History Film / TheMonsterSquad

* 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.

* {{Recycled IN SPACE}}: Charles Band's ''The Creeps'' is ''The Monster Squad'' '''WITH MIDGETS!'''

* ShownTheirWork: Nearly impossible to know if it's this trope or just plain old CriticalResearchFailure, but Van Helsing's diary is written in German, despite the good doctor being Dutch. However, as a man of science in the late 1800s, Van Helsing would be fluent in German, and would most likely have written a scientific journal in that language, since that was the international language of scholars at the time, if only because more people would be able to read that than his native Dutch.

''Patrick's Sister:''' ''[shakes her head]''\\

* RewatchBonus: A subtle one. Midway throughout the movie, the Wolf Man's human form escapes the mansion and calls the police in an attempt to warn them; he manages to get through to Sean's dad, Del. As he transforms in the phone booth, his last cognizant words are [[AdultFear "He's gonna kill your son"]]. In the third act, Del comes face to face with Dracula, who silkily and menacingly tells him "I will have your son." On a rewatch, you can see the horror on Del's face as he realizes that ''this'' was [[OhCrap who the anonymous caller]] was warning him about - and [[ImmuneToBullets Del's just shot him to no effect]].

* AdultFear: Sean's dad is told by Dracula that he'll come after his son.

* AffablyEvil: Dracula can come across this way when talking to his fellow monsters, particularly Frank and the Wolfman. But when he's [[NightmareFuel dealing with people...]]

* CatchPhrase: Frankenstein's monster is very fond of the word "bogus." He even says it in his SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

'''Patrick:''' [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Aww, man! Fat Kid farted!]]\\

** One that's so subtle it borders on RewatchBonus. At an early club meeting, Sean is bemoaning that the diary, possibly by THE Van Helsing, is in German.
-->'''Patrick:''' My sister takes German in high school.
-->'''Fat Kid:''' All your sister does is hang around and let guys touch her tits.

--->'''Rudy:''' Sure, what's up? ''(takes a drink)''\\

* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Horace pulls one off as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when his former bullies still call him "Fat Kid", even while trying to thank him for saving their lives:
-->'''E.J.''': Hey Fat Kid! Good job!
-->'''Horace''' (pumping a shotgun): "My name... is ''Horace''!"

* WhamLine: Patrick to Lisa when the spell doesn't work: "You're not a virgin, are you?".

* AllMenArePerverts: Subverted by most of the Squad, including Franky. Only Rudy (and by accident, Franky) takes the pictures of the GirlNextDoor, since the boys aren't old enough to have those kind of feelings yet (They don't ''really'' understand what a virgin is), and one of them is said girl's ''brother''!

* AllGermansAreNazis: Teased with the Scary German Guy, but [[spoiler: he turns out to be the exact opposite - a concentration camp survivor.]]

* BodyHorror: Wolfman [[spoiler: after he's blown apart by dynamite.]] He is still ''awake and aware,'' though he eventually [[PullingThemselvesTogether pulls himself together...]] there's [[SilverBullet only one way to kill a werewolf after all]].

* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler: The Wolfman, who thanks Rudy with his dying breath.]]

* KickTheDog[=/=]PrecisionFStrike: Dracula is at his cruelest when he [[NeckLift grabs Phoebe by the neck]] and bellows "Give me the amulet, you bitch!"

* GoodIsNotNice: The amulet is outright described as being concentrated good, but in practice it is a superwepon that indiscriminately sucks bot monsters and innocent humans alike into a dimension of the damned.

But when the Squad later recruits Lisa to perform the ritual, she's so bad at reading and speaking German that it takes several attempts and some on the spot tutoring by Scary German Guy to get through it, [[spoiler:not to mention is not actually a virgin.]]

* * ShownTheirWork: Nearly impossible to know if it's this trope or just plain old CriticalResearchError, but Van Helsing's diary is written in German, despite the good doctor being Dutch. However, as a man of science in the late 1800s, Van Helsing would be fluent in German, and would most likely have written a scientific journal in that language, since that was the international language of scholars at the time, if only because more people would be able to read that than his native Dutch.

* ExactWords: The spell that will activate the amulet calls for a virgin. However, it doesn't say anything about an age-requirement.[[note]]Or technically a gender requirement for that matter, but it was TheEighties and AManIsNotAVirgin.[[/note]]

'''Patrick:''' [[AManIsNotAVirgin He's not a virgin, you stupid!]]\\

** During the prologue scene with Van Helsing, the semi-ruined castle has several armadillos roaming around. This also happened in Tod Browning's [[Film/Dracula1931 1931 Dracula movie]], although in that case the armadillos were a production goof.

* One that's so subtle it borders on RewatchBonus. At an early club meeting, Sean is bemoaning that the diary, possibly by THE Van Helsing, is in German.

* When Rudy's given "The Monster Test" to become a part of the club, one of the questions is "Two ways to kill a werewolf". His answer is "Silver Bullet" and "There's only one way to kill a werewolf." Later, one of the Squad shoves the Wolf Man out a window with a lit stick of dynamite shoved into his waistband, but he literally [[PullingYourselfTogether pulls himself]] [[BodyHorror together and comes back for more]]. [[spoiler: Turns out there really is only ''one'' way to kill a werewolf.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One that's so subtle it borders on RewatchBonus. At an early club meeting, Sean is bemoaning that the diary, possibly by THE Van Helsing, is in German.

** When the Squad later recruits Lisa to perform the ritual, she's so bad at reading and speaking German that it takes several attempts and some on the spot tutoring by Scary German Guy to get through it, [[spoiler:not to mention is not actually a virgin.]]

* BattleAura: Dracula displays one before he lays waste to the local cops.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: But he does get the consolation prize of best monster movie death ever: blown up with a stick of dynamite by Dracula. [[note]] Also, he's only the first ''named'' character to die - several un-named background people die first. And Sapir does make it a good two-thirds through the movie[[/note]]

* {{Homage}}: The scene with Frankenstein and Phoebe by the pond is a ShoutOut to the original [[Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}} Frankenstein]] movie, when a little girl attempts to play with the monster by a lake. In this film, it ends much better for the little girl.

** Horace's bullies at school call him "fat", smash his Snickers bar to the ground and then hitting him in the face for tell them to "shut your asshole".

* RealityEnsues: it's not given much screen time, but the problems between Del and Emily Crenshaw illustrate some of the major reasons so many cops are divorced.

* EatThat: Rudy forces the bullies picking on Horace to apologize and eat the smashed up Snickers bar on the dirty ground in front of the other school kids.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: But he does get the consolation prize of best monster movie death ever: blown up with a stick of dynamite by Dracula. [[note]] Also, he's only the first ''named'' character to die - several un-named background people die first. And Sapir does make it a good two-thirds through the movie[[/note]]

-->'''E.J.:''' Rudy!

-->'''Rudy:''' Eat up! then we'll call it a day.

-->'''E.J.:''' Rudy i'm not gonna--