Anyone who grew up in the 80s probably watched The Monster Squad on cable dozens of times. Classic movie monsters come to life, and it’s up to a bunch of kids to stop them from wreaking havoc. In October 2003, Hallmark rolled out Monster Makers, a similarly themed film starring familiar horror faces like Linda Blair, Adam Baldwin, and George Kennedy.
The film promises to be G-rated throwback fun for fans of old monster movies. Linda Blair is the home nurse of an old monster movie director (George Kennedy). Her son finds one of the director’s unreleased films in his basement—turns out it’s a film the director believed would come to life if it were ever released. Guess what happens….
On Halloween night, the son invites a girl from school over to watch the film, and mom Blair announces she’s going out. She might as well say, “I totally trust you to sit on the couch together, watch the movie, and not get into my nursing bag to play doctor while I’m gone.”
Lightning strikes and BAM! The monsters are in the living room.
There’s a wereRAT, a spirit that possesses people (initially coming in the form of cute Adam Baldwin as a cop from the black and white film), and…what looks like…a studly sex mannequin. WTF?
Rather quickly, the monsters steal the film reels, and the spirit leaves the cop and starts jumping into other bodies. So the cop teams up with the kids to try to stop the monsters from making Halloween night a real horror. The goal is, find the monsters and get back the film, because it must hold the key to their weaknesses!
The problem with this playful premise is that the film lacks any of the charm, excitement, or humor of family frights like The Monster Squad and Hocus Pocus, so it begins to drag.
Then there’s the issue of the MANnequin. He inappropriately walks around in tight sleeping pants, showing off his ripped torso…
he creeps on vulnerable, sleeping George Kennedy…
and he can become a blond if that’s more your thing.
Granted, he’s not versatile (he can’t bend at the waist), but he is chronically stiff.
What were they thinking allowing this guy into a Hallmark family film?
LOL, that sounds rather amusing. I might have to check it out.