Search - Monster in the Closet on DVD

I'm the guy in the movie...

Donald Grant | Wichita, KS United States/Los Angeles CA | 04/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm Donald Grant... Richard Clark in the movie. We made this thing back in 1983. I compare the production of the film, to what I've heard about the first 'Rocky'. Most everyone sacrificed their time and livlihood for the months of pre-production, actual production, and post, to get Monster done. I really only understood the magnitude of everyone's sacrifice after the project was completed.
It took about 15 weeks to shoot, what could have taken about 6 weeks. Monster was not 'produced' by Troma. They picked it up for distribution, and took production credits only after the actual producers exhausted their resources, and were forced to do what they could to get the film done. Director Bob Dahlin really had a vision. He plucked me out of nowhere (commercial actor from the SF bay area) and put me as the lead in the film. Being his first major film,with him at the helm... he was (I believe) overly cautious - thus the long shooting time. He and the producers, busted keester to get this thing done.
I believe it is the first movie in the history of the Teamsters, that the unions allowed them to defer pay. Everyone involved in this film did it on faith and confidence in Bob and the script.
In hindsight, I believed the producers should have accepted help from the majors (who were courting them all along), so that it could have gotten the full theatrical release that it was due. Bob and the producers were understandibly reluctant to give up any control.
Monster is a great little movie, with a tremendous cast of veteran actors. I learned a tremendous amount from all of them, and developed lifelong firendships with a few of them. dongrant@arczip.com"

B-Film Tribute and Lots of Troma Extras

Joshua Koppel | Chicago, IL United States | 01/09/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Monster in the Closet is a wonderful send up of classic man-in-a-rubber-suit b-movies of the 50's. In this one, a mysterious monster suddenly appears in a closet in a small town North of San Francisco and proceeds to start killing people. It is able to move from closet to closet unseen.Richard Clark is a hopeless reporter who is sent out to cover the nutty story. What he finds is a true story of horror and terror that can shock the world. He is suddenly in the middle of the biggest story ever.A wonderful cast helps keep the movie right on track. Claude Akins is the tobacco-spitting Sherif and Henry Gibson is an Einstein-like scientist plus many others.The movie is rated PG although Stella Stevens has a nude scene and many of the disks extras (there are dozens) are obviously R rated. But if you have ever loved those campy B flicks, you will really want to see this one."

Awesome

Joshua Koppel | 01/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My brother and I literally grew up on this film that my dad taped off TV! We had never seen the first ten minutes, but that never stopped us. Now about 7 years later my brother gave it to me on DVD for X-mas and made family history while watching it for the first time ever from the very beginning and all the way to the end commercial free. I think this film is a classic,
A)it's hilarious, B) it's clever, and C) it's a break from the everyday wannabes who try to make great films. That ABC thing is one of the many great jokes that runs through the entire film. And the joke that always begins with "When I was a young boy I once found a frog..." will have you laughing for hours!"

Suprisingly funny

Scott E. Czarnota | Cape Haze, Florida | 06/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this DVD because one of the actors in it I knew from Chicago was deceased and I wanted to see his movie role. I was pleasently surprised and entertained by the "tongue in cheek" approach of this movie. It is very funny, poking fun at all the 'B' horror movies I saw as a kid in the fifties. It has a great supporting cast of known actors who I think had a lot fun doing this flick. The dialogue just streams with cliches and the scenes are right out of just about every atomic mutant movie ever made. For pure non-frightening entertainment this is a great movie."