10 Family Friendly Horror Films To Scare Kids (And Their Parents) This Halloween

Earlier this year Shane Black and Fred Dekker struggled to conjure the appropriate 80s nostalgia in their attempt to reboot the Predator franchise (so much so that, referring the homonym power tool company, people suggested that a "Black and Dekker movie" was tantamount to formulaic flat pack assembly filmmaking).

80s nostalgics will have a much better time with their previous collaboration, however, as this 1987 horror comedy (directed by Dekker and co-written with Black) has everything you could want from a movie that's essentially The Goonies meet the Universal monsters.

The eponymous Monster Squad are a gang of typical 80s movie pre-teens, meeting in their treehouse to enthuse over classic horror monsters but then having to face off against them in the real world after arch-villain Dracula assembles a team including the Mummy, Wolfman and Gill-man to seize control of an amulet which would allow him to plunge the world into darkness or the kids to cast him into limbo.

The Monster Squad flopped at the time, but has since developed a cult following and it's easy to see why. Black is known for the sharp, quotable quality of his dialogue, not to mention his ability to write convincing fun kids even in his more adult movies. Meanwhile, the monster designs come from Stan Winston's workshop so represent quality versions of the iconic characters.

Best of all is Tom Noonan as Frankenstein's monster who, like his Universal predecessor, is more of a tragic hero than a real monster, forming a close bond with the younger sister of hero Sean, a girl who desperately wants to join the Monster Squad for herself.