effect in the UK. 1695 01:18:39,540 --> 01:18:41,412 And she's not allowed to come into the theater. 1696 01:18:41,455 --> 01:18:43,762 They bought their tickets, they waited in line, 1697 01:18:43,806 --> 01:18:45,198 and they can't come in. 1698 01:18:45,242 --> 01:18:46,765 "You're going to meet Sean and Rudy." 1699 01:18:46,809 --> 01:18:47,810 And I'm like, "Wow!" 1700 01:18:49,376 --> 01:18:51,552 And I just started jumping around and, you know, saying, 1701 01:18:51,596 --> 01:18:54,773 "What am I going to wear? What am I going to do?" And, you know-- 1702 01:18:54,817 --> 01:18:58,037 We made sure that she was allowed to at least come in 1703 01:18:58,081 --> 01:19:00,300 - for the Q&A. - Allegra is in here. Yes? 1704 01:19:00,344 --> 01:19:04,043 - Allegra? Hi. - She in the back? Where's she at? There she is. 1705 01:19:04,087 --> 01:19:05,828 She was a trooper. She understood, she knows the thing. 1706 01:19:05,871 --> 01:19:08,439 Her mom was great, and we got to hang out afterwards. 1707 01:19:08,482 --> 01:19:12,791 I'm more of an '80s girl than more of, like, a now modern one. 1708 01:19:12,835 --> 01:19:14,227 Because my mom always says, 1709 01:19:14,271 --> 01:19:15,838 "Be a modern girl!" And I'm like, 1710 01:19:15,881 --> 01:19:18,579 "No, I want to be an '80s star, you know." 1711 01:19:18,623 --> 01:19:19,537 Just like it. 1712 01:19:33,725 --> 01:19:35,074 Here we are, 30 years later. 1713 01:19:36,641 --> 01:19:39,122 And, in the last ten years, what we've seen is this movie 1714 01:19:39,165 --> 01:19:42,603 attain this almost unprecedented cult popularity. 1715 01:19:42,647 --> 01:19:45,345 I think it's the love of kids and monsters 1716 01:19:45,389 --> 01:19:47,783 and just the tone of the movie 1717 01:19:47,826 --> 01:19:49,088 that sustained it. 1718 01:19:49,132 --> 01:19:51,090 This growth in the love 1719 01:19:51,134 --> 01:19:54,267 and the attachment to The Monster Squad 1720 01:19:54,311 --> 01:19:56,008 has not died down. 1721 01:19:56,052 --> 01:19:58,881 There's more fans today than there were in 2006. 1722 01:19:58,924 --> 01:20:00,926 And there's new fans today. 1723 01:20:00,970 --> 01:20:02,623 We have a whole second generation 1724 01:20:02,667 --> 01:20:03,886 of Monster Squadfans. 1725 01:20:03,929 --> 01:20:05,801 It is fantastic 1726 01:20:05,844 --> 01:20:07,585 to be here in the Warner Brothers lot 1727 01:20:07,628 --> 01:20:09,674 whereMonster Squad was originally filmed. 1728 01:20:09,717 --> 01:20:12,068 We got all these amazing sights right here. 1729 01:20:12,111 --> 01:20:14,113 And you've got your family here with you today. 1730 01:20:14,157 --> 01:20:16,028 So what's it like sharing something likeMonster Squad, 1731 01:20:16,072 --> 01:20:18,726 that meant so much to you with your own kids? 1732 01:20:18,770 --> 01:20:20,598 As-- as it being one of my favorite movies, 1733 01:20:20,641 --> 01:20:22,469 it just-- they were-- they grew up with it, 1734 01:20:22,513 --> 01:20:24,080 and they loved it from-- from the beginning. 1735 01:20:24,123 --> 01:20:26,822 It has so many aspects to it that attracted me 1736 01:20:26,865 --> 01:20:29,868 and-- and them that it's just part of us. 1737 01:20:29,912 --> 01:20:33,611 But what a surprise, what a-- what a really odd but pleasant surprise 1738 01:20:33,654 --> 01:20:35,569 that this thing that we planted 1739 01:20:35,613 --> 01:20:37,354 then it grew into something 1740 01:20:37,397 --> 01:20:39,835 and we come around 20 years later 1741 01:20:39,878 --> 01:20:42,663 and there's a freaking tree there where there was a seed before. 