‘The Monster Squad’ Remake Reaction
by Marc Patterson
I’d ask Ben Bussey to chime in here, because really – this post should belong to him, but he’s been on a long holiday weekend in the country with the family, and not only that, but he did earlier. (see his reaction here)
Don’t take this posting as a knee-jerk “remakes suck” reaction. Last year I saw several remakes that were good (godforbid I say so). But I promise you, this one is not. Brad Fuller and the Platinum Dunes gang via Paramount are indeed moving forward with a remake of The Monster Squad. It’s been ages since we last heard anything so to be honest I kind of just forgot about it. I’ve wrestled with a response to this news for the better part of the past 24 hours, since DreadCentral posted updates on the project. I didn’t want to come off as over-reacting, though after re-reading Ben’s reaction it would seem we’re on the same page.
Fact is, The Monster Squad made a huge impact on me, contributing to my love of horror, and of course – those classic Universal monsters, at a young age. I remember when it came out on home video my cousin and I had my grandfather rent it from the local video shop. We watched it three times straight through before my grandfather couldn’t take it anymore and he kicked us outdoors. I know for a fact this film has had similar impact with so many genre fans. It was genre fans that petitioned for its release to DVD a couple of years ago. That wasn’t a studio decision. That was fans standing up and saying that we wanted our film in a new format after we were long overdue.
Now Brad Fuller, the catastrophe behind the latest Friday the 13th disaster, a guy who decimated whatever was left of A Nightmare on Elm Street and who made the terrifying Amityville Horror into a rambling village idiot is going to place his hands upon The Monster Squad. To do what? Improve on the story? Not likely. Not in a long shot. Worse, Fuller and Paramount are hoping to franchise it. Seriously? Fuck them.
The only saving grace of all of this? We can ignore it. Brad Fuller might have the power to remake the film, but he certainly doesn’t have the ability to take an ounce of my love away from the original film. We can flip our middle fingers up at Platinum Dunes and turn the other way, boycotting him and his detestable and deplorable remakes, effectively forgetting this new film will ever exist. And that’s exactly what we plan to do. From this point forward neither he nor anything related to this project will find coverage here at Brutal As Hell, save for a final review once the film shows. Any coverage, positive or negative is still press, and it’s press undeserved. Just because we’re an “press outlet” doesn’t mean we can’t discriminate in our coverage. In fact, we do discriminate – a lot. On this one? Well, I believe the word is “blacklisted”.
