Line #13 YMMV/TheMonsterSquad


1	* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Allegedly why the film took a while to find its audience. Adults perceived it as a kid's movie and parents thought it was too scary to let their kids see.
2	* ClicheStorm: The movie is a nice little time capsule of tropes from 80s live-action kids movies.
3	* CultClassic: The film bombed out in theaters, but was eventually "discovered" through [[VindicatedByCable cable networks and home video]].
4	* DesignatedHero: The Squad blackmailing a girl with a nude photo of her isn't exactly something that screams "hero."
5	* EvilIsCool: Fans of the film enjoy Duncan Regehr's portrayal of Dracula as a fitting continuation of the character's iconic portrayals by Creator/ChristopherLee and Creator/BelaLugosi, being classy and refined while also being fairly badass and scary (ironically, in the original novel by Bram Stoker, pretty much everybody who encounters Dracula in person finds him to be disturbing and creepy).
6	* FridgeLogic: When the team is forming the Monster Squad and putting their hands together in circle formation followed by their pet beagle's paw, Rudy asks "How does that dog get up here, anyway?"
7	* HilariousInHindsight:
8	** In this movie, there's a cheesy horror franchise named "Groundhog Day", which the father criticizes for being extremely repetitive. In a few years, a film by the same name would become [[Film/GroundhogDay a very well-regarded romantic comedy]] (albeit a supernatural one), which is ''about'' things being extremely repetitive.
9	*** And now there's [[Film/HappyDeathDay a horror film]] with [[GroundhogDayLoop a similar premise]] to that of ''Groundhog Day'', bringing things full circle.
10	** This is probably going to be the best Film/DarkUniverse movie to date.
11	* MagnificentBastard: Count Dracula is a wickedly smart vampire who seeks a mythical amulet to plunge the world in darkness and reign supreme. Hiding out for a century after Abraham Van Helsing’s botched attempt to defeat him, Dracula summons his gang of monsters to help him track down the amulet. Going under the name Alucard, Dracula’s able to find the amulet in the mansion he rented out, and when the Monster Squad storm his castle and steal it from him, Dracula retaliates by destroying their treehouse lair and unleashing his monsters all throughout town. Undeterred in his quest for the amulet, even after his plans have been foiled despite coming so close to achieving them, Dracula still tries to take Sean with him as he’s being sucked inside the wormhole.
12	* MemeticMutation: "Wolfman's got nards!" (it even became the name of the decades-later documentary).
13	* MoralEventHorizon: Sure, Dracula has always been pure evil -- but in all his incarnations, has he ever done anything as evil as [[spoiler:tossing a stick of dynamite into a child's treehouse]]? Or [[WouldHurtAChild threaten to snap a little girl's neck?]] And [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking calling her a bitch to her face to boot?]]
14	* NightmareFuel: Dracula is played quite scary for a kids' movie, particularly in his Terminator-esque UnflinchingWalk in the climax. The character even terrified the young actors. Phoebe's screaming reaction to being snarled at by actor Duncan Regeher was the young actress's [[EnforcedMethodActing genuine reaction]].
15	* RetroactiveRecognition: "[[Film/NapoleonDynamite Uncle Rico]]'s got ''nards!''" Yes, that is indeed Creator/JonGries playing the Wolfman's human form.
16	* SpiritualAdaptation: In his video, ''Minty Comedic Arts'' said it could be considered the first unofficial movie adaptation to [[Creator/StephenKing Stephen King's]] ''Literature/{{It}}'' with a similar group of kids going up against monsters.
17	* SpiritualPredecessor: Structurally, possibly to Series/StrangerThings. One of the Duffer Brothers said in the pre-season 1 interviews that all the different 'groupings' of main characters were in a different type of movie: Hopper was in a government conspiracy thriller, Joyce was in a paranormal drama, Jonathan, Nancy and Steve were in a classic Creator/JohnHughes movie with {{SlasherFilm}} undertones, and Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Eleven were in a Creator/StevenSpielberg -style coming of age movie - until they all start to collide and intersect in the third act. Looked at that way, The Monster Squad is similar: the Squad is a 'those meddling kids' story fused with Film/HammerHorror; Del and his partner Sapir are world-weary cops in a police procedural, becoming an occult detective story; Emily thinks she's in a {{Tearjerker}} drama about the breakdown of a marriage; Patrick's sister Lisa certainly ''acts'' like she's the lead in a John Hughes movie!
18	** Also seems to be one to ''Film/VanHelsing''.
19	* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Minty Comedic Arts'' argued that it could be seen as a successor to ''Film/TheGoonies'' with a similar group of kids, Frankenstein's monster being Sloth and Creator/MaryEllenTrainor playing a mom in both movies.
20	* TearJerker:
21	** The poor girls who became Dracula's [[FateWorseThanDeath brides]]. The fact that the Squad don't seem to pity them as much they do [[spoiler: the Wolfman]] is also a bit tragic.
22	** [[spoiler:Frank gets sucked into the wormhole to stop Dracula for good, while Phoebe tries to save him and begs him not to leave.]]
23	** [[spoiler: Wolfman sincerely thanking Rudy as he lays dying from the silver bullet Rudy shot him with. Also, how ''utterly frantic'' the guy'd been to get himself locked up at the police station.]]
24	** The reveal of "Scary German Guy"'s backstory as a [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Holocaust survivor]].
25	* ValuesDissonance: Applies to DesignatedHero above and KidsAreCruel on the main page, the boys make fat-shaming cracks about their friend "Fat Kid", homophobic jokes, and pretty much behave like sexist jerks; all traits that would mark characters as villains or as flawed heroes, whose {{Jerkass}} behavior is acknowledged by the story.
26	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: All of the classic [[Franchise/UniversalHorror Universal Monsters]] are given an [[TheEighties 80s]] upgrade in their costumes via Creator/StanWinston, and they're all fantastic to witness. Special mention goes to the Gill Man, whose costume is considered one of the best visual depictions of the character to this day.

Context YMMV / TheMonsterSquad