1742 01:20:44,578 --> 01:20:47,581 - You got to have the dead media. - Have all the media, right? 1743 01:20:47,625 --> 01:20:49,366 Okay. So let's go through the countries. 1744 01:20:49,409 --> 01:20:53,500 So, Mexico, Poland, France. 1745 01:20:53,544 --> 01:20:56,416 At one point, someone asked me, "I need to meet you in real life at some point 1746 01:20:56,460 --> 01:20:58,549 because I can't wait to look at your Monster Squadcollection." 1747 01:20:58,592 --> 01:21:01,247 And all the sudden it dawned on me that I didn't really have 1748 01:21:01,291 --> 01:21:02,901 a lot of Monster Squadstuff. 1749 01:21:02,945 --> 01:21:05,208 I remember, like, uh, going on eBay and looking 1750 01:21:05,251 --> 01:21:07,775 and seeing that there were some, like, copies from the UK 1751 01:21:07,819 --> 01:21:10,213 kind of circling around and I thought, "You know what would be really cool? 1752 01:21:10,256 --> 01:21:12,432 It's buying some of those, something that I could display, 1753 01:21:12,476 --> 01:21:14,782 but also knowing that each tape has a heritage 1754 01:21:14,826 --> 01:21:17,481 of being an ex-rental that-- that there's a-- there's a life 1755 01:21:17,524 --> 01:21:19,352 in each one of these tapes, even if I don't watch them." 1756 01:21:19,396 --> 01:21:21,964 I would just love the idea of having a bit of Monster Squad 1757 01:21:22,007 --> 01:21:24,183 that touched every continent on the planet. 1758 01:21:24,227 --> 01:21:25,706 And I'm pretty close. 1759 01:21:27,578 --> 01:21:29,145 Wasn't it interesting... 1760 01:21:30,320 --> 01:21:31,625 that a movie that is... 1761 01:21:32,496 --> 01:21:35,716 basically a pastiche about nostalgia for childhood 1762 01:21:35,760 --> 01:21:38,371 now lets you, the actor in the movie, 1763 01:21:39,329 --> 01:21:41,113 relive the nostalgia for your childhood? 1764 01:21:42,114 --> 01:21:45,161 You know, in essence you were a monster fighter when you were a kid 1765 01:21:45,204 --> 01:21:47,119 and now you get to go back and relive that. 1766 01:21:49,339 --> 01:21:52,777 As an adult, you develop this kind of distance. 1767 01:21:52,820 --> 01:21:56,737 It becomes about ideas and aesthetics and you lose the kid. 1768 01:21:56,781 --> 01:21:59,175 Kids who have this peculiar belief in imagination 1769 01:22:00,132 --> 01:22:03,179 that's died within the cynical adults, 1770 01:22:03,222 --> 01:22:05,964 and they say, "We believe that this is the key to life, 1771 01:22:06,008 --> 01:22:08,097 not growing up." 1772 01:22:08,140 --> 01:22:09,968 I always have to see through the eyes of the kid. 1773 01:22:10,012 --> 01:22:12,666 That's what people are responding to in Monster Squad. 1774 01:22:12,710 --> 01:22:17,106 Monster Squadwas something that I, whenever I saw it, 1775 01:22:17,149 --> 01:22:19,804 I related to it, but I didn't know why I related to it. 1776 01:22:19,847 --> 01:22:21,327 We know these characters, 1777 01:22:21,371 --> 01:22:23,373 we went to school with them and we are them. 1778 01:22:23,416 --> 01:22:25,766 I wish I had that experience. 1779 01:22:25,810 --> 01:22:31,163 And I think the idea of kids preserving that is important. 