‘Monsters’ Review: Damn Scary and Damn Good

The gold standard for horror anthology series is “The Twilight Zone” and then there are the rest.

There is one series though that maintained a level of pure horror fun that was in spitting distance of that gold standard, “Monsters.”

“Monsters” is a horror anthology television series that ran from 1988-1991, underrated and underappreciated, you’d be hard pressed to find a collection of horror stories that bring such a wide array of subgenres with effects that have become absent in today’s horror.

Collected and re-mastered in a complete series DVD set, the “Monsters” complete series brings every episode in all its B-movie glory; however, a lack of special features keeps this “Monsters” box set at bay under your bed.

Executive produced by “Tales from the Darkside’s” Richard P. Rubinstein, “Monsters” is a forgotten CBS anthology series that ran for just 72 episodes, in its three-season run it is able to scare, laugh and gross out.

As oppose to the “Twilight Zone’s” truly unique brand of horror and macabre, “Monsters” is a show that embraces some of the horror conventions that classic anthology series lacked: cheap scares and laughs.

There are some truly serious episodes of “Monsters,” and there are a lot of funny ones. The episode “Murray’s Monster” is a particularly funny episode as a psychiatrist played by Joe Faherty (“Madison”) tries to use the monster within his patient, Murray (Marvin Kaplan), to kill his nagging wife. Hilarious episodes like “Murray’s Monster” make this anthology so unique, this balanced by episodes that will send a shiver or two down your spine.

An example of this would be the episode “The Match Game.” The episode stars Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) and Ashley Laurence (“Hellraiser”) where a group of teenagers go play a game in an old mansion, lighting a match while each tells a ghost story, the problem is each story begins to come true. What makes this episode so scary and great is it is able to combine several horror movie clichés into one story, the haunted mansion, the sex crazed teenagers, and the awakening of evil. “The Match Game” is a time capsule of 80s horror bringing all the elements of horror films at the time and tucking them into a 30 minute runtime.

The series has tons of practical effects that is bound to make horror fans jump for joy as they see severed heads on a platter or fiendish ghouls, effects only seen today in Troma films.

“Monsters” selection of horror in its 72 episodes is impeccable, bringing every brand of horror into one series.
Binge watching the series you will find yourself going “Holy crap! That’s Pam Grier” or “ Is that Steve Buscemi?” Of course “Monsters” is at the bottom of all of their filmography, these familiar faces add a nice touch for anyone who did not watch the series when it aired.

After burning through all three seasons and you develop an itch that only episode commentary or making-of featurettes can scratch, you’ll be disappointed to find that there are none to gratify that urge.

In our digital age, companies have to work hard for our dollar when it comes to content like television series especially when you can just add it to your DVD queue on Netflix, the makers of the “Monsters” set do very little to warrant purchasing this set.

Outside of providing a clear re-mastered version of all 72 episodes, they must have been scared off to provide any extras for the set, which keeps this collection from being a must-buy.

The “Monsters” box set is over 25 hours of non-stop horror goodness. With an episode for every brand of horror, you are bound to pluck up an episode you will be talking about for years to come. It’s variety, practical effects and cast makes one wonder why the series is absent from almost everyone’s memory, however, a lack of bonus features fails to give this box set the candy coated paint job it needs to sell fans on purchasing this set.