Corrected entry: They make a big scene that a virgin is needed to read the text from Van Helsing's diary in order to get rid of the monsters. After Patrick's sister fails because it turns out she isn't a virgin, everyone freaks out until they realize Phoebe could help them out. Not once is it mentioned the virgin had to be a female. So why couldn't the 12 year old boys read from the diary and get rid of the monsters?
lartaker1975
28th May 2007
The Monster Squad (1987)
6th Nov 2008
The Monster Squad (1987)
Question: What was Sean's mother reacting to? She turned with a puzzled look before Dracula's car ever came near the house.
Answer: She heard the tires squealing and just had a reaction to that like anybody else would.
Answer: If you remember, the mother lit a candle and told Phoebe it would keep the house safe from monsters and lightning. The sound she reacted to was the candle blowing out, indicating the house was no longer protected.
She turned around in reaction at the same time the tires squealed.
No, she is NOT reacting to the tires. When the scene begins, the candle is in the lower right corner of the screen. It blows out and she reacts to the sound. I've been having this debate since 1989.
22nd Feb 2007
The Monster Squad (1987)
Plot hole: In order to get rid of the monsters, Phoebe needs to read a text from Van Helsing's diary in order to summon the vortex. As Dracula approaches her, she becomes scared and misses on some words (the Scary German Guy is helping her read since she is 5 years old and she doesn't repeat some of the words he says). However the vortex still shows up to get rid of the monsters.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: It is never specified that the incantation must be read verbatim to work.
It also never states that reading only part of the incantation would work either. However, the mistake is still valid because the way to get rid of something evil by reading some "spell" you'd have to read the entire thing. Therefore the virgin shouldn't have been able to summon the vortex.
Since "spells" are entirely made up and magic isn't real, you can't say that in this film every word must be read for it to work when the film itself shows otherwise. Every film gets to make it's own rules with magic, this film establishes that the incantation can be read "in spirit" to work. Other films might have different rules.
It's always been implied in movies and books that incantations must be read word for word in order to work. Otherwise, what's the point of having all the words there if you only need to read a word or 2?
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Correction: First: 4 out of 5 definitions listed for "virgin" refer to females. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/virgin Second: In all of mythology and folklore, virgin always refers to females. The gods asked for a virgin to be sacrificed, the women/girls were gathered not the people that have never had sex. When some bit of folklore needs to be read aloud by a virgin, odds are they are asking for a girl.
Rlvlk
You would be correct in the correction, however that doesn't explain how Scary German Guy can summons the vortex. And yes I will say that because when Dracula was going after Phoebe, Scary German Guy was still reciting the text yet Phoebe wasn't repeating it, just whimpering. Yet the vortex still showed up.
lartaker1975
But Phoebe repeated the exact phrase the peasant girl did in the opening scene, those seem to be the key words that unlock the vortex.
I understand where you're coming from, but I'd disagree. Looked up a couple clips of the scene on YouTube, and they make a point of showing Phoebe repeating most of the words near-perfectly (at least as close to perfectly as a small child under distress could do) between whimpers. And I think you could make a compelling argument that even if she doesn't say them all 100% perfectly - say she's just barely whimpering some of them out between cries - it'd still count for the spell.
TedStixon
I disagree. I've watched this movie hundreds of times. All we hear is her whimpering because she's scared. No indication is given that she's still talking.
lartaker1975
I just looked up the scene again. They show her repeating the words perfectly and completing the spell after Frankenstein throws Dracula away from her. There's really only a few seconds in the entire scene when we hear her whimpering instead of saying the words perfectly. I still think it's within reason to argue that she did enough for the spell to work, but we'll just have to agree to disagree.
TedStixon