1780 01:22:31,207 --> 01:22:33,687 And I think that's whatThe Monster Squad appeals to as well. 1781 01:22:35,689 --> 01:22:38,954 I mean, we are a family, that's how, you know, that-- that's how it is. 1782 01:22:39,911 --> 01:22:43,045 We were a part of the squad. Someone in school was just like Sean. 1783 01:22:43,088 --> 01:22:44,742 Who isn't that young kid? 1784 01:22:44,785 --> 01:22:47,005 Whether it's fighting the Wolfman 1785 01:22:47,049 --> 01:22:49,268 or just having to get through really sucky sixth grade. 1786 01:22:49,312 --> 01:22:51,227 Every time I watch The Monster Squad, 1787 01:22:51,270 --> 01:22:52,880 it takes me back to my childhood, 1788 01:22:52,924 --> 01:22:53,794 every single time. 1789 01:22:55,057 --> 01:22:58,408 Whether they're 40 or-- or 12, 1790 01:22:58,451 --> 01:23:02,064 they're seeing it through the eyes of a kid because it was told through the eyes of a kid. 1791 01:23:02,107 --> 01:23:04,457 In essence, we made the movie for you, 1792 01:23:04,501 --> 01:23:06,720 and you just had to grow up in time to really appreciate it, 1793 01:23:06,764 --> 01:23:08,113 you know. 1794 01:23:24,695 --> 01:23:27,306 I have memories of driving my parents crazy 1795 01:23:27,350 --> 01:23:30,048 with repeat viewings and repeating certain phrases 1796 01:23:30,092 --> 01:23:31,615 that-- that just caught on with me. 1797 01:23:31,658 --> 01:23:33,704 I'd just always get chills every time 1798 01:23:33,747 --> 01:23:36,141 Rudy says, "I'm in a goddamn club, aren't I?" 1799 01:23:36,185 --> 01:23:39,014 "Give me the amulet, you bitch." 1800 01:23:41,712 --> 01:23:45,150 "Kick him in the nards," right? It's the most, uh, iconic scene from the movie. 1801 01:23:45,194 --> 01:23:47,370 - Or your dad's fighting off Wolfman. - Yeah. 1802 01:23:47,413 --> 01:23:48,936 "Stick it down right in his pants." 1803 01:23:51,287 --> 01:23:52,723 She was Phoebe. 1804 01:23:52,766 --> 01:23:54,986 I had a deal with an older sis-- 1805 01:23:55,030 --> 01:23:57,728 two older sisters that would bully me and everything. 1806 01:23:57,771 --> 01:23:59,556 - Oh, my God! - They were-- 1807 01:23:59,599 --> 01:24:01,297 We beat people's asses for you... 1808 01:24:01,340 --> 01:24:04,082 ...in Staten Island. Holy shit! 1809 01:24:04,126 --> 01:24:05,605 - You did! - I did! 1810 01:24:05,649 --> 01:24:08,086 Dracula was always really sexy to me. 1811 01:24:08,130 --> 01:24:10,436 - I'm like, "Restrain yourself, girl." - I forgot, 1812 01:24:10,480 --> 01:24:11,785 - I just forgot. - Right? 1813 01:24:11,829 --> 01:24:13,787 Showed it to friends in Saudi Arabia, 1814 01:24:13,831 --> 01:24:17,008 and then kind of formed a little Monster SquadSaudi Arabia. 1815 01:24:17,052 --> 01:24:18,357 Never found any monsters. 1816 01:24:18,401 --> 01:24:21,099 We've raided our mom's pantries 1817 01:24:21,143 --> 01:24:23,493 to get garlic salt and garlic powder. 1818 01:24:23,536 --> 01:24:26,061 I used to imagine, before going to bed at night, 1819 01:24:26,104 --> 01:24:29,586 that Dracula would visit me and turn me into his apprentice. 1820 01:24:32,719 --> 01:24:35,679 I could, um, I could bring up The Goonies 1821 01:24:35,722 --> 01:24:38,421 - first-- - Cut. Cut, no. Yeah, no. We're out. 1822 01:24:38,464 --> 01:24:40,423 We're done, we're done. Let's-- 1823 01:24:41,902 --> 01:24:43,600 "Wolfman's got nards!" 1824 01:24:43,643 --> 01:24:45,558 "Wolfman's got nards!" 1825 01:24:45,602 --> 01:24:47,386 "Wolfman's got nards!" 1826 01:24:47,430 --> 01:24:49,823 "Wolfman's got nards!" 1827 01:24:49,867 --> 01:24:52,304 "Wolfman's got nards!" 1828 01:24:52,348 --> 01:24:54,915 "Wolfman's got nards!" 