1/18/2024 0 Comments Monster squad soundtrack reviewAnd the timer on that 30-year old atom bomb looks like a paper board game spinner stuck to the device. This recognizable toy serves as Walt's remote control for his crime computer and also (painted pink.) as the Queen Bee's radio transmitter. One prop that gets used again and again is the Mego Star Trek communicator/walkie-talkie. Honestly, it's more headache-inducing than entertaining Unlike Batman, however, Monster Squad isn't really very amusing and it certainly isn't produced with the same verve. For instance, various episodes poke fun at Barbara Walters ("The Astrologer"), Sonny and Cher ("Ultra-Witch"), Smokey the Bear ("Queen Bee"), or involve Cold War jibes about Russia ("Queen Bee") and even the Energy Crisis and OPEC ("Ultra-Witch). Much of the humor is aimed at adults, and references events of the Bicentennial Era. Monster Squad functions best today as a time capsule of sorts. Even the Abbott and Costello flick treats these screen ghouls with more respect. It's kind of ignoble, really, especially if you are a fan of the Universal monsters. The special guest villains are encouraged to over-act to the point of madness and beyond (and believe me, you don't want to see Jonathan Harris overact to the point of madness.), and the titular monsters are mostly just fang-less, toothless boobs.reduced to silly shtick. In "The Astrologer," for instance, Frankenstein Monster and the Wolfman get caught in a giant clam named Carlo.Īccompanied by an incessant and insanity-provoking laugh track, Monster Squad makes Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl look like the epitome of high art. Even the cliffhanger aspect of the Batman series has been retained here, with almost every Monster Squad episode featuring the monsters getting caught in a terrible trap before escaping. Monster Squad appropriates that Batman playbook with glee, down to the obsessive labeling of every "super device" (from the crime computer to a typewriter, to an atom bomb). If you've seen one episode of the 1960s Batman, you get the idea in short order. Mephisto, who creates an evil doll of the city mayor so as to raise property taxes 1000%, and on and on. Monster Squad's other villains include Ultra Witch (Julie Newmar) - who delivers an " ultra-matum," etc., Mr. Her strategy is to take over the world with South American killer bees who, according to Walt, buzz with a "Spanish accent." Like every super-villain featured on the series, Queen Bee has exactly two henchmen, no more and no less. Here, every line of dialogue is a riff on the word "bee." You know, " Bee-lieve me," " bee-ware," " bee-dazzling" etc. Meanwhile, Frankenstein and the Wolfman are incapacitated by the Astrologer's "Knock Out Drops."Īnother villain is Queen Bee (Alice Ghostley), who - in the tradition of Batman's Egghead (Vincent Price) or Catwoman (Julie Newmar) - speaks in an endless string of puns related to her name. Dracula (code-named "Nightflyer") de-activates the bomb using instructions from a textbook titled "How to De-Fuse a 30 Year Old Atomic Bomb" and then kicks it, just to make sure the procedure worked. One of those no-goodniks is "The Astrologer" (Jonathan Harris), a ninny who plants a "30-year old atomic bomb" in the "San Angelica" Fault (which is located somewhere between " Old McDonald Farm and Frankie Valley.") in order to make his prediction of an Earthquake come true. Although these creatures are " cursed and feared" by mankind, they are nonetheless " determined to make up for their past misbehaving by fighting crime wherever they find it." This means, essentially, that Walt sends out the three monsters from their HQ, "The Chamber of Horrors," in a black van (with siren on the roof.) to hunt down nefarious no-goodniks threatening domestic tranquility. The " oscillating vibrations" of this crime computer mysteriously bring to life three wax figures: Drac (Henry Polic II), Frank N. Monster Squad tells the story of Walt (Fred Grandy), a nerdy criminologist who wears a yellow sweater all the time, and during his off-hours at a Wax Museum, constructs a super "crime computer" (located in a vacant sarcophagus). And you know what? After watching all the episodes, I kinda wish it had stayed buried in my memory instead of excavated for fresh reappraisal. Monster Squad was finally released on DVD on June 23rd of this year.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |