The Big Question with Fred Dekker
Interview with: Troy Brownfield
Usually in the Big Question, we have guests from the realm of comics. Notable exceptions are author Steve Beai, Jeph Loeb (who has an awesome comics career but also writes films) and icon Julie Strain. However, this time I’m pleased to announce that we have secured our first interview with a film director.
At this point, I’ll admit that I’ve been very excited to have this guest. One of my sentimental favorite films from my teen years is The Monster Squad, and this gentlemen co-created and directed that film! He’s also the man behind Night of the Creeps, Robocop 3, and quite a bit more, as you’ll see.
Before we begin, I do have to note one funny thing. Fred actually came to our site via my big Best Horror Movies of all time article (wherein I named Monster Squad as a favorite). He wrote me a very nice email, agreeing with some picks and really giving it to me over some others. Needless to say, I was flattered that he took the time, and I’m very pleased that he agreed to be interviewed here. Ladies and gentlemen, Fred Dekker!
You’ve worked extensively as a writer and director. How did you “break in”?
First, I got rejected from every film school I applied to (well, two). This freed me up to enroll as an English major at UCLA, where I made a bunch of great friends and started writing screenplays. The first three sucked — screenplays, not friends — and had to be put in a drawer. The drawer was burned, the ashes scattered, the room fumigated. The fourth script wasn’t terrible. I was friends with Ed Solomon (Men In Black, Charlie’s Angels) who had just broken into television writing. I asked him how he went about getting an agent, and he gave me some names of agents he had met but not signed with. I called the first one on the list and sent him my meager-but-not-sucky effort; a science fiction thriller entitled The Forever Factor. This particular agent read it, asked to represent me, and represents me to this day.
Around this time, Steve Miner (Halloween H:20, Texas Rangers, etc.) had optioned the rights from Toho to make an American Godzilla movie (this was years before the Emmerich/Devlin version). Steve wanted to do it in 3D like he had done the third Friday the 13th, and based on The Forever Factor asked me to write the script. So that was my first job in the movie business.
After Godzilla 3D I sold a pitch to Tri-Star Pictures (a “pitch” is when you sell someone on an idea, then they pay you to write it, as opposed to presenting a completed script). It was called Teen Agent and eventually became a terrible piece of dog poo called If Looks Could Kill. Despite the stench of this film, I maintain my original script rocked.
My next script was a low-budget horror-comedy I insisted on directing. It was called Night of the Creeps, and the rest is hardly history, but you can catch it on cable at 3 a.m.
You noted that you’ve worked as an uncredited writer on films like Ricochet, Lethal Weapon 4 and Titan A.E. How does that happen, and do you find it frustrating to know you worked on a project that doesn’t carry your name?
Unlike most writers (who are scurrilous credit-hogs), I prefer my name to appear on projects that I actually care about, the ones I had a real hand in and weren’t shat upon or re-written beyond recognition.
Ricochet was an original screenplay of mine, originally intended as a Dirty Harry movie. Joel Silver bought it (he told me Clint Eastwood found it “too grim”) and I was briefly going to direct it with Kurt Russell possibly playing the lead. For reasons I can’t recall, I left the project. The screenplay was re-written by Menno Meyjes, then Steve DeSouza. All three of us retain screen credit, but I count only four things in the movie that are mine. Because I originated it, Writers Guild rules automatically awarded me “Story by” credit. Interesting addendum: the opening scene of my original Ricochet script (or a variation thereof) is being used in the new Steven Segal movie, Exit Wounds. Because Warner Bros. owns the script, they can do whatever they want with it.
Lethal 4 arose out of my relationship with Joel Silver and director Richard Donner who wanted more “Whammos” (that’s Silver-speak for action scenes). We had a meeting and I said, “How about if Riggs and Murtaugh jump a car off a freeway and drive it through a high-rise office building?” A week or two later, they were filming it. I didn’t want or receive screen credit, but I did get paid very well and got to hang around the set and drink coffee. Thanks, Joel!
The less said about Titan A.E., the better.
I’ve also worked on Demolition Man, Anastasia, and numerous unmade projects including my favorite script, the live-action feature film version of Jonny Quest.
Tell us about your involvement with Tales from the Crypt.
I’d always loved the old EC Comics and the Amicus movie versions, so it was a thrill when Robert Zemeckis (and again, Joel Silver and Dick Donner) asked me to write the very first filmed episode, “…And All Through The House”. I’ve been a huge Bob Z. fan ever since Used Cars, so working with him was a dream. When the series sold to HBO, I worked on it on and off for the first two seasons, writing five episodes and directing one. My favorites were probably “Lower Berth,” a period piece that FX maestro Kevin Yagher directed (brilliantly), and my own “The Thing From The Grave” mostly because I got Teri Hatcher to wear a blue silk teddy and fall in love with a zombie (I suspect she’s still mad at me).
