Revisited - Monster House (2006)

For this week, I want to talk about what started revisited and that is underrated movies. Underrated meaning movies that for the most part went under the radar and not many people heard of it or even forgotten about them. I get why of course as In today's world we have so many movies pumping out across the year that a lot of them get lost in the shuffle and one of those movies is one of my favorite halloween of all time Monster House. Funny thing is, I watched the film not because I saw a trailer but rather i was gifted the movie by my sister for Halloween and ever since than I watch it every year once Fall rolls around the corner. The film has a great and interesting story for a kid's film, great animation, voice acting, and the jokes still hit a home run to this day. So now lets take a road trip to a piece of my childhood.

Monster House is a 2006 American computer-animated supernatural comedy horror film directed by Gil Kenan in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler, about a neighborhood being terrorized by a sentient haunted house during Halloween. The film features the voices of Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jason Lee, Fred Willard, Jon Heder, Catherine O'Hara and Kathleen Turner, as well as human characters being animated using live action motion capture animation, which was previously used in The Polar Express (2004). Produced by Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, the film was released theatrically by Columbia Pictures on July 21, 2006 to generally positive reviews from critics. It grossed $142 million worldwide against a production budget of $75 million.

The parents of 12-year-old D.J. go on an errand for the weekend, leaving him in the care of his babysitter Zee. D.J. has been spying on his elderly neighbor Mr. Nebbercracker, who scares away children and confiscates their belongings that land in his front yard. After D.J.'s best friend Chowder loses his basketball on Nebbercracker's lawn, D.J. is caught attempting to retrieve it, and the enraged Nebbercracker suffers a heart attack from overexerting himself and is taken away by an ambulance. That night, D.J. gets phone calls from the house with no one there.

Zee's drunk boyfriend Bones comes over for the night and reveals that as a child, Nebbercracker stole his kite and was allegedly rumored to have eaten his wife. After Zee throws him out, he sees his lost kite in the house's front door, but is devoured by the house while attempting to retrieve it. D.J. and Chowder investigate but retreat when the house attacks them. The next morning, schoolgirl Jenny Bennett sells Halloween candy and goes to the house; D.J. and Chowder save her before she gets eaten. Jenny calls police officers Landers and Lister, who do not believe the trio because the house is inactive when adults are present.

The trio consults supernatural expert Reginald "Skull" Skulinski, learning that the house is a rare monster created when a human soul merges with a man-made structure and that it can only be killed by destroying its heart. Concluding that the ghost is Nebbercracker and the heart must be the furnace, they create and bring a dummy containing cold medicine from a pharmacy. Before the dummy reaches the house however, Landers and Lister thwart the trio's plan and arrest them after Landers discovers the stolen medicine. The house eats the two officers and their police car and shuts out D.J., Chowder and Jenny.

After the house falls asleep, the three begin exploring it. In the basement, they find a shrine containing the encased-in-cement body of Nebbercracker's late wife, Constance the Giantess. The house attacks them, though they force it to vomit them outside by grabbing its uvula. Nebbercracker returns alive, revealing that the house is merged with Constance's spirit. As a young man, he met Constance, then an unwilling member of a circus freak show, and fell in love with her despite her obesity and rescued her from the circus. One Halloween, as children tormented her due to her size, Constance tried chasing them away, but lost her footing and fell to her death in the unfinished basement. Aware that Constance's spirit made the house come alive, he drove everyone away in order to protect them from being eaten.

D.J. convinces Nebbercracker to let Constance go, much to the house's anger. It breaks free from its foundation and chases the group. Nebbercracker realizes the trouble Constance has caused and attempts to blow the house up with dynamite, but it attacks him. D.J. throws the dynamite into the house's chimney, causing it to explode and release Constance's ghost, who shares a final dance with Nebbercracker before finally ascending to the afterlife. Nebbercracker thanks the trio for freeing him and his wife from being trapped for 45 years.

That night, children in their Halloween costumes line up at the former site of the house, where Nebbercracker, D.J., Chowder and Jenny return their toys to them. Chowder and D.J. go trick-or-treating, which they earlier felt they were too old for. Those who were eaten by the house emerge from the basement alive and well, all agreeing to keep the night’s events to themselves. During the credits, those who were eaten by the house emerge from the basement. Bones finds that Elizabeth is now dating Skull, Officer Landers and Officer Lister leave to "investigate" some of the trick-or-treating candy, and the dog urinates on a nearby jack-o'-lantern enough to put out its flame.

All I have to say is give this movie some much needed love and go watch and it doesn't have to be for halloween either but any time of year. I would say the film gives off vibes of Caroline but with it's on flare to it. The animation is nostalgic and great at times, the voice acting is stellar, and the jokes are great but most importantly this film has heart. I love it and every time Halloween comes around I can't wait to watch even though I've already watched it a thousand times. So hopefully sometime in the future there would be a sequel but if not than this outing will do just fine. Ricardo Signing Off