Mike Fleming at Deadline.com reports that Paramount Pictures is planning to remake 1987’s THE MONSTER SQUAD, with Rob Cohen (one of the producers on the original) hoping to direct this time out. Cohen will partner with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes (a virtual remake factory these days) to produce the film, which has yet to be scripted.
The original MONSTER SQUAD, co-written by Fred Dekker and Shane Black (later of LETHAL WEAPON), and directed by Dekker, told the story of some young kids whose town is invaded by classic movie monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s creation, a werewolf, a mummy, and a gill-man. It was a great idea for a cool monster movie, but the execution failed to live up to the concept. The result was rather like a redo of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, without the titular comedians to deliver the jokes. Unfortunately, not only was THE MONSTER SQUAD not as funny it wasn’t as funny as the comic duo’s 1948 spoof; it also was not as scary.
Nevertheless, despite disappinting box office returns during its original release, THE MONSTER SQUAD has earned some good will in the intervening decades, so much so that some view the potential remake as an affront. Personally, I find it easy to believe that the concept could yield a film much better than the one we actually got.
Whether Rob Cohen is the director to deliver such a film is another matter. His directing career showed promise with his early films DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY and DRAGONHEART, but his more recent efforts feel more like impersonal studio hackwork. His most recent big-budget fantasy film, THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, was a competent popcorn movie, most notable for wasting the talents of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. If he does direct a MONSTER SQUAD remake, I hope he can bring back some of the old panache he showed in his earlier films.