Monster Squad (1987)

Who are you gonna call when Val Helsing blows it?  The monster squad.

This movie starts out showing us how Van Helsing tried to open a vortex to suck Dracula and his fellow monsters.  They blew it.  Fast forward to present day (1987) and Dracula is back.  This time he is in no name American city ready to wreak havoc.  He brings along some friends: Frankenstein's monster, a mummy, werewolf, and lagoon creature.  Luckily for the world, Sean and his friends have a monster club.  Sean ends up with Van Helsing's diary which his mom just happened to find at a garage sale (very convenient).  With the help of a neighbor (aka scary, German, guy) they translate the diary and figure out how to open up the vortex to get rid of the monsters.  They use their knowledge of monsters, and the instructions from Van Helsing's diary to defeat the monsters.

Some thoughts about the movie.  This Dracula is a scary Dracula.  He is not the current version of a seductive vampire with a heart of gold.  This vampire wants to eat your heart.  Liam Neeson was first considered for the role of Dracula.  There are some great character actors in this movie including Jon Gries and Tom Noonan.  Do yourself a favor and look them up on IMDB.  You will realize that you have seen both of these actors in a ton of stuff.  Was Pepsi the official sponsor of all 80s movies?  Seriously, look back at a few movies and you will realize they drink a lot of Pepsi in them.  When Sean figures out that Mr. Alucard is Dracula spelled backwards did it remind you of Scrubs when J.D. makes a movie called Dr. Acula?

Creepy factor
-Dracula has no problem killing children.  He tries to kill both Sean and Phoebe.  He also likes to use dynamite.
-The scene where the blown up werewolf bits come back together is pretty gross and scary for a kids movie.
-Kids can make bullets in shop class and the teacher is none the wiser.

Lessons learned
-Wolfman's got nards!
-The only way to kill a werewolf is with a silver bullet (dynamite doesn't work).
-When it comes to fighting monsters the police are useless and the army will show up too late.
-This movie was brought to you by Pepsi and Burger King.
-Kids can have their own cards too.

Best lines of the movie brought to you by Horace/Fat kid (RIP Brent Chalem)
-I have three words for you, scary. . .German. . .guy
-Wolfman's got nards.
-My name, (cocks rifle) is Horace!