Monster in the Closet (1987)

A hideous creature (played by Predator performer Kevin Peter Hall) emerges from closets to kill innocent people; aspiring reporter Clark (Donald Grant), scientist Dr. Pennyworth (Henry Gibson), youngster 'Professor' Bennett (Fast and Furious star-to-be Paul Walker) and his mother Diane (Denise DuBarry) attempt to try and work out what drives the monster and how to stop it.Given its suggestive title and San Francisco setting, I thought that Monster in the Closet would have some kind of gay agenda, but apart from the fact that the (presumably male) creature carries off handsome reporter Clark at the end, instead of the girl, the film doesn't really explore any potential homosexual subtext. Instead, this silly Troma film concentrates on what the studio specialises in: dumb comedy and even dumber horror, with a smattering of topless female nudity (courtesy of middle-aged MILF Stella Stevens). It's all extremely daft, the gags weak and the monster a hilarious z-grade rubber creation with an Alien-like extendable mandible, but it's reasonably undemanding fun for those who enjoy schlock.From a technical standpoint, the film does rise above the usual Troma output, with smart editing and plenty of impressive fluid camera movement (including what I believe to be Louma crane shots), so much so that I was surprised to see that director Bob Dahlin didn't go onto bigger and better things (on the contrary, this was his only ever movie as director). The film also benefits from a cast of familiar faces that includes Donald Moffat, Claude Akins, John Carradine, and Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas in her movie debut.4.5, rounded up to 5 for managing to show Stella Stevens in the shower, not once, but three times!

Usually I would avoid most anything (unless it's really old) with a PG rating; especially a horror movie. But i figured since it's a horror-comedy and the fact that most Troma movies from the 80's are pretty rad i'd give it a try. I'm glad i did, i mean there's no gore what so ever but there was a really cool looking monster. The monster lives in people's closets if you couldn't tell from the title. The beast can't seem to be stopped from killing people even from the military and there's the basic plot. Aside from the cool monster effects it also managed to provide some laughs. Oh and we do get a couple of brief nipple shots of a hottie with rather volumptuous breasts; but it's kind of a tease. If this monster movie parody was rated R it would definitely be a classic. Nothing too marvelous but it would be a nice way to introduce your kids to the pleasures of cheesy 80's horror without showing them anything too graphic.

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?

Spoof of many sci-fi movies. Creature itself is reminiscent of the creature in Alien. Also reminds me a little of the creature in Pumpkinhead. Much less 'real' looking in appearance. Spoof of the movie Psycho shower scene. As the monster walks down the street, a military man yells 'bombs, tanks, planes, nothing...' which is a spoof of War of the Worlds as our weapons proved useless against the invaders. The kindly professor, Henry Gibson, attempts to communicate using a xylophone, playing the musical notes from the famous scene of Close Encounters of a Third Kind. The creature seems to respond by extending and retracting its inner 'Alien' type mouth in and out to the beat of the xylophone. When we learn that the existence of closets give this creature energy, we are all told to destroy all closets. This is a great scene, as people all over the world are tearing their closets to pieces. Good for laughs. Not serious at all.