It is always so fascinating to find a movie that has an intensely passionate fan base and realize that it was a real box office dud upon its original release. Films such as Boondock Saints, Donnie Darko and The Rocky Horror Picture Show quickly came and went from theaters, but somehow found an audience afterwards through word-of-mouth, television airings and home entertainment releases. One such film is the 1989 comedy Little Monsters starring comic Howie Mandel and Fred Savage, fresh off the debut of The Wonder Years. While the financiers Vestron Pictures probably hoped to capitalize on the popularity of Beetlejuice, financial woes led to bankruptcy resulting in the film only being released in less than 200 theaters at its most popular. While it easily could have been lost to the sands of time, this oddball young adult flick has gained a fervent following in the intervening years. Lionsgate has finally answered the pleas of those fans by releasing the film on Blu-Ray for the first time through their Vestron Video Collector’s Series.
Little Monsters tells the story of an 11-year-old boy named Brian Stevenson (Fred Savage), whose family has moved to a suburb outside of Boston. Brian feels a bit alone in the world; he does not really have much in the way of friends, and he always seems to be where the blame is placed if something goes wrong in the house. One night, his younger brother, Eric (Fred’s real-life brother Ben Savage), wakes up their parents claiming that there is a monster in his room. As this is a common occurrence for young children, they placate young Eric and send him back to bed. The next morning, Brain gets blamed for all kinds of messes around the house for which neither kid claims responsibility. Eric, still convinced that there was something in his room, badgers Brian into staying in his room to survey the situation. In a bit of Home Alone-lite booby-trapping, Brian sets up an elaborate enough trap to catch any potential monster after the initial night offers up some doubt to these monsters really being make-believe. When he does indeed trap an unexpected intruder, he gets more than he bargained for.
Maurice is a blue-skinned humanoid monster that Howie Mandel plays as a more keyed-up version of Beetlejuice. Maurice is a big personality, and it does not take long for Brian to realize they have many interests in common, from odd food pairings to pulling pranks. The two become fast friends, and Maurice takes Brian on a journey into the monster world underneath the bed. The production design and make-up effects in this realm are so much fun. The setting feels like a landfill of fun junk, and each monster has a distinct appearance that creates a real sense of wonder. While this may have been created as a kid’s movie, the amount of swearing in this film may be surprising to those who grew up watching it edited on TV. The film also gets pretty grim, as the circumstances of Brian’s friendship with Maurice increasingly gets more damaging to others, ultimately leading to Eric getting kidnapped. I’m not opposed to this in the slightest, it is just wild to see how bleak things could get in a family friendly film.
This film is not unrelentingly dark, though. For the most part, you have Mandel’s manic energy working in the film’s favor with his rapid-fire jokes. To be fair, a lot of the jokes are really corny, but his ratio for success leans more towards funny than not. Both Savage brothers do wonderful in their roles, but Fred should be praised for being able to pull off the heavy emotional moments at the end of the film that ties the whole story together. This is a film that may not click for those who did not grow up with it, or do not open themselves up to the adolescent wavelength on which this movie is operating. The film does not reach the level of films such as Beetlejuice or The Goonies, but it is a solid bit of entertainment that makes its case for the following it has developed over the years. You have to appreciate this scrappy little project that wrings out every ounce of charm out of its low-budget practical effects. Little Monsters is a family film with an edge that offers up a satisfying story about friendship.
Video Quality
Little Monsters finally makes its Blu-Ray debut with a 1080p transfer that is a bit of a mixed bag. While I have no specific details about the transfer, this appears to be derived from a dated master that has not had much work done to it. From shot to shot the film can look either incredibly clear and detailed or soft and muddy. The transfer is naturally filmic with some decent detail in the production design and texture of clothing. Colors do not particularly make an impression, appearing a bit washed out at points, and the black levels are passable in their depth. There are some occasional specks of print damage present in the transfer. It is readily apparent that you are watching an HD transfer, but do not expect to be blown away with the quality. This is the best that the film has ever looked on home entertainment, but a new scan could have done wonders to make it more consistently great.
