Remember The Monster Mash? You know – the hit novelty song in which a bunch of monsters get together to have a graveyard smash? Well, it’s becoming a movie. Universal Pictures, who seem to be taking a grab-bag approach to their classic monsters at this point, are gearing up to make a Monster Mash movie to serve as the feature debut of music video director Matt Stawski. Plot details are being kept secret, but we can only hope the Transylvania Twist will be involved in some capacity.

I was working in the lab, late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight: News of The Monster Mash movie. Deadline has the scoop, reporting that Matt Stawski to direct a script from Will Widger. It’s not clear if this is going to be an adaptation of the Bobby “Boris” Pickett song you hear every Halloween, or if it’s just using that as a title. I, for one, hope this movie is as literal an adaptation of that song as possible, with cameos from Wolfman, Dracula, and his son.

Stawski is a music video director (see his work here) whose credits include CeeLo Green’s “Fuck You”, Paramore’s “Hallelujah”, and Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister.” Whether or not that sort of resume can translate into the world of mashing monsters remains to be seen.

Universal is in a weird period right now with their monster titles. They tried to kickstart a Marvel-style cinematic universe with the Dark Universe, but the first film out of the gate – The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise – was a major disappointment. Rather than keep going, Universal pulled the plug on the Dark Universe (the second film was supposed to be a Bride of Frankenstein remake from Bill Condon).

After a brief dormant period, the Universal monsters have crawled from their moldy graves to give it another go. First up will be Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, which is due out at the end of this month. Beyond that, they also have the Dracula-adjacent film Renfield; Paul Feig’s Dark Army, which is said to feature classic Universal monsters and new characters as well; and the Elizabeth Banks-directed Invisible Woman, which, despite its title, won’t be connected to Whannell’s Invisible Man.

I adore the Universal Monsters, and I’m all for reviving them in some form. Invisible Man looks promising, and this new direction of trying weird new things instead of forcing a shared cinematic universe seems to be the right one. Hopefully.

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