Fred Dekker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you're of a certain age bracket (and an amazingly geeky movie freak), then you probably remember the volcanic geyser of nerdly enthusiasm when Fred Dekker's The Monster Squad finally made its DVD debut. Very fun flick, perfect for younger horror fans, a great special edition package, and lots of happy DVD collectors. Nice story, eh?

Except that if you're a full-bore HORROR FAN, you'll bypass the family-friendly Goonies-style shenanigans of The Monster Squad, opting instead for Mr. Dekker's earlier mini-masterpiece: The adorably comic bookish and entirely movie-geeky Night of the Creeps, which is one of those movies in which A) sci-fi meets horror flick meets monster movie meets romantic comedy, B) all of the characters share their names with famous genre directors, and C) everyone (including the viewer) is in on the joke. The joke being, "Yeah, a lot of genre flicks are pretty darn broad, pulpy, and silly ... but boy do we love 'em anyway."

This smoothly amusing genre concoction hit the scene back in '86, and it didn't take long for a small-but-LOUD fan-base to grow. I should know; I've been a member since the day Creeps first hit VHS. Best of all, this tale of slimy beasties invading a college campus while parties break out and zombies lurch by ... will hit DVD with a whole bunch of fan-friendly treats: Director's cut, alternate ending, numerous goodies too juicy to worry about right this second -- because the platters won't be ready until October. But still, this is a red-letter day for the old-school horror fans. Night of the Creeps has been one of our Holy Grail titles since the invention of the acronym "DVD," so as Tom Atkins would say: Thrill me.

[ As the bearer of wonderful news, we gladly drape Shock with seven layers of Rick Baker-style gore chunks. An extra portion of splat goes to InternalBleeding.net, because that's where I stole the screen shot from. ]

Back in February we learned that Fred Dekker's cult classic horror comedy The Monster Squad was finally (FINALLY!) going to make its way to the DVD shelves. (And there was much rejoicing among movie nerds of a very specific age and gender.) Now comes word from BD.com that Lionsgate's 2-disc 20th Anniversary Monster Squad release, which hits the streets on July 24, will be absolutely over-stuffed with good geeky gizmos. Check out these specs:

• An anamorphic widescreen transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio!

• "Monster Squad Forever!" -- A five-part retrospective documentary featuring the participation of writer/director Fred Dekker and squad members Ashley Bank, Andrew Gower, Ryan Lambert and a bunch more!

• A never-before-seen interview with Frankenstein's Monster!

• Audio commentary with Dekker and "The Squad"!

• Audio commentary with Dekker and cinematographer Bradford May!

• Deleted scenes, trailers and photo galleries!

• And the cover art really rocks!

To those who might not be overly familiar with the classic piece of mid-'80s brilliance, The Monster Squad is about a bunch of evil creatures (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and the Black Lagoon Slimebag) who aim to take over the world with the help of a magical amulet. Too bad there's a horror-addicted gang of kids who stand between the monsters and world domination.

I know this is fantastic news for all you Squad geeks out there, and I'm definitely right there with you -- but the Fred Dekker DVD I really want is Night of the Creeps. Perhaps Lionsgate can help me out on that one next!

This might seem like a trivial little news-niblet to most of you, but to a small-yet-rabid group of genre junkies, it's a huge piece of information: Fred Dekker's 1987's cult classic The Monster Squad appears to be headed toward a DVD release. And no it's not Anchor Bay who's hooking us up this time; Lionsgate is the rumored distributor, although they did not respond to our attempts to get a comment. For those who've never experienced the cinematic bliss that is The Monster Squad, it's about a scrappy group of kids who team up to foil the nefarious plot of Dracula and his evil minions -- namely, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy and The Gillman!

Written by Dekker and action expert Shane Black, the flick might not have set the world on fire upon its theatrical release ... but damn if it hasn't enjoyed an underground resurgence over the past ten years. According to HorrorHound.com, which claims to have the inside track on a Lionsgate plan to release the DVD, the company has not divulged anything as specific as a release date or a specs list just yet, but just knowing that the Squad may be on the way, well, it makes me all nostalgic for the late '80s. Now if we can only get Dekker's Night of the Creeps on DVD, I'll be one happy horror geek.

[Via Bloody-Disgusting.com]

It feels like an explosion of Austin film news and events is going on this week. In addition to the screenings listed below, some limited-release movies are finally reaching Austin: Summer Storm, Don't Come Knocking, Awesome; I F***kin' Shot That!, and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.

• The Cine Las Americas film festival starts on Wednesday 4/19 and runs through Sunday 4/23. This week's issue of the Austin Chronicle contains previews and recommendations for the festival.
• Held over: Austin filmmaker Kyle Henry's film Room has extended its run at Alamo on South Lamar for another week.
• Nacho Libre is getting an Austin premiere, done in a very Austin way: outdoors and with live wrestling. Director Jared Hess will attend the Lucha Libre Extravaganza on Saturday 5/27, outdoors at the Glenn. You can buy tickets now or reserve a free ticket if you promise to wear a Mexican wrestling mask.

Did you guys know that Jack Arnold's The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) has never been released on DVD? That's right: One of the most imaginative, intelligent, and thought-provoking science fiction films of all time (yes, I said all time) is still sitting in some vault collecting dust, while genre contemporaries like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds, and The Day the Earth Stood Still have all hit DVD sporting all sorts of well-deserved bells & whistles. Directed by Black Lagoon's Jack Arnold and penned by certified ultra-genius Richard Matheson, The Incredible Shrinking Man stands as one of the most influential movies in the history of Weinberg. Plus all that stuff with the cat, the spider, and the dollhouse ... awesome.

So this got me to thinking about other movies that I loved as a kid, most of which (stuff like 1941 and Jaws 2 and The Goonies) already have a home on a special little DVD shelf all their own -- but SOME of which have never seen life as a shiny digital disc! For example, how is it that we can get 11 different versions of (the truly awesome) Evil Dead 2 -- yet The Incredible freakin' Shrinking Man remains DVD MIA?? I actually have a theory on this one: Universal owns the rights to Shrinking Man, and that studio has spent several years trying to cobble together a remake with Keenen Ivory Wayans as the director. One can only assume that Uni is waiting for that retread to bear box office fruit before releasing the original film on DVD as a "tie-in," which (obviously) annoys me to no end.

So listed below in this most recent edition of Cinematical Seven are a bunch of semi-obscure 1980s horror movies that I'd really like to see on DVD. Why switch over from The Incredible Shrinking Man to the generally unpleasant topic of "forgotten 1980s horror movies?" Because a wise man once said "write what you know," and I know very, very little outside the realm of 1980s horror movies. (OK, and Futurama and Halo ... and The Phillies. I know a lot about those things, too.)