Leatherface Writer Reveals Why The Monster Squad Reboot Was Canceled

[Melisa Noilsa]

Leatherface Writer Reveals Why The Monster Squad Reboot Was Canceled

The Monster Squad was one of the quintessential horror comedies of the 80s, so why did a planned reboot get buried?

The Monster Squad is a true cult classic of the 1980s. A campy comedy horror take on the famous monsters of Universal horrors, the 1987 movie was always potentially ripe for a sequel. However, the Fred Dekker directed movie remains as a one-off piece of cinema history, loved by those who grew up with it and unknown by many others. That could all have changed if a planned reboot by Leatherface screenwriter Seth Sherwood had gone ahead back in 2015, but as Sherwood revealed in a lengthy Twitter post he feels he can now reveal why it fell apart. Sherwood wrote:

"Everything was based around a trio of friends. Sean, Horace, and Penny. I wanted the story to be about the fear of growing up, and use monsters as an allegory for that fear," Sherwood said. He continued, "When they were little, these three had a monster club, as the original. But now, they are getting old. Penny, the oldest, has lost interest and is has drifted to more mature things and friends. Horace is refusing to grow up, still loves toys, and is obsessed with monsters. Sean is caught in the middle. He's turning 13. He has a crush on Penny. He's becoming a teenager-- but he also still likes his playing monster club. He's torn. This is the heart of the story. Horace cries REAL MONSTERS, Sean doesn't buy it, chases girl, but then OH WAIT MONSTERS!"

Although Sherwood did not reveal which production company were planning on making The Monster Squad reboot, Platinum Dunes bought the film rights to the movie about five years prior to that. As he continued to explain, the collapse of the project mainly seemed to come down to the company believing the cost of the project would not deliver a substantial enough return.

The Monster Squad’s original 1987 release was not a smash hit by any means. The almost Stephen King-esque story of a group of kids who have to face a host of classic monsters such as Dracula, The Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster in their own neighborhood, seems like it should have been a box office smash, but that was not the case. On release the film was a flop at the box office, but found a new audience through home video to become the much-loved classic it is today.

With the movie having celebrated its 35th anniversary last year, it falls right in the “remake zone.” Whether this is something that will happen in the near future, especially with Universal ramping up their Monsters IP with movies like Renfield and the upcoming The Wolfman, it is hard to tell. Streaming platforms are always looking for new movies though, and after so many nostalgic 80s revivals in the last few years, The Monster Squad could still be reborn for a new generation in one way or another.

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Why We're Not Getting Monster Squad 2 or a TV Show Spin-Off

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite horror movies as a kid was Night of the Creeps director Fred Dekker and Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang filmmaker Shane Black's The Monster Squad. Like many The Monster Squad fans out there, I've wished for a sequel for about as long as I can remember. And today we've learned that a Monster Squad series was in the works at one point in time! But it was ultimately abandoned because the powers that be behind the scenes felt it was too similar to Stephen King's IT. Weak.

The Monster Squad and Night of the Creeps writer-director Fred Dekker revealed this tragic bit of news recently regarding Monster Squad 2 and the possibility of getting a Monster Squad TV Show, saying this.

"Shane Black and I have both been approached about adapting The Monster Squad for television. Was it my first choice? No. But I'm a big fan now of long-form television... And figuring out a way to take The Monster Squad and turn it into a long-form series was very exciting to me. But when we were approached, it was right after Stranger Things.

I thought, well, let's make this for the people who fell in love when they were kids and say, 'Where is the squad as adults?' And Shane said to me, 'Well that's it.' I said, 'Yeah, it's a great idea.' And he goes, 'No, that's Stephen King's It. The first part of the book and the first movie is them as kids fighting monsters and the second movie is them as adults fighting monsters.'"

So does this mean we will never see a sequel to The Monster Squad or a TV series based on the beloved kid-horror movie? Well, yeah, it looks that way according to Dekker, who goes on to say.

"As a fan of the genre, there is nothing to me remotely interesting or new about "Monster Squad" as a movie or a TV show. Maybe in 10 years, maybe in 15 years. But right now it's like, well everybody's already doing it."

Again, weak. I mean I get Dekker saying that "everyone" is making similar stories these days, such as director Andy Muschietti's ongoing adaptation of Stephen King's IT to Netflix and The Duffer Brothers' Stranger Things, but still, I want more The Monster Squad, guys! I guess I can't speak for all horror fans out there, but I'm pretty sure that we would all be okay with a The Monster Squad 2 or a TV series nowadays. After all, it's not The Monster Squad ripping-off Stranger Things, now is it?

Anyhow, for those of you that might not know, Fred Dekker directed The Monster Squad from a screenplay he co-wrote along with Lethal Weapon and Iron Man 3 scribe Shane Black. Jonathan A. Zimbert produced the flick. It starred Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Brent Chalem, and Ryan Lambert as the titular monster hunters along with Duncan Regehr as Dracula, Tom Noonan as Frankenstein's monster, Jonathan Gries as The Wolfman, Tom Woodruff Jr. as Gill-man, and Michael MacKay as The Mummy.