Little Monsters

Infobox Film
name = Little Monsters


caption = Howie Mandel as Maurice and Fred Savage as Brian
director = Richard Greenberg
producer = Dori Bernstein
Michell Cannold
John Davis
Jack Grossberg
Andrew Licht
Jeffrey A. Mueller
writer = Terry Rossio
Ted Elliott
starring = Fred Savage
Daniel Stern
Howie Mandel
music = David Newman
Mike Piccirillo
Roxanne Seeman
cinematography = Dick Bush
editing = Patrick McMahon
distributor = United Artists
released = 1989
runtime = 102 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:29573
imdb_id = 0097758

"Little Monsters" is a 1989 comedy-drama film starring Fred Savage as Brian Stevenson, a sixth-grader who has recently moved to a new town, and Howie Mandel as Maurice, the monster under the bed.

The fictional story purports to explain "what "really" goes on under the bed" and why children are always getting blamed for things they did not do. Beginning as a flashback, it tells of how Maurice befriends Brian and shows him a world where there are no rules and no parents to tell them what to do. However, there is more to this fantasy world than meets the eye, and when Brian's brother Eric (Ben Savage) is kidnapped, the fun and games turn deadly serious.

Tagline: Sometimes friends can be REAL MONSTERS. And sometimes monsters can be REAL FRIENDS. (America and Canada)

Tagline: They act up when the sun goes down. (UK, Australia and Ireland)

ynopsis

In the beginning, we hear Brian narrate about him moving away from his friends, having him end up lonely. While he was watching a sleazy, late-night TV show after sneaking away from his room in the attic, he heard his brother Eric scream on account of the fact that he saw a monster. The next morning, as Brian's father was about to get a coffee mug, a quart of melted ice cream splatters all over him, and Brian gets blamed for it. Later, as Brian's father was backing up his car to go to work, he crashes and destroys Brian's bike. With his father enraged, Brian admits that he seriously put his bike inside the garage, not behind the car.

Eric and his friend Todd were talking about the monster that Eric saw the other night. They get in the school bus, then Brian runs inside the bus. Later, he explains to Eric why he wasn't riding his bike, because it got run over by his own father. Eric gets blamed, and said that he could hardly reach the pedals. Brian snatches and tosses Eric's lunch out the window while saying, "You lie to me, you starve". Brain later blames Eric about the ice cream, but Todd claims that it was the monster. Eric agrees, but Brian denies the answer. An angry school bully named Ronnie Coleman, comes on the bus (because the lunch was accidentally thrown at him). Ronnie later faces Brian at school, but they soon get in trouble by the principal.

Brian meets a monster named Maurice, who befriends him and over the course of several nights shows him the time of his life in the monster universe beneath Eric's bed. The universe (which is never given a name) consists of every child's dream: all the junk food, pinball ("In this world, "there's no such thing as tilt"!"), and video games they want, and no adults to tell them what to do. It also has innumerable staircases leading to the spaces beneath children's beds, from which the monsters cause trouble. Maurice and Brian have fun making mischief in other people's homes, and best of all, Brian feels he has found a true friend at last – although Brian seems to be changing.

When Maurice takes Brian to the monster equivalent of a party – a baby's room, where the monsters take turns attempting to frighten the child – he calls it cruelty and leaves, exposing the monsters to the light in the adjacent hallway in the process. While doing so, however, Brian learns that he is turning into a monster, as his arm begins to shrink when the light first hits it.

This changes Brian's mind about Maurice and he saws the legs off all the beds in the house. Although originally motivated by a desire to win over a "convert" (all monsters are former children), Maurice did believe Brian to be his only real friend. But Boy, the ruler of the monster universe, wanted Brian as a playmate, and Snik, his thug, assaults Maurice for failing when Brian came so close to becoming a monster. Snik then uses the couch bed in Brian's living room to enter the real world and kidnap Brian's brother, Eric.

Brian enlists the help of his friends, gathering an assortment of bright lights, and they enter the monster universe in search of Eric. "Zapping" various monsters along the way, they march to the master staircase, where Boy resides. There is a confrontation in which Boy reveals Eric and offers to let the others go, "if" you'll stay and be my pal". They shoot Boy with their lights, but his arsenal of toys and monsters burns out or destroys the light sources, and Snik places the kids and Maurice in a locked room.

They manage to escape by turning Maurice into a pile of clothes, via an improvised light created by Kiersten (Amber Barretto), Brian's science-savvy semi-girlfriend, and leave to gather more supplies. Meanwhile, Maurice enlists the help of Ronnie Coleman (Devin Ratray), the school bully. Fully armed, the group of kids confronts Boy and Snik with "enough firepower to light up Yankee Stadium". When they fire, Boy dissolves (a la the Nazi leader in "Raiders of the Lost Ark") and the remaining clothes burst into flames, while Snik explodes; however, they rescue Eric only to be trapped and confronted by a grotesque-looking Snik who has literally pulled himself together.

Faced with the prospect of turning into monsters if they do not return to the human world by sunrise, the kids appear to have lost until Maurice appears with a flamethrower. He sets Snik ablaze, allowing Brian and the others to escape. Unfortunately, they arrive in time to find the sun has risen and they are too late. Todd (Eric's best friend, played by William Murray Weiss) realizes they are in the Eastern time zone of the United States and still might have a chance if they head westward; after running all the way to Los Angeles, the children manage to escape. Brian and Maurice share a heartfelt goodbye, and Maurice gives Brian his bomber jacket to remember him by.

Release

The film was to be distributed originally by Vestron Pictures and a trailer was even distributed by them. Along with a few others, it was sold to United Artists after Vestron's bankruptcy. It subsequently saw a limited release, with only 179 movie theaters showing the film at its high point, although it grossed just under US$800,000. A DVD release was made available in the United States and Canada on April 6, 2004; as of 2006, there are no plans for a release outside Region 1.

Brian's father is played by Daniel Stern, who had previously worked on "The Wonder Years" as the elder version of Savage's character, Kevin Arnold. During the series Stern could be heard giving a retrospective of his life in the form of a voiceover.

Differences from the original script

The original Maurice described his former life as a kid, thus establishing that all monsters were formerly kids (as it was filmed, this is somewhat established when we learn Brian is turning into a monster). At one point, Maurice "does" remark that "at least you have a family," hinting at his former identity.

The script was also darker, with Maurice (Mandel) more motivated by attempting to seduce Brian (Savage) than by a genuine urge to have fun. Also, Brian was meaner and had a greater change of character toward the end, when the reason for him being unable to get out was that he was no longer a "monster" and had learned to be good. In the film, the entire group is unable to escape because the sun has risen, and they ultimately emerge in Los Angeles, where the time is three hours earlier.

In the script, Maurice's plan to destroy Snik involved a complex trick with doors and sunlight, rather than a flamethrower.

Boy

In the original script, Snik (essentially a thug who does Boy's bidding) had very few lines and Boy was a literal boy with a marionette. Frank Whaley – known for his boyish looks and demeanor [http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/id/189411] – gives a childlike performance and is dressed in what appears to be a school uniform; in real life, he is 13 years older than Savage.

The state of Boy's face after Brian "shoots" him with extremely bright light adds a degree of mystery to the character. Although he turns into a pile of clothes when shot with brighter light, the first time Boy's face melts away, revealing a hideously disfigured monster beneath. This may have been done both for shock value and to demonstrate how warped Boy had become after spending so much time in the monster universe, although it was explained earlier in the film that sunlight first disfigures then kills monsters. While this would be supported by the fact that Brian and his friends obtained their supplies from the same place as Kiersten did for her artificial sunlight experiment, the fact that the camera first pans around to show the disfigured back of Boy's head (as well as his hands having prominent black scars) might suggest otherwise.

Cast

*Fred Savage - Brian Stevenson
*Howie Mandel - Maurice
*Daniel Stern - Glen Stevenson
*Margaret Whitton - Holly Stevenson
*Rick Ducommun - Snik
*Frank Whaley - Boy
*Ben Savage - Eric Stevenson
*Amber Barretto - Kiersten
*William Murray Weiss - Todd
*Devin Ratray - Ronnie Coleman
*Hulk Hogan - Himself (Cameo)

Trivia

*Daniel Stern and Devin Ratray appear in "Home Alone" and "", although, as is the case with "Little Monsters", they do not appear in any scenes together.

*Daniel Stern also shares a connection with co-star Fred Savage. Both portrayed the character Kevin Arnold in The Wonder Years, although Stern as the elder Kevin appeared in voice only performing the nostalgic narration.

*In a scene early in the film, Brian's father is asking him to get the monster's autograph. Daniel Stern improvised the playful tickling, and Fred Savage's reactions are genuine.

References

* [http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/LITTLE.MONSTERS.cover.html Script]
* [http://www.fast-rewind.com/littlemonsters.htm "Little Monsters" Review] at "The 80s Movie Rewind"
* [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=littlemonsters.htm "Little Monsters" (1989)] at Box Office Mojo

External links

* [http://www.mgm.com/title_clip.do?title_star=LTLMONST "Little Monsters"] at MGM.com
*
* [http://lmonsters.2.forumer.com/ "Little Monsters"] Message Board.