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For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (and shame on you) it is a pitch-perfect parody/homage to all those goofy 50’s sci-fi/horror films shot in Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles. In this sequel, all of the principal players are back, both human, alien, and animal-hybrid, and I was really excited to see what new wacky delights writer/director/star Larry Blamire had in store for me. Unfortunately, it was pretty much more of the same. The big question being, is there enough charm from the first to spread out to a second? Hmm. I wonder. Oh well.
The very first thing I noticed about the film was the image itself. TLSRA was shot on video, and the transfer really sucks. Lots of interlacing errors. Now, a lot of television shows were shot on video in the early 60’s, the era TLSRA seems to be spoofing, but not so much feature films. And certainly not on digital video. So I was already taken out of the movie. Later on in the film it changes from black and white to color, and here again, the image was way too sunny and clearly shot outdoors with a lot of natural light. Not the plastic, stuffy, unrealistic studio jungle sets you’d see in the source material for this send-up.
| Those mechanical problems were a lot for me to get over initially, but so was the dialogue. The first Lost Skeleton had dialogue that gleefully skewered the stilted, circular pseudo-science of that unsophisticated era of cinema, and the awkward emotional scenes portrayed by ham-