Monster in the Closet (1987)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, smart action film.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Silly spoof of rubber suit monster movies has a newspaper columnist(for the obituary page)getting a scoop which could make his career regarding a creature which has been using closets to snatch it's victims, a body count starting to emerge.Richard Clark(Donald Grant possibly designed after Clark Kent)finally is "rewarded" a job to cover a series of bizarre "closet murders" where, it seems, a monster is actually attacking people in their houses, leaving behind strange marks on their necks. Professor Diane Bennett(Denise DuBarry)believes, along with scientist Dr. Pennyworth(Henry Gibson costumed as an Alfred Einstein look-a-like), that there's something seriously sinister that should be studied and learned from while the sheriff, Sam Ketchem(Claude Akins; whose dip-chewing is played for laughs)considers only to stop it from hurting anyone else. When attempts to kill the monster fail, the military are called in, General Turnbull(Donald Moffat; playing him stubborn, profane, and stiff-necked)in charge of killing it. When all the arsenal of the army do little to stop the creature, it's up to science to discover a means to somehow end it's reign of terror. A specific tune and electrical power might can contribute to the monster's demise, but Diane could have another idea..what about the monster's refuge, the closets of the world? The monster is a grotesque rubber creation which slightly resembles Geiger's xenomorph alien in that a second face is inside it's mouth, popping out every once in a while to screech when Pennyworth plays a tune on his xylophone. I think the film is more effective when we just see it's sharp-claw hands bursting through closet doors, but most viewers want to see the monster terrorizing citizens. An odd recurrence has Diane spellbound into a trance when Clark's glasses are removed. Early child performance for FAST AND THE FURIOUS' Paul Walker as Diane's geeky son. Paul Dooley and Stella Stevens(in a shower, a tribute to PSYCHO)have cameos as a married couple who could become potential victims, as does John Carradine as a blind man with a cane who loses his trained dog(and then himself)when stumbling into the closet. A common occurrence at the beginning has victims pulled into the closet, the camera panning around to only show clothes flying out with the door blocking the violence, the monster's guttural growl on the soundtrack relating to us it's terrible deeds. Without some minor Stella Stevens cleavage and Moffat's excessive profanity, MONSTER IN THE CLOSET would be harmless family fun. Such a loving spoof even includes the classic line, "It was beauty that killed the beast." Also features Frank Ashmore as Clark's newspaper rival, Scoop, whose reputation at getting the best articles and stories can be more than a bit intimidating, and Howard Duff as Diane's friend, Father Finnegan(always seeking the Lord's guidance when the monster strikes).

Wow, I just saw this on T.V. as one of the "scary" movies they show around Halloween. Was this rated G? There wasn't really anything to make this movie scary, or worth watching. Also, other people say this is a spoof, but I don't think so. For a spoof, you need something called "humor". This low-budget crap-fest didn't have a shred of humor, and it didn't make much sense, either. You basically have a goofy looking monster (man in rubber suit) coming out of closets, killing people, I guess, since you never see the monster doing violence to anyone or any bloody aftermath. The spinning newspaper tells you that people were killed by the monster, so I guess that's good enough.The military tries feebly to kill the monster, which isn't much larger than a man. They have very bad aim. Then the military FLEES! Wow, did this movie make the U.S. military look pathetic or what? The monster, while hard to kill, doesn't do much besides shuffle around and roar. Oh, and occasionally a second head pops out of its mouth and shrieks. It was a slightly interesting, yet a total Alien ripoff.What was the deal with the scientist playing the Xylophone to attract the monster? It was hard to understand a lot of the dialog due to the poor sound quality. Also, why did the monster carry around the main wimpy guy for so long? Why didn't the monster go into the closet when it had a chance? Why do I insist on trying to make sense out of the senseless?

Cheesy. Goofy. Low budget. Yes, "Monster In The Closet" is a silly Horror/Comedy but it's damn entertaining and could teach a lesson to modern B-movie film makers.I remember watching this movie frequently on the USA Network back in the mid 90's. It was a recurring movie but it made it's impact in the early 90's as a cult Troma flick. If I remember correctly, this one always aired after "Girls School Screamers".Anyways, "Monster In The Closet" believe it or not, shares some scenes and ideas with Disney's "Monsters Inc." so you go figure... The movie displays every child's worst nightmare: having a monster living in the closet. While the monster in the movie is very goofy, it is still fun to watch. In the end, you can't feel but sorry for his demise. A la Godzilla! This movie should be watched for it's cult status and for nostalgic reasons. Don't expect cool f/x, make-up, plot, or even score. Expect a cheese fest with a heart. "Monster In The Closet", I will always remember this movie because it helped me understand the concept of B-movie in my childhood. I truly like this movie for sentimental reasons.

Monster in the Closet is set in the small American town of 'Chestnut Hills California' where Mary Lou (Jona Lee), a young girl & the blind Joe Shempter (John Carradine) are all attacked & killed by something nasty in their closets... Jump to 'San Francisco' & the offices of newspaper the 'Daily Globe' where usually ignored reporter Richard Clark (Donald Grant) is given the task of writing a story about the three unexplained murders by his editor Ben Bernstein (Jesse White). Richard drives to Chestnut Hills & heads straight for the local police department to interview Sheriff Sam Ketchem (Claude Akins). There he meets high school biologist Diane Bennett (Denise DuBarry) who thinks some sort of creature my be responsible because of two mysterious puncture wounds on the victims bodies. Richard & Sheriff Ketchem head over to the scene of Mary Lou's murder & Richard finds some sort of claw, he heads over to the school to ask Diane about it. Scientist Dr. Pennyworth (Henry Gibson) says he has never seen anything like it & wants to run some tests on it. Later that night at Diane's house Richard, Pennyworth, a priest named Finnegan (Howard Duff) & Diane's son (Paul Walker) are having dinner when they hear screaming from across the street, Margo (Stella Stevens) claims that her husband Roy (Paul Dooley) has been killed by a monster that came out of the closet. A national emergency is called & the army is called in to combat the threat that the monster in the closet poses...Written & directed by Bob Dahlin I was somewhat surprised that Monster in the Closet was a decent little film. The script is a homage to all those 50's type monster films, from the General who wants to just kill the threat to the scientist who wants to study it & the priest who who thinks religion is the key. The reporter who looks & feels like Clarke Kent from Superman as the hero & the attractive female. Because of the type of comedy horror hat this film is it starts to drag a little & it starts to get a bit boring. The term 'one-joke-film' springs to mind. There are a few amusing moments & if your familiar with the type of film that Monster in the Closet spoofs then you may get a fair amount of enjoyment out of it's 90 odd minute duration. I doubt anyone would want to watch it more than once though & the pointless constant on screen captions become highly annoying.Director Dahlin films with competence on an obviously low budget. The monster itself looks a bit rubbery but I didn't think it looked too bad. There is no blood or gore whatsoever so forget about anything like that. There is a touch of nudity in a shower scene. Apparently Monster in the Closet was filmed in 1983 & was picked-up & released by Troma in 1987, make of that what you will.Technically Monster in the Closet is pretty good, nothing outstanding & it has cheap production values throughout but it ended up being better than I had expected. The acting isn't brilliant but again by no means the worst I've seen, Carradine makes an appearance for all of 4 minutes at the start.Monster in the Closet is a decent little homage to many other sci-fi horror films & fans of those genres would probably get more out of it than others. I personally think it's worth a one-off watch.