The Monster Club is a 1981 British/Canadian horror Anthology Film loosely adapted from the works of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Vincent Price and John Carradine, with a supporting cast that includes Donald Pleasence, Britt Ekland, Simon Ward and Patrick Magee.
In the film, a fictional incarnation of Chetwynd-Hayes (Carradine) encounters a vampire named Eramus (Price), who takes him to the titular Monster Club in gratitude for having reluctantly let him feed on his blood. There, Eramus tells a few stories adapted from ones written by Chetwynd-Hayes.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: While the monsters take pride in their violent ways, they are nevertheless very polite and respect R. Chetwynd-Hayes very much.
- Apocalyptic Log: Whilst in the church, Sam discovers the skeleton of The Vicar and a long document he wrote before dying that explains the terrifying truth of Loughville; centuries before, a swarm of ghouls invaded the village, mated with the humans, and made their nest there.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Eramus concludes the part of his speech on humans where he gives a Long List of all the different things humanity has invented with the direct intention to kill other humans with the completely benign by comparison motor car.
- Bad Habits: Pickering, head of the vampire hunting The Men in Black dresses as a clergyman in order to befriend the son of the vampire and learn where his father dwells.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The plots are driven by George, Angela's boyfriend who comes up with the scheme to con Raven; Pickering, committer of Van Helsing Hate Crimes; and the unnamed innkeeper who appears to be the acting leader of the ghouls.
- A Bloody Mess: Pickering drives a wooden stake through Mr. Busotsky's chest; causing a red stain to blossom on his White Shirt of Death. However, he later sits up and explains that he always wears a 'stake-proof vest' filled with tomato ketchup.
- Brown Note: Raven the Shadmock, a hybrid monster from the first story, can melt the flesh of whoever hears him whistle. The whistle is also powerful enough to kill as shown by him gaining retribution on a stray cat for eating one of his pigeon friends.
- Cavalry Betrayal: In the third story, Sam manages to escape from the village of the ghouls with the aid of Luna. Luna is killed, but he manages to make it to the motorway and flag down a passing police car. The police agree to take him to the police station, only to return him to the village: revealing that they are a police escort for the Ghoul Elders returning from London.
- Creature-Hunter Organization: The Blini, or The B-Squad, are a division of the police responsible for investigating blood-based crimes. Unfortunately, their methods often result in Van Helsing Hate Crimes.
- Creepy Family: The Shadmock's relations.
- Evil Plan: George has his girlfriend Angela seduce Raven in order to steal his money.
- Facial Horror: The ending of the first segment ends on this trope. Angela is physically destroyed by Raven's whistle for cruelly rejecting him. The damage is so horrific Angela's boyfriend goes insane on seeing her.
- Fan Disservice: The brief striptease scene quickly becomes this when the stripper's shadow shows her removing her flesh as well as her clothes and becoming a skeleton.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: On the night of the engagement party, Angela is caught robbing the Shadmock's safe and screams that she could never love him. Heartbroken, the Shadmock whistles and destroys Angela's face. Her boyfriend is driven insane and locked away in an asylum upon seeing her.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The third and final story is about a director who wanders into a village of ghouls. He is informed about what goes on in the village by a woman who is half human and half ghoul.
- Heinz Hybrid: Shadmocks are what you get when the three common monster types (vampire, werewolf, ghoul) all interbreed. Several intermediate stages of hybrid (werevam, wereghoul, vamghoul, raddy, shaddy, maddy, and mock) are depicted on a genealogical chart of how you get a shadmock.
- Holy Burns Evil: The ghouls are unable to enter the church when Sam takes shelter inside it, and he is able to drive them off by brandishing a cross at them.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Eramus gives a speech on how humans can be very destructive and fiendish towards themselves. Rather than being disgusted, the other monsters in the club are so impressed by this revelation they respond by making R. Chetwynd-Hayes an honorary monster and club member.
- Karmic Death: The second story tells of a vampire filmmaker's father being hunted by vampire hunters. When the lead hunter stakes the vampire's heart, he ends up bitten and turned into a vampire himself, prompting his fellow hunters to kill him on the spot.
- Masquerade Ball: Raven holds one of these at his home in the film's first segment. This is done to both celebrate his engagement to Angela and to help slowly break her into the frightening appearances of his family.
- The Men in Black: Pickering heads The Blini (or B-Squad): a group of vampire hunters who dress in black suits and bowler and carry Wooden Stakes and hammers in violin cases.
- Mickey Mousing: Near the end of the second story, the music skips in time to one of the vampire hunters struggling to kick an uncooperative gate open. Making it doubly funny, the music is a funeral dirge.
- Monster Mash: One of the main characters is a vampire named Eramus. The titular Monster Club has various monsters among its members, including a cyclops and some skeletal zombies, and the club secretary is a werewolf.
- The Place: A nightclub for monsters.
- Senseless Violins: The father in the second story warns his son to beware of men with violin cases. Guess where the vampire hunters carry their stakes and mallets.
- Something Else Also Rises: One scene has a stripper removing her skin after removing her clothes in silhouette. A four-eyed monster's eyes bug out after seeing this.
- Suffer the Slings: Luna explains that the ghouls are experts with using stones to hunt for food. Later one of them kills her with a sling stone to the back of her head.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Pickering and The Blini—a The Men in Black vampire hunting group—are dedicated to hunting down and exterminating all vampires; including Vegetarian Vampire Mr. Busotsky (who survives by feeding on drunks and whose motto is 'feed without greed'). After he is bitten by Busotsky, Pickering's underlings immediately turn on him and drive a Wooden Stake through his heart.
- Vegetarian Vampire Mr. Busotsky who survives by feeding on drunks and whose motto is 'feed without greed'. It is implied that his doing so sobers them up, and that he charges for the service.
- Vehicular Sabotage: When the movie director Sam attempts to leave the village of Loughville, he discovers that the ghouls have sabotaged the engine of his car.
- Wooden Stake: The Vampire Hunters carry their wooden stakes and mallets concealed inside violin cases.
- You No Take Candle: The ghouls in the final story all talk like this to some extent, but it's most noticeable with Luna, who has the most dialogue.
