Claude Akins, Denise DuBarry, Donald Grant, Donald Moffat, Henry Gibson ...( see more  see more... ) , Howard Duff , John Carradine , Stella Stevens

San Francisco is in the grips of a bizarre murder spree in which all of the killings have taken place inside victims' closets. A local newspaper obituary writer (Donald Grant), a science teacher (Deni...( read more  read more... )se DuBarry) and her supersmart son (Paul Walker) team up to get to the bottom of the mystery. But once this beast comes out of the closet, there's no putting it back. Now, there's a national emergency in this madcap horror spoof.

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43% liked it

1,414 ratings

PG, 1 hr. 27 min.

Directed by: Bob Dahlin

Release Date: January 30, 1987

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DVD Release Date: January 19, 1999

Stats: 87 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (87)


  • August 28, 2009
    Monster in the Closet is set in the small American town of 'Chestnut Hills California' where Mary Lou (Jona Lee), a young girl & the blind Joe Shempter (John Carradine) are all attacked & killed by something nasty in their closets... Jump to 'San Francisco' & the offices of newsp...( read more)aper the 'Daily Globe' where usually ignored reporter Richard Clark (Donald Grant) is given the task of writing a story about the three unexplained murders by his editor Ben Bernstein (Jesse White). Richard drives to Chestnut Hills & heads straight for the local police department to interview Sheriff Sam Ketchem (Claude Akins). There he meets high school biologist Diane Bennett (Denise DuBarry) who thinks some sort of creature my be responsible because of two mysterious puncture wounds on the victims bodies. Richard & Sheriff Ketchem head over to the scene of Mary Lou's murder & Richard finds some sort of claw, he heads over to the school to ask Diane about it. Scientist Dr. Pennyworth (Henry Gibson) says he has never seen anything like it & wants to run some tests on it. Later that night at Diane's house Richard, Pennyworth, a priest named Finnegan (Howard Duff) & Diane's son (Paul Walker) are having dinner when they hear screaming from across the street, Margo (Stella Stevens) claims that her husband Roy (Paul Dooley) has been killed by a monster that came out of the closet. A national emergency is called & the army is called in to combat the threat that the monster in the closet poses...

    Written & directed by Bob Dahlin I was somewhat surprised that Monster in the Closet was a decent little film. The script is a homage to all those 50's type monster films, from the General who wants to just kill the threat to the scientist who wants to study it & the priest who who thinks religion is the key. The reporter who looks & feels like Clarke Kent from Superman as the hero & the attractive female. Because of the type of comedy horror hat this film is it starts to drag a little & it starts to get a bit boring. The term 'one-joke-film' springs to mind. There are a few amusing moments & if your familiar with the type of film that Monster in the Closet spoofs then you may get a fair amount of enjoyment out of it's 90 odd minute duration. I doubt anyone would want to watch it more than once though & the pointless constant on screen captions become highly annoying.

    Director Dahlin films with competence on an obviously low budget. The monster itself looks a bit rubbery but I didn't think it looked too bad. There is no blood or gore whatsoever so forget about anything like that. There is a touch of nudity in a shower scene. Apparently Monster in the Closet was filmed in 1983 & was picked-up & released by Troma in 1987, make of that what you will.

    Technically Monster in the Closet is pretty good, nothing outstanding & it has cheap production values throughout but it ended up being better than I had expected. The acting isn't brilliant but again by no means the worst I've seen, Carradine makes an appearance for all of 4 minutes at the start.

    Monster in the Closet is a decent little homage to many other sci-fi horror films & fans of those genres would probably get more out of it than others. I personally think it's worth a one-off watch.
  • March 1, 2008
    Cuter in concept than in execution.
  • January 20, 2008
    An outstanding Spoof - comedy - Horror Flix, You want to sit around and laught some late night, rent this one. Try to buy it and see what the cost is. I can't find it under $50.00
  • December 10, 2009
    At times hysterically funny, it's a clever parody with an impressive cast. It's meant to be stupid, and it certainly succeeds on that level! But, thats part of the fun of it. Some of the gags miss the mark, but enough work to make it worthwhile.
  • November 22, 2009
    Monster in the Closet is the type of film that is so cheesy it is somewhat good.

    The storyline is pretty basic... A monster goes from closet to closet using its second head (which emerges from its stomach) to feed on people. Richard Clark, a budding reporter, is sent to investig...( read more)ate the mysterious deaths and teams up with scientist Diane Bennett and wins the heart of her son, The Professor, played by a very young Paul Walker.

    Overall, if you are looking for a cheesy movie with some good laughs, this movie is for you. If you are looking for a good horror film, this isn't it.

    The movie also sports a very young Stacy Ferguson (aka. Fergie) of Black Eyed Peas, but if you blink or don't know she is in the film, you will miss her.

    *To add another point, for the whole movie in a mere couple of minutes, just watch the trailer, as it really gives how the movie goes without watching the film*
  • April 28, 2009
    Tame for Troma, you can watch this one with your parents
  • October 30, 2008
    Easily the best troma movie ever put out, they are sooo much funnier when they are clean. Excellent satire.
  • January 20, 2008
    Well, he was really hot... This is some kind of social satire hidden as a kid horror flick. "Destroy all of the closets" leads to killing the monster in San Francisco - 'nuff said...
  • November 1, 2007
    Not interested. I generally avoid horror movies.
  • September 18, 2007
    I actually watched this without realising what it was on Zone Horror, and I wasn't disappointed about having to stay up for it either! To think, with all the Troma films I know and love and I didn't even realise this one had anything to do with that outstanding Troma mob. To hav...( read more)e a monster that was clearly a guy in a costume, a reporter that the monster falls for as soon as his glasses come off, the army attacking it with everything (including flame thrower) and not even mark it...it's just mental! Hence why I loved it! "DESTROY ALL CLOSETS!"

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Monster in the Closet Trivia


  • He was a predator and the hendersons hairy friend with big feet after he was a monster in a closet?  Answer »
  • What's Paul Walker's name in "Monster In The Closet"?  Answer »
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