Everybody here at Shotgun Reviews loves The Monster Squad. In fact, it’s kind of hard to figure out a way into the topic. How did that project originate with you and Shane Black?
Any discussion of The Monster Squad has to start with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (hereafter “A&CMF”). As a boyhood fan of both Abbott and Costello and the Universal monster series, this was probably the Holy Grail of my pre-teen years. Only later did I come to appreciate how difficult it is to pull off a “comedy/horror” film (obviously, it’s the genre I explored with mixed results in Night of the Creeps). A&CMF is an exception; a movie that is genuinely hilarious and scary at the same time. An American Werewolf in London would be another, coincidentally made by another A&CMF fan, John Landis. But I’d have to say there are only a handful of other films that have pulled off this difficult balancing act (I’m not a fan of Fright Night or the Scream movies).
As a kid, l also loved the Little Rascals shorts that ran on local TV (my favorites are the first talkies through to 1936 or ’37). After Creeps, the idea of an “Our Gang” meeting the classic Universal monsters seemed appealing to me; an obvious tribute to my misspent youth in front of the television. Shane was a college buddy and we shared a love of many things, including A&CMF. He had just started writing, which meant I could still afford him. So I asked him to take a crack at a first draft of Monster Squad based on a story we concocted together. It ended up being a 50/50 collaboration, to the point where I honestly can’t remember who wrote what. The 100-Year-Old-Amulet-That-Can-Tip-The-Scales-Between-Good-And-Evil is pretty much every episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” but I can’t remember where we got it, although Shane may have read Lovecraft at some point since he’s as voracious a reader as I am a film buff.
I showed the script to producer Jonathan Zimbert who was then partnered with director/writer/cinematographer Peter Hyams, a hero of mine for films like Capricorn One and Hanover Street. Although Peter was not crazy about Night of the Creeps, he did like the Monster Squad script and agreed to produce the movie. We made a deal with a company called Taft/Barrish, whose bigshots Keith Barrish and Rob Cohen (also a director and a great guy) executive produced.
Obviously, my first preference was to do the picture at Universal, which would allow us to resurrect the classic Jack Pierce make-ups. In their infinite wisdom, Universal passed (look at the mileage they get out of those monsters NOW! Again, ahead of our time, I guess). So the great Stan Winston designed our monsters, all in the spirit of Universal without crossing the copyright line. I was particularly happy with the Creature… sorry, “Gill Man” (played by FX genius Tom Woodruff) and the mummy, who I decided was probably a boy prince when he was mummified. I wondered why mummies were always depicted as big and lumbering. Besides, we already had a big lumbering guy.
The shoot was a baptism-by-fire. My hero Peter Hyams turned out to be a stern father figure, who sometimes wanted things done his way or the highway. Much of the time, we agreed, but when we didn’t, it got sticky. To make matters worse, the crew was made up of people he’d worked with before, so if there were sides to pick, they mostly picked his. Peter’s input was mostly in casting and shooting style. Creeps had been an aesthetic I like: moving camera, bright colors, wide lenses; Peter’s is more smoky and classic, earth tones, long lens master shots, that kind of thing. Our styles clashed a bit (I think Rob Cohen kept Peter from firing me) until he finally decided I knew what I was doing. For this reason, the last third of the movie — I think the best part -– I was left totally alone. It was great shooting in wide-screen (Panavision), and I loved working with cinematographer Bradford May, now a highly paid TV director. Oh, and the kids were all terrific.
I had also loved Bruce Broughton’s music for Silverado — its playful combination of pastiche, emotion and rousing adventure — so I asked him to score the movie before we even started shooting. I think the score is one of his best, and added immeasurably to the feel of the movie. Peter subsequently hired Bruce for several of his films, so he must have thought I was doing something right.
In the final analysis, I can’t decide if the movie’s box office failure was the studio’s fault, or the audience’s (I’ll take the fall for RoboCop 3). Tri-Star did the best they could with something that straddled kid’s movie, comedy, and horror, and this was years before these elements became mainstream (Goosebumps, Harry Potter, etc.) I think parents were afraid their kids would be scared, and teens and adults thought it was a kids’ film, so we ended up with, essentially, no audience.
Until the magic of home video, of course.
Speaking of which: all Monster Squad fans should unite and write your favorite home video company requesting a new, remastered, widescreen DVD (with director audio commentary, of course!). I don’t want to be self-serving by starting the ball rolling, but you guys can — Just pretend it was your idea! A letter-writing campaign will have more effect than a phone call from a sniveling director. Those pan-scanned VHS tapes must be banished into the vortex!
