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"Finally, a series that reaches right through the TV set to grab audiences with hair-
raising thrills, chills and suspense ... A series that claws its way into viewer's hearts with innovative ideas and powerful performances ... A series that gives fright-lovers exactly what they've always wanted ..."
So says the promotional spiel and, although this description may be a mite over-
enthusiastic, I for one can't argue.
MONSTERS is a horror anthology series from Laurel Entertainment, the company
well known for films such as DAWN OF THE DEAD, CREEPSHOW, PET SEMETARY, and the stateside run TV series TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. In July 1990 BSB purchased all seventy two stories of MONSTERS. It survived the transition from BSB Galaxy to Sky One with a break of only one week in the changeover, even retaining its regular Saturday late night spot, which then changed to Wednesday with the commencement of the second season. MONSTERS subsequently enjoyed a full rerun on Saturday nights at around 12:30, and has aired sporadically ever since in late night slots, particularly on ITV.
The series, created by Mitchell Galin and Richard P. Rubinstein, comes in the shape
of three seasons of twenty four thirty-minute human related stories, all based on the work of genre writers, some better known than others. Each story contains an element of humour, the level of which usually determines the grade - in most cases the less humour, the better the tale works. The original plan of Executive Producer, Richard P. Rubinstein - co-founder of Laurel in 1980 with writer / director George A. Romero - was for MONSTERS to be "deadly serious", but it is obvious upon viewing the series that the tongue-in-cheek aspect has crossed over from their previous venture, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. The show was steered towards a weekend evening slot in the US and so nothing too gory would have been acceptable. As soon as I understood that the stories were supposed to be humorous, they were easier to view. In fact, humour tends to work well in horror, provided it comes subtly and in small doses rather than all-out slapstick. This is why MONSTERS ranges from the sublimely innovative to the outrageously ridiculous.
There is a monster-of-the-week, a "bear" like THE OUTER LIMITS, but without the
moral message. Although I found none of the stories remotely frightening, the majority did hold my full attention. Emmy- and Academy-Award winning Dick Smith is consultant for the impressive make-up effects, whose previous credits include, THE EXORCIST, and ALTERED STATES, amongst others. The Creative Consultant for the first season, Tom Allen, who also held the position on DARKSIDE, died in October 1988, ironically the same month that MONSTERS premièred in the US. The entire series is dedicated to his memory.
Guest stars for the series include: David McCallum, Robert Lansing, John Bolger,
Frank Gorshin and Marc McClure. Well known writers, upon whose work some stories are based, include: Robert Bloch, Robert Sheckley and D. Emerson Smith.
There is no doubting that in TV the dialogue used can mean the difference between
success and failure. This is doubly illustrated in MONSTERS. A reasonably good story, Sleeping Dragon, is suddenly shot down in flames when a major character describes the monster as "looking hungry." A few tales go all-out for humour. For example, in My Zombie Lover, which is like a George Romero walking dead movie exaggerated ten-fold, a dead high school boy visits a girl he once admired, announcing his undying (?) love. When his baser flesh-munching instincts begin to emerge, we are greeted with dialogue such as, "How could I have been so stupid. I should have known I'd always be part girlfriend, part dinner" and "You don't want my hand in marriage, you want it in a sandwich!" This is amusing to start with, but after a while begins to grate.
The story which works best for me is The Mother Instinct, in which an elderly
crippled woman's melons produce a muscle-strengthening enzyme. Her evil and greedy son-in-law tries to make her reveal the secret, so that he can mass produce the enzyme and become rich. When he discovers that giant Amazonian worms - which her late husband brought back from an expedition - are responsible, he steals a breeding pair by tempting them from the soil of the hothouse and shutting them in a suitcase. But he does not reckon on the presence of a huge mother protecting its young, which then attacks and devours the man. The make-up effects are outstanding and, perhaps more importantly, the characters are believable and convincing.
Other good stories to watch for include: The Legacy, in which a struggling writer
purchases the old house of a long dead horror movie star, discovering therein a make- up box and the madness inside; The Match Game, where four teenagers stay the night in an old house making up their own ghost story, which comes to life as they tell it; The Cocoon, about a woman who maintains eternal youth by cocooning her and her current lover with silk, and devouring his life's energy; and The Farmer's Daughter, in which a travelling salesman falls in love with a young country woman, only to find she is not what she seems.
MONSTERS on the whole is good viewing; whether I had just watched an
outstanding tale or a particularly dull one, never did I feel that I'd just wasted half an hour of my time. Indeed, advertisements aside, MONSTERS runs closer to twenty minutes per story.
SEASON ONE
The Feverman
Holly's House
New York Honey
The Vampire Hunter
My Zombie Lover
Where's the Rest of Me
The Legacy
Sleeping Dragon
Pool Sharks
Pillow talk
Rouse Him Not
Fools' Gold
Glim-Glim
Parents from Space
The Mother Instinct
Their Divided Self
Taps
The Match Game
Rain Dance
The Cocoon
All in a Day's Work
Satan in the Suburbs
Mannikins of Horror
La Strega
SEASON TWO
The face
Portrait of the Artist
A Bond of Silk
Rerun
Love Hurts
The Farmer's Daughter
Jar
The Demons
Reaper
The Mandrake Root
Half as Old as Time
Museum Hearts
Habitat
Bed and Boar
Mr Swlabr
Perchance to Dream
One Wolf's family
The Offering
Far Below
Micro Minds
Refugee
The Gift
The Bargain
The Family Man
SEASON THREE
Stressed Environment
Murray's Monster
Bug House
Cellmates
Outpost
The Hole
Small Blessing
Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits
The Young and the Headless
The Waiting Game
Sin Sop
A New Woman
Malcolm
Household Gods
The Space Eaters
The Waiting Room
Leavings
Desirable Alien
A Face for Radio
Werewolf of Hollywood
Talk Nice to Me
The Moving Finger
Hostile Takeover
The Maker
This article first appeared in Dreamwatch Magazine.
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"THRILLS,
CHILLS
AND
SUSPENSE"
BY
TY
POWER
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