This afternoon I sat in a room with Bloody Disgusting’s Spooky Dan and interviewed Rob Cohen for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Later on I did a phoner with Cohen (I had to go to another hotel for another junket), and never once did the words Monster Squad come up. That’s because Dan is a sneaky guy and he saved the good stuff for his own one on one with the director. And he got himself a bona fide scoop: Universal is remaking Monster Squad, and Cohen is producing.
You can calm down on one thing: he doesn’t plan on directing the movie. And if I had my way, you could calm down on one other thing: who cares if they remake Monster Squad? The original, frankly, isn’t that good. It kind of squanders a killer premise, and it manages to contain some of the goofiest Shane Black dialogue imaginable. I mean, the fat kid in the movie is called Fat Kid.
Sure, I’d rather not see Monster Squad get Van Helsinged, but I do like the idea of a remake being able to star the actual Universal monsters. I’d love to see someone with real talent and reverance tackle these guys, and I’d like to see it in a movie not based around the basic concept of kids screaming.
Of course I stand mostly alone in my general lack of Monster Squad affection. But if you’re with me, count on CHUD to bring you the only slightly positive slant on news stories about the remake!