Audio Quality
Lionsgate Home Entertainment brings us this new Blu-Ray with a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that beautifully reproduces the film sonically. The dialogue holds up quite nicely, coming though clearly without being stepped on by the score or sound effects. The environmental effects are delineated nicely from the hustle and bustle of the school scenes to the madcap nature of the monster world. The movie is accompanied by a lively score from David Newman that sounds great here. This is a track that represents the film in a very satisfying way. Optional English (SDH) and Spanish subtitles are provided on this disc.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Editor-In-Chief of CultOfMonster.com Jarret Gahan gives an extremely informative track featuring an overview of the history of the film, detailed connections to other films, differences between the script and the film, backgrounds of actors as they appear on screen and more. Gahan is extremely passionate about the subject, and you really feel like you have learned a lot about this film and the genre as a whole by the end of this track. Highly recommended.
- Isolated Score Selections & Interview with Composer David Newman: Host Michael Felsher from Red Shirt Pictures conducts an interview with composer David Newman in which he reflects on creating the score for Little Monsters. Newman goes into what mood he was trying to convey with his score, going as far as comparing the story to Dante’s Inferno in terms of growing darkness. Newman seems pleasantly surprised by the movie’s continued popularity over the years, and he delivers many fun insights into the film. The interview portion runs about seventeen minutes followed by selections of isolated score for the remainder of the film.
- Call Him Maurice: A 19-minute interview with actor Howie Mandel in which he behaves in exactly the way you would expect him to. Mandel is a big personality, and he offers up a lot of fun stories while being a huge cut-up. Mandel is very candid, but has a big appreciation for the film. This is one of the more enjoyable behind-the-scenes features I’ve seen.
- Beneath The Bed: A 14-minute interview with Producer Andrew Licht in which he discusses the importance of not accepting “no” as an answer. Licht has some fascinating stories from the development of the film to the set burning down during production. I really enjoyed everything he had to share.
- Monsters Big & Small: A 15-minute interview with Special Make-Up Effects Creator Robert Short in which he discusses coming to this film after working on Beetlejuice, the experience of creating the different monsters with his team, how Howie Mandell reacted to the prosthetics, the legacy of the film and more.
- Vintage Interviews: 29 minutes of archival interviews with Actors Fred Savage, Ben Savage, Special Make-Up Effects Creator Robert Short, and Director Richard Alan Greenberg. It is a lot of fun to get their thoughts on the film at the time of creation. The interviews with the two young actors are especially endearing, and I’m glad they were included in this set.
- Behind The Scenes Footage: Twelve minutes of footage from the set including some wirework with Fred Savage, Mandel joking around with the cast and crew, set decorators preparing the set and more. It’s fun to see something a bit more candid that makes you feel like a visitor on set.
- Vintage EPK & VHS Promo: A nine-minute promotional video intended for distributors and retailers hyping up the VHS release of the film (with an MSRP of $89.95!). There are interviews with kids talking about how much they loved the movie, and the piece includes information on contests that were held in conjunction with the film. Watching this was a blast, as you rarely get a peek behind the curtain to see how the film industry communicates with distributors.
- Trailer: A minute-and-a-half long trailer that does a fine job of selling the film without spoiling every joke.
- Still Gallery: A selection of behind-the-scenes photos from the production.
Final Thoughts
Little Monsters is a film that has a special place in the hearts of many who grew up discovering it on cable. Viewing it for the first time as an adult may prove to be a tough proposition, but those who are open to (re)discovering this inventive world should find quite a bit to enjoy about it. Howie Mandel and Fred Savage do a pretty great job of bringing to life a touching friendship that gives the film necessary emotional beats. It would have been nice to get a fresh new master for the video portion of the disc, but the fact that we are even getting this film in high definition is amazing. Fans of special features will be blown away by the depth of material Lionsgate produced for this one. If you are a fan of the film, the disc is worth adding to your collection. Recommended
Little Monsters is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Lionsgate Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
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Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
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