1829 01:25:08,581 --> 01:25:11,454 ♪ So let's keep it underground 1830 01:25:15,936 --> 01:25:18,156 ♪ Conversation down 1831 01:25:18,200 --> 01:25:22,160 ♪ Yeah, so love it till it drowns ♪ 1832 01:25:22,204 --> 01:25:26,860 ♪ So let's keep dry 1833 01:25:31,213 --> 01:25:34,216 ♪ Keep me under 1834 01:25:34,259 --> 01:25:36,957 Since you're a fan, I was going to share, 1835 01:25:37,001 --> 01:25:39,090 you're one of the first people that has been out of the box, 1836 01:25:39,134 --> 01:25:40,309 - but... - Is that a-- 1837 01:25:40,352 --> 01:25:42,702 This is the original 1838 01:25:42,746 --> 01:25:45,096 hero wardrobe Stephen King Rules shirt. 1839 01:25:45,140 --> 01:25:46,532 Holy shit! 1840 01:25:46,576 --> 01:25:48,273 It's the actual Stephen King Rules shirt. 1841 01:25:48,317 --> 01:25:50,971 - Oh! Oh, my God! - The actual Stephen King Rules shirt. 1842 01:25:51,015 --> 01:25:52,886 But I have the original-- 1843 01:25:52,930 --> 01:25:54,627 - Oh! - This has become a thing. 1844 01:25:54,671 --> 01:25:57,500 - Wow. - That's amazing. 1845 01:25:57,543 --> 01:25:59,415 Wow! 1846 01:25:59,458 --> 01:26:02,200 Oh, nice! 1847 01:26:02,244 --> 01:26:03,462 Are you kidding me? 1848 01:26:03,506 --> 01:26:06,161 - ...the original. - Oh, my goodness. 1849 01:26:06,204 --> 01:26:07,814 - This is it. - Oh! 1850 01:26:08,946 --> 01:26:10,165 It's, uh-- 1851 01:26:11,253 --> 01:26:12,341 That's incredible. 1852 01:26:12,384 --> 01:26:13,951 You were so tiny. 1853 01:26:13,994 --> 01:26:17,259 Oh, so tiny. So tiny. 1854 01:26:17,302 --> 01:26:18,869 - You were so tiny! - I will let you-- we'll let you-- 1855 01:26:18,912 --> 01:26:21,176 - You were such a little guy. - I know, right? 1856 01:26:21,219 --> 01:26:23,178 It's what everybody says. 1857 01:26:23,221 --> 01:26:25,223 It does look tiny. 1858 01:26:25,267 --> 01:26:26,877 - You wore this? - That was it. 1859 01:26:26,920 --> 01:26:27,791 Did you wash it? 1860 01:26:29,619 --> 01:26:31,273 Smells like movie magic. 1861 01:26:34,276 --> 01:26:35,799 When I designed this clubhouse, 1862 01:26:35,842 --> 01:26:37,975 I just thought, "Wow, wouldn't it be cool 1863 01:26:38,018 --> 01:26:41,674 to try to make the Monster Squadclubhouse?" 1864 01:26:41,718 --> 01:26:44,677 And just make it as screen accurate as I possibly could. 1865 01:26:44,721 --> 01:26:46,636 My friends that are Monster Squadfans always see it and go, 1866 01:26:46,679 --> 01:26:47,985 "Oh, man, this is incredible." 1867 01:26:48,028 --> 01:26:50,857 We are on people's bodies. 1868 01:26:50,901 --> 01:26:53,295 We were at Spooky Empire and a gal came up 1869 01:26:53,338 --> 01:26:56,254 who is a big Monster Squadfan, and she said, 1870 01:26:56,298 --> 01:26:58,430 "I figured out what I want for my birthday. 1871 01:26:58,474 --> 01:27:01,216 I'm going to come back tomorrow and you and Ryan are going to sign my leg 1872 01:27:01,259 --> 01:27:03,479 and I'm going to go next door to the hall 1873 01:27:03,522 --> 01:27:05,568 at the convention room where all the tattoo artists work." 1874 01:27:18,102 --> 01:27:19,756 But tell them about Danny. 1875 01:27:19,799 --> 01:27:21,758 He'd had-- he already had all the monsters, 1876 01:27:21,801 --> 01:27:23,238 except Gillman. 1877 01:27:23,281 --> 01:27:24,978 Putting Gillman on my arm today, 1878 01:27:25,022 --> 01:27:28,373 especially with you guys around, is a no-brainer. 1879 01:27:34,379 --> 01:27:39,210 Turns out that André and I got to actually grab the gun and ink him. 1880 01:27:46,565 --> 01:27:51,570 So, forever, uh, his Gillman will be totally fucked up.