Wait for Monster Squad DVD is finally over....

If you asked me even two days ago, I would have never believed I was going to say what I am about to say right now: "Thank you, Lionsgate."

Yes, I know they are the same company who brought Crash to undeserved Oscar glory and a never ending flow of Saw films into the world, but yesterday, they announced that they would be the ones who would also take The Monster Squad out of DVD purgatory.

What is The Monster Squad?

Well, if you are a) a guy, b) cool, and c) had access to Cinemax sometime during the 80's, you should already know. The best way to describe the film is to say that it's a cross between The Goonies with all the classic monsters from the early years of Universal Studios, and yes, this movie features a Wolfman who has nards.



The Monster Squad stars Tom Noonan (Manhunter) as the Sloth-esque Frankenstein's monster, and Movie Show favorite Jon Gries as the Wolfman in human form. It was also one of the very first works from Shane Black, who wrote nearly every action film in the 80's.

The independently-produced film was acquired by Tri-Star pictures, which was acquired by Columbia Pictures, which was bought Sony. Afterwards, no one really knew who owned the rights to The Monster Squad, which gave free reign to all eBay bootleggers with crappy VHS copies and a DVD burner. People would pay upwards of twenty or thirty bucks for a blank media disc copy of the film which was brutally cropped to meet old school home video standards. Sad, yes?

Looks like the bootleggers will have to looking for a new source of income, since an official DVD - with a brand-new anamorphic transfer and an extra disc of features and supplemental materials - will be hitting stores on July 24.

Y'know, this is such good news, that it's almost enough to make me forgive how god awful these brand new Big Lebowski action figures look. Almost.

And if you're still not convinced as to how awesome the news of a Monster Squad DVD is, here's the original theatrical trailer: