Monster in the Closet(1986)
1986 · Bob Dahlin · 90 min
After several people and a dog are found dead in their closets a "mild-mannered" reporter, a college professor, her son and a befuddled professor band together to uncover the mystery but not without involving the U.S. Army and mass panic.
Horror · Comedy
4.995 votes
TMDB score
1/5
Intensity
1/5
Gore
1/5
Stays with you
How scary is Monster in the Closet?
It plays things straight like an old monster movie at first, then leans harder into goofy jokes and silly scares as it goes, poking fun at the whole creature-feature genre. The threat is a made-up monster, not a real person, and the movie never wants to actually scare you so much as make you laugh at the idea of being scared. There's barely any blood and nothing that will stick with you afterward. It's a light, silly pick for a fun night with friends who like campy old horror rather than anything genuinely tense.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Monster in the Closet rates psychological 1/5, visceral 2/5, gore 1/5, lingering effect 1/5, and overall intensity 1/5.
- Psychological: 1 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 1 of 5
- Lingering: 1 of 5
- Intensity: 1 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 55 of 100 — balanced
Supernatural vs Real-world: 25 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 10 of 100 — leans Fun-scary
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A goofy, tongue-in-cheek monster spoof that bounces between silly calm stretches and light jolts, with a slightly bigger romp near the end.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3.
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