The year was 1987. The place, London. A nine year old Bingo Little had successfully nagged his mother into renting a movie he’d had his eye on for some time. Its title? The Monster Squad. The tale of a gang of pre-pubescent boys (and one little sister) uniting to take on a pack of Universal’s most heinous monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Werewolf and the Mummy. Think the Goonies meets Ghostbusters, the stuff of celluloid dreams.

Watched with a close and enduring pal, it proved to be a cinematic awakening for young Little, and remained lodged in the memory for years thereafter.

Flash forward nearly ten years. Despite his best efforts, Little has never managed to lay hands on a copy of the movie. No VHS release, no rental availability, no hope. It is nearly 1am the night before his History A- level, and he’s just set down his revision notes and is preparing to get some shut eye ahead of the exam. He flicks on the TV for a couple of minutes, just to wind down, and is immediately confronted by the opening scene of The Monster Squad. Unable to resist its siren » Continue Reading.