Here’s a really specific question about The Monster Squad: when Rudy is fighting the monsters toward the end, we definitely see him kill two of Dracula’s brides. However, to my recollection, the third is never shown as being slain onscreen. Could you explain that bit?
I learned many valuable lessons from editor Jim Mitchell, and one thing he taught me was cheating. Next time you look at the movie, check out the kids in the scary mansion being stalked by the monsters while Sean tries to figure how to spring the trap door. In one shot, Eugene’s holding Pete the dog. In the next, Pete’s on the ground. In the next, he’s back in Eugene’s hands. And so on. Jim would say, “If the audience is watching the dog while the kids are about to be killed by monsters, we’re in big trouble.” In other words, editing is cheating. The trick is not to get caught. (At the end of the movie, as the vortex recedes, Phoebe repositions herself behind a bench, then – in a reaction shot – is back where she started. That always drove me crazy, but we never fixed it.)
As for the vampire brides (two of them played by college crushes of mine, the third by a stuntwoman), my eye was on getting to the next story beat: Dracula/Bat, Sean’s Dad arrives, Wolfman, etc. I figured, “We know Rudy’s killing the brides, so let’s move on.” In other words, I cheated on the third bride. You just caught me, that’s all.
(Here’s a question: where do the vampire brides’ bodies go when the sheriffs’ cars drive up to battle the Wolfman and the Creature? Also, why is Frank sucked into the vortex when he’s one of the good guys? Damn! Maybe I should look at this movie again.)
Why do you think that movie (The Monster Squad) resonates so strongly with the viewers who saw it in their teens?
Truly, I have no idea, but I’ll take a crack at it. It’s the same reason Harry Potter and “Buffy” and Nickelodeon are all so popular now. Two words: Teen Empowerment. John Hughes aside, how many movies were made in the ‘80s that didn’t depict kids as cliches (horny, jocky, nerdy, stupid)? Answer: not a lot. Here was a movie with a simple premise: Grown-ups don’t get it. It featured teens who are smart and resourceful, who form a club based on mutual interest, who tease but do not rebuke each other, who do not let their personal problems get in the way of friendship, and finally, most importantly, have enough simple, pure IMAGINATION to solve a problem in an unconventional way. In other words, smart teens who save the world: How could that not resonate with teen viewers? Of course, that’s just my theory.
Monster Squad Fun Facts (exclusive for Shotgun Reviews):
– Liam Neeson was hired to play Dracula’s mysterious alter ego, but we cut his scenes from the script before shooting them.
– Paul Reiser auditioned to play “Del Crenshaw” but Peter Hyams thought he looked too young to play the kids’ father.
– Dustin Diamond (“Screech” from TV’s “Saved By The Bell”) acted in, but was cut out of, an early school scene with Sean and Patrick.
– Mary Ellen Trainor who played “Emily Crenshaw” is married to director Robert Zemeckis.
– Michael Faustino who played “Eugene” is the younger brother of David Faustino from “Married With Children”.
– My friend and college roommate Ethan Wiley was making House 2: The Second Story at the Culver Studios the same time we were making Squad, so we’d visit each others’ sets.
– Other visitors to the Monster Squad set included Alyssa Milano and the Ackermonster himself, Forrest J. Ackerman.
– Sound mixer Richard Portman also worked on such classics as The Godfather, The Deer Hunter, Nashville, Young Frankenstein, and Star Wars (he also mixed my “Tales From The Crypt” episode).
Tell us what projects you have coming up.
I recently sold a pilot to Columbia-Tri-Star television, which I will write, direct and executive produce with Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson (the Men In Black guys). Entitled “Rocket City,” it’s my attempt to create a live-action version of Japanese anime, blending science-fiction, girls in school uniforms, ninja assassins, secret agents, robots, artificial intelligence, and an assassinated President who still runs the country from a top secret underground command post. In other words, it’s too cool for TV, so it will probably die on the vine.
I am also writing a feature I plan to direct which could be described as a realistic, Dogma 95-style re-working of Night of the Creeps. In other words: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Meanwhile, enjoy my wife’s work as Story Editor and writer on the new James Cameron/ Fox television show, “Dark Angel.” Her name’s Moira Kirland Dekker and not only is she a wonderful writer, she’s also cute.
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The team at Shotgun Reviews would like to thank Mr. Dekker for his time! Personally, I’d love to see Rocket City make it onto someone’s schedule. In the meantime, let’s bombard Anchor Bay, a noted rescuer of films for DVD, and get them on the ball about Monster Squad! Thanks again to Mr. Dekker, and maybe we’ll be able to have him back someday. Go rent Night of the Creeps.
Troy Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. He’s proud to admit that his Master’s Thesis short novel, The Order, was influenced by The Monster Squad. Email Troy at psikotyk@aol.com.
