Little Monsters(2019)

SHORT VERSION:
With help from Todd, Kiersten, Ronnie, and a bunch of powerful lights they bring with them into the monster world, Brian kills Boy and blows Snik up and saves his brother Eric. They all then make a break for the stairs leading up to Kiersten’s house, since dawn is near and they will get trapped in the monster world if they don’t get back there before then, but Snik gets himself together and blocks their path. Thankfully, Maurice shows up with a flamethrower and torches him. As they all run for the stairway, they get cheered by a bunch of monsters they pass for ending Boy and his tyrannical rule.

They get to the stairway, but the sun rises and the floor solidifies. Thinking quickly, Brian leads everyone out west, since the sun hasn’t risen out there yet, and they find an opening up to a beach in Malibu. After Maurice gets everyone else topside, he and Brian have a heartfelt goodbye and he gives Brian his bomber jacket to remember him by. He then gets him up and out, and he and his friends run towards the ocean cheering.

Brian later calls his parents and tells them that he found Eric, but he, Eric, and his friends are in Malibu. His mother incredulously asks him how he got there, and he replies “Well, it’s kind of a long story….”

LONG VERSION:
While out having fun with Maurice (Howie Mandel) one night, Brian (Fred Savage) notices the flesh on his arm turning to clothes when exposed to light, and later discovers that his height and weight have decreased. He realizes that the time he has spent with Maurice and being in the monster world is causing him to become a monster himself, so he decides to sever all ties with Maurice then and there and then saws the legs off of all of the beds in his house so Maurice, or any of the other monsters, can’t re-enter it.  

Maurice gets chewed out by Snik (Rick Ducommun) for failing to convert Brian (all of the monsters are former children) and have him be a new playmate for their leader Boy (Frank Whaley), plus for letting him in on all of their secrets, and Snik then imprisons him. Snik then plots to get Brian himself, and he decides that the best way to achieve this is to give Brian an incentive to come back to the monster world. To that end, he enters his house from beneath the hide-a-bed in the living room and kidnaps his brother Eric (Ben Savage).

Upon discovering that Eric is missing and realizing where he has gone to, Brian heads over to the home of his friend Todd (William Murray Weiss) and explains what happened (Todd believes him about the monster world already, having seen what happened when his flesh got exposed to light) and that they are going to need every spare flashlight he has. They then visit Kiersten (Amber Barretto) and tell her their story, as well as their need to get into their school’s supply room to get the lights stored in there since she has the key for it, and Brian shows her the entrance to the monster world beneath her bed as proof that his story isn’t bogus. They sneak into the school and get the lights, and then they enter the monster world.

The trio make their way to the master staircase, where Boy resides, and they enter Boy’s room. Boy comes out, and Brian demands for him to let Eric go. Boy shows Eric tied to a giant dartboard, and as he brandishes a dart, he promises Brian that he will let Eric, Kiersten, and Todd go if he stays and becomes his “pal”, but Brian steadfastly refuses even as Boy starts tossing darts at Eric. He and his friends then whip out their lights and shine them on Boy and some goons he summons, turning the goons to clothes and melting the human visage from Boy’s face, but Boy’s toys shoot out their lights and almost kill them. Brian and the others are captured and put into a cell, which happens to be the one where Maurice is being held. Remembering what becomes of the monsters when exposed to light, Kiersten directs the others to create an improvised light with items in the cell, and Maurice gets turned into clothes. They then push him underneath the door to the outside, where he regains form and lets them out.

They return to the human world and get into the supply closet again to collect even more lights and some industrial-strength batteries, and Maurice pays a visit to the bully Ronnie (Devin Ratray) and somehow manages to secure his aid. Brian, Kiersten, Todd, and Ronnie return to Boy’s room and confront him, Snik, and their reinforcements, and with the added lights and battery power they kill Boy and blow Snik to pieces. They find Eric with just minutes to spare before sunrise, but as they attempt to leave, the re-assembled Snik blocks their way. Luckily, Maurice shows up with a flamethrower and torches him.

As the good guys run in the direction of the stairs leading to Kiersten’s house, they pass by a bunch of monsters who cheer them for destroying Boy. Unfortunately, just as they reach the top of the staircase, the sun rises and solidifies the floor. Thinking quickly, Brian leads the gang out to the western half of the U.S. to find an exit, knowing that the sun hasn’t risen out there yet. They find an opening up to a beach in Malibu, California, and after Maurice gets everyone else topside, he shares a heartfelt goodbye chat with Brian and gives him his bomber jacket to remember him by. He then gets Brian up and out, and he and the other kids jubilantly run off down to the water.

A short time later, Brian calls his parents from a payphone and tells them that he, Eric, and his friends are in Malibu. When his mother incredulously asks him how he got there, he replies, “Well, it’s kind of a long story….”, and the film ends with a freeze frame of him still on the phone.