In 1987, well before Stranger Things debuted, one film imagined a group of suburban tweens fighting against monsters in a wild movie that, to this day, feels like a fever dream. Could there really have been a movie in which Frankenstein’s monster teamed up with a group of kids to fight the Wolf-Man, Count Dracula, and a version of the Gill-Man? Yes, yes, there was, and the movie was called The Monster Squad . When it was released in 1987, The Monster Squad was a box office bomb, and despite its brilliant concept, it failed to truly reach its intended audience of ’80s kids.

And yet, 39 years later, The Monster Squad remains one of those all-time great Halloween movies, which you probably aren’t watching, but totally should be.…