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The Fright Night remake may have flopped at the box office (despite largely positive reviews), but Colin Farrell’s wickedly cool portrayal of a modern-day bloodsucker still had us thinking about classic creatures of the silver screen at When Can I Watch headquarters.

Vampires are the rage. From the Twilight Saga to True Blood, the undead have never been more alive. But where can parents begin educating curious kids on Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, Count Dracula and the denizens of Transylvania. What, are you going to pop in Stephen Sommers’ Van Helsing? That’s child abuse.

Good thing there’s The Monster Squad, Fred Dekker’s ripped-from-the-drive-in horror comedy that has street-smart and pop-culture-savvy suburban teenagers standing up to vintage versions of the creatures that crawled from Universal’s scare vault. Think of it as the grandfather of Attack the Block. It’s also an ideal bridge from the animated adventures of Scooby Doo to the filmography of Boris Karloff.

So, let’s find a virgin who can read German, kick Wolf Man where it counts and figure out when you can watch The Monster Squad with your kids.

The Monster Squad may have teenage heroes, but Dekker didn’t make a kid movie. 

Dekker’s a true horror geek. He helmed the deliciously evil Night of the Creeps, and directed an episode of HBO’s Tales from the Crypt. Squad also benefits from the contributions of Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), who collaborated with Dekker on a screenplay that is equal parts homage to Universal’s classic monsters AND a sarcastic comedy made for modern (at the time) teen audiences who’d already gorged themselves on Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Goonies and more.

The Monster Squad treats its horror seriously, which is a potential red flag for parents of younger kids. Makeup artists Katalin and Zoltan Elek rose to the geek challenge of bringing Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon to life on the same screen, then upped the ante with deadly skeletons, shrieking female vampires, a sucking vortex and a creepy, old character literally named Scary German Guy (who ends up being gentle and quite helpful).

The roughest patches for parents watching The Monster Squad with their kids, though, might come from the more realistic problems the young characters on screen face. Leader of the pack Sean (Andre Gower) endures parents who are on the brink of a divorce, and no longer bother hiding their verbal fights. Then there’s Horace (Brent Chalem), better known as “Fat Kid,” who -- surprise, surprise -- contends with bullies at his elementary school. Be prepared to talk about divorce and bullying during Monster Squad, because your kids might bring it up. 

More than likely, though, you’ll be watching it with older teens. The language in Monster Squad’s about what you’d expect to hear out of a PG-13 script. Tough kid Rudy (Ryan Lambert), a new addition to the club, also spies on Patrick older sister (Lisa Fuller), the squad’s beautiful young neighbor, and catches her in her underwear. Later in the film, she also stands in as the required virgin who has to read sacred text, so you might want to come up with an explanation for that term, if it’s a new one around your house.

That’s why I’m leaning toward older kids. A screening of The Monster Squad might have your children believing in the very same creatures that you’ve been telling your kids don’t exist. Just remember, as the boys’ principal tells them, “Science is real. Monsters are not.”