Monster House (2006) - Movie Review

What do you get when you make a children’s movie based on a script by the creator of Rick and Morty, produced by the legends behind Jurassic Park and Jaws, with an all star cast of guaranteed moneymakers, and animate it in a groundbreaking 3-D technology?

A film that lives up the hype, but somehow fell into obscurity.

Let’s discuss.

Monster House is a 2006 animation / horror film brought to us by writer Dan Harmon and director Gil Kenan. Which is incredible to think that Harmon, the writer of Rick and Morty, and Kenan, writer of this last year’s well received Ghostbusters: Afterlife teamed up for a horror movie way back in the early 2000’s. What’s even crazier is that it was produced b y not only Robert Zemeckis, but Stephen Spielberg! So, next time you watch Rick and Morty remember that Spielberg had a hand in giving Harmon the ability to make it.

Mind blowing right?

Anyway, the film focuses on DJ and Chowder, two kids that could be generously called losers as they investigate the strange happenings at the town curmudgeon’s home. The house is a dilapidated colonial that looms over the neighborhood. Anything that lands on its unusually manicured lawn is seized or destroyed by the owner, Mr. Nebbercracker, played by Steve Buscemi. He’s a miserable, no-good neighbor who makes little children cry by snapping their tricycles in half, but when DJ accidentally causes the man to have a heart attack, he and chowder discover that without Nebbercracker standing guard, things are going to get much worse. The house is hungry and it will stop at nothing to feed. Will the boy’s be able to stop the beast before it’s too late or will they end up as the next dish on the menu? Find out in today’s feature: Monster House!

It’s a simple set-up based on tried and true classic themes. You’ve got shades of The Burbs and Rear Window. The two best weird neighbor films of all time. Unfortunately, these are also not traditional children’s films and you’ll find that this film isn’t so much for kids as it is for teens and adults.

This film is legit scary. I did my re-watch with my 5 year old daughter and she was not a fan. She loved the characters and the animation, but she was terrified when the film made it to the halfway point. She had to hide for most of the final act of the film. I remember seeing this film when it came out and thinking it was a little extreme for kids, and it still is.

It’s a common mistake latchkey filmmakers make. People who grew up on their own like Dan Harmon and I did were able to watch whatever we wanted and thus as children became numb to violence and terror. Kids since are wussies in comparison. Children are so sheltered that even Looney Toons have been censored for their safety. Thus, this film isn’t really for kids. It crosses a line that movies like Coraline and Rise of the Guardians deftly navigated.

The movie has that 90’s stink.

Don’t get me wrong.

The 1990’s is my favorite decade for film and pop culture. The 90’s had this amazing melting pot of anything can happen on VHS spirit. But there was also a negative vibe in children’s films. The kids who grew up on the wrong side of the 80’s grew up resenting the world, rightfully so. The children who grew up in the aftermath of supplyside economics didn’t have happy childhood memories. We grew up in empty homes where both parents HAD to work in order for the family to afford the balloon payments on their house. We grew up isolated and alone while the 1% kids had both parents home. It’s hard to shake that chip from your shoulder and it’s showing plain and clear in this film. The parents are not only absentee, but when they are there all they do is criticize and they hire an abusive babysitter. I’m getting PTSD flashbacks to growing up…

I digress…

I highly enjoy the film now, especially once I heard the familiar voices of Fred Willard, Catherine O’hara, Maggie Gyllenhall, Jon Heder, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Steve Buscemi, and Kathleen Turner.

What an amazing cast!!

If you haven’t given this terrifying children’s film a watch, you need to.

It’s a perfect double feature for the equally great ParaNorman.

Monsterhouse is currently streaming on Netflix.