A boy discovers an incredible and gruesome world of monsters under his bed.A boy discovers an incredible and gruesome world of monsters under his bed.A boy discovers an incredible and gruesome world of monsters under his bed.
- Awards
- 2 nominations
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Storyline
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- TriviaDaniel Stern, who plays Glen Stevenson (the father of Fred Savage's Brian Stevenson), was the man responsible for the voice-over narration on The Wonder Years (1988), in which Savage starred.
- GoofsWhile it is understood that Brian should not visit the Monsters' world anymore because he may turn into a monster himself, there is no reason to think Maurice cannot continue to visit Brian at night in the human world. This makes the tearful goodbye at the end unnecessary.
- Crazy creditsAfter the song "Road to Nowhere", the rest of the end credits audio track is Maurice eating Doritos chips.
- Alternate versionsIn the original theatrical cut, "Little Bitty Pretty One" by Bobby Day plays during the scene where the monsters attempt to scare a baby. On the DVD released by MGM in 2004, this song is replaced with "Ooh Wow" by Buckwheat Zydeco (though the end credits still list the original song). The Blu-ray released by Lionsgate (as part of their Vestron Video series), and the television airings, keep the original song intact.
- SoundtracksHOW I LOVE YOU
Written by Frankie Paul and A. Ellis
Performed by Frankie Paul
Courtesy of Pow Wow Records, Inc.
Featured review
After moving house and witnessing his parents' marriage crumbling in front of him, Brian (Fred Savage) investigates his brothers claims that monsters keep coming from under his bed and scaring him at night. After swapping rooms, Brian is visited by a big blue monster, and the next night Brian manages to trap him in his room using his engineering skills. The monster turns out to be hyperactive troublemaker Maurice (Howie Mandel) who befriends Brian, and shows him the wonders of the monster world under his bed, where every night, the monsters reek havoc in the homes of young children. But the mysterious monster Boy (Frank Whaley) wants Brian for himself and keep him under the bed until the sun comes up, and thus turning him into a monster.
Apart from the first four Rocky films, Little Monsters was hands down the main film I watched religiously as a child, my face no further than two feet from the TV screen. I remember finding it strangely eerie amongst all the fun, and being genuinely disturbed by some scenes. Boy's henchman Snik, a giant, hunchbacked monster with large bottom teeth, really frightened me, and the scene where he breaks one of Maurice's horns always shocked me. Re-visiting the film, roughly around fifteen years later, I can see that I was right to feel unnerved.
Yes, the film is certainly childish and playful, but has a surprising line of darkness flowing through it from beginning to end. From early on, where Brian finds an overturned TV in the darkness of his closet that is showing the climax of The Fly, to the finale that sees Boy's face burned off to reveal a hideous face underneath, the film often steps out of the childhood safety area. It's certainly refreshing to see, and this sort of atmosphere can only be found in the Golden Age of kiddie flicks, the 80's, where films like The Dark Crystal and The Goonies showed creepy creatures and foul-mouthed kids that the target audience could really enjoy and relate to.
Not to say that Little Monsters quite matches up to the two films just mentioned - it has some annoying child characters and Maurice does become slightly tiresome - but it is certainly an imaginative, funny and exciting little film. It's sad to see another of the key child stars of the era, Fred Savage, come out of the decade and dissolve into the woodwork, similar to the likes of Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. Although his maniacal behaviour does occasionally become exhausting, Howie Mandel's performance is certainly energetic, and you can't help but love him when he drinks a bully's apple juice, only to refill it with p**s. Hardly a classic, but certainly a film I will absolutely cherish from my youth, and will enjoy revisiting once every decade or so.
www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
Apart from the first four Rocky films, Little Monsters was hands down the main film I watched religiously as a child, my face no further than two feet from the TV screen. I remember finding it strangely eerie amongst all the fun, and being genuinely disturbed by some scenes. Boy's henchman Snik, a giant, hunchbacked monster with large bottom teeth, really frightened me, and the scene where he breaks one of Maurice's horns always shocked me. Re-visiting the film, roughly around fifteen years later, I can see that I was right to feel unnerved.
Yes, the film is certainly childish and playful, but has a surprising line of darkness flowing through it from beginning to end. From early on, where Brian finds an overturned TV in the darkness of his closet that is showing the climax of The Fly, to the finale that sees Boy's face burned off to reveal a hideous face underneath, the film often steps out of the childhood safety area. It's certainly refreshing to see, and this sort of atmosphere can only be found in the Golden Age of kiddie flicks, the 80's, where films like The Dark Crystal and The Goonies showed creepy creatures and foul-mouthed kids that the target audience could really enjoy and relate to.
Not to say that Little Monsters quite matches up to the two films just mentioned - it has some annoying child characters and Maurice does become slightly tiresome - but it is certainly an imaginative, funny and exciting little film. It's sad to see another of the key child stars of the era, Fred Savage, come out of the decade and dissolve into the woodwork, similar to the likes of Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. Although his maniacal behaviour does occasionally become exhausting, Howie Mandel's performance is certainly energetic, and you can't help but love him when he drinks a bully's apple juice, only to refill it with p**s. Hardly a classic, but certainly a film I will absolutely cherish from my youth, and will enjoy revisiting once every decade or so.
www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
- tomgillespie2002
- Jul 18, 2011
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $4,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $793,775
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $253,834
- Aug 27, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $793,775
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