Full Moon is still trotting out films to this day and while they haven’t released a bonafide classic in literal years, they’re at least embracing their history and still give classic Full Moon fans their rewards and due. Being a fan of Full Moon since the old days when me and my family were at the mom and pop video store every Friday scowering the shelves for that evening’s entertainment, I thought I’d list five underrated titles from the whole Full Moon umbrella. This also includes Moonbeam, Pulse Pounders, and Monster Island, et al.
Many of these films can be found on their official streaming service, as well as Tubi TV.
5. The “Monster Island” Movieverse
As a part of their attempts to build this elaborate—somewhat coherent Kaijuniverse, Full Moon went all out creating three separate but loosely tied together movies that created this one alternate universe. There’s 1996’s “Zarkorr! The Invader” a movie about a giant monster whose only enemy is an average man and his small female assistant. It was re-edited in to “Kraa! The Sea Monster” from 1998 about a fish faced monster being fought by the Planet Patrol! Then there’s 1999’s “Planet Patrol” a scifi movie about a group of “Power Rangers-esque” teens that fight Lord Doom in their space ship and get pro-active in their fight against his evil. It all goes nowhere, but it’s so damn fun. I’m still holding out for a “Space Patrol” reboot.
4. Remote (1993)
Charles Band’s answer to “Home Alone” finds a rambunctious kid with a love for remote controlled apparatuses who is hiding out in a model home and crosses paths with a group of armed robbers. Using his remote-controlled vehicles and figures, he matches wits with them and ultimately foils their crimes. This is a bizarre kid’s film, but a fun one with some really cool remote-controlled gizmos and gadgets that only the “Radio Shack” generation could have produced.
3. Goobers! (1997)
This movie may or may not be connected to the “Puppet Master” series but in my head canon, it very much is. This is another of the attempts at kids films involving a pair of kids that begin working for a popular children’s show whose mascots happen to be living and breathing creatures from another dimension. In the list of Full Moon movies revolving around miniature monsters, “Goobers” is rarely mentioned.
2. Prehysteria! (1993)
Not really underrated per se, but still often overlooked among the greater kids movies from the nineties, this banked on the big dinosaur craze of the decade by giving us a fantasy adventure starring—yes—mini dinosaurs. This is a family adventure revolving around pint sized dinosaurs with their own unique personalities and rambunctious personas. I wish we’d get a big budget remake. At the very least, it was popular enough to spawn two sequels.
1. Spellcaster (1991)
There’s Adam Ant, Bunty Bailey, and a big castle, and a lot of new wave rock and roll and what is basically a slasher movie with the slasher being a powerful wizard hiding in his tower. “Spellcaster” aims for the classic EC Comics aesthetic, dwelling on themes about greed, gluttony, and deceit while also delivering on some fun horror set pieces. This includes a murderous chair, and a man who literally turns in to a murderous pig while eating a roast pig. A million dollars will do that to people. That was a lot of money in 1991.