When I was a little girl, the Monster High movies were a constant in my life. I used to watch them over and over again while I imagined what it would be like to live in a place like Monster High. However, as time went on and I started to grow up, Monster High became just another part of my childhood. When I decided to rewatch the movies after such a long time, I was a little nervous. I hold a lot of fond memories for these movies and their characters and I was scared I would find them corny or outdated when I saw them as an adult; I can happily report that this wasn’t the case. I watched twelve movies over the course of a week and I was absolutely buzzing with how many thoughts I had and that the magic of Monster High wasn’t just a product of childlike wonder. I decided to divide my thoughts into four sections: characters, storyline and worldbuilding, fashion, and pop culture.
Characters
One of the wonderful things about Monster High is its numerous and diverse group of characters. The main group of girls, or ghouls, consists of: Frankie Stein, Draculaura, Clawdeen Wolf, Cleo De Nile, Lagoona Blue, Ghoulia Yelps, and, later, Abbey Bominable. When I first watched the films, my favorites were always Lagoona and Clawdeen. Lagoona seemed to exude an aura of peace and serenity that was comforting to little me. With Clawdeen I just thought that she was one of the coolest and most confident female characters I had ever seen. On my rewatch, even though I still absolutely love Lagoona and Clawdeen, I developed a newfound love for Draculaura and Cleo. Draculaura’s kind nature, her obsession with pop culture and fashion, and her romantic side is something that I can relate a lot more to as an adult. Meanwhile, Cleo was the unexpected highlight of the movies. When I was little she wasn’t really a stand out character for me, but now, as an adult, her humor and diva personality truly made the movies more entertaining. What made all of the girls special to me was that they were all so different from each other, but none were treated as less important. In fact, most of the main girls in the friend group had their own central storylines in different movies instead of just being supporting characters.
Storyline and Worldbuilding
The world of Monster High kept getting bigger with each movie that I watched. With the first movie, New Ghoul at School, we mostly stayed within the walls of the school. Then, as the movies progressed, the settings became bolder and the writers definitely didn’t shy away from making this world feel as real as possible. The girls went to places like the island of Skull Shores where they got stranded on vacation, the city of Scaris to support Clawdeen while she was following her dreams, and the city of Boo York for the franchise’s first movie-musical. Monster High stands out for being a story about accepting everyone for who they are and the movies do a good job of creating an atmosphere where not only the characters feel safe, but also the viewers. As a little girl, I was very insecure about a lot of things; this is something I’ve carried with me into adulthood, but Monster High always made me feel better about myself. This was a series where differences and flaws weren’t just accepted, they were celebrated. For little me, and now adult me, this sentiment meant everything.
Fashion
Let’s be honest, one of the most iconic things about Monster High was the fashion. Each movie had the girls sporting some new looks that were always absolutely fantastic or, as they would say in the world of Monster High, fangtastic. My favorite looks were from the movie 13 Wishes because all of the girls just seemed to have incredible outfits. Usually in the other movies there were one or two outfits that I didn’t really like that much, but 13 Wishes was a film where I absolutely loved what each girl was wearing. Escape from Skull Shores was a close second for favorite fashion, but 13 Wishes just set the bar too high for any others to be able to compete. Within the girls, my favorite looks overall ended up being from Cleo and Clawdeen. Their style was incredibly consistent and one of the most creative among the group.
Pop culture references
One of the most entertaining things about watching these movies as an adult was picking up on all the pop culture references that are scattered across the stories. The writers tried to make the world as similar to ours as possible, but they added their own spooky spin to it. The city of New York became Boo York, Paris became Scaris, London became Londoom, and so on. They didn’t just do this with cities, but with almost everything in this world. In the movie Fright On, we are introduced to the character of Van Hellscream, a parody of the famous mythical monster hunter Van Helsing. In Scaris, City of Frights we met Moanatella Ghostier, a famous fashion designer in the world of Monster High whose name seems to be derived from Donatella Versace. The movie that had the most references was without a doubt Frights, Camera, Action!. In this film we are introduced to characters like Lord Stoker, an ambitious vampire lord whose name comes from Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, and a movie director called Scarantino whose real life counterpart needs no introduction.
Final thoughts
These movies meant so much to me as a kid and rewatching them felt like a strange kind of homecoming. What I always loved about this world is that it was for everyone. No matter who you were or what you were going through, Monster High makes you feel welcomed and, honestly, we need more movie franchises like this! I had such a fun time immersing myself in this world for a week and getting to appreciate the characters I grew up with, and that taught me so much, in a new light. If anyone who reads this wants to have their own Monster High binge-watching party, all of the movies are available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime. Happy watching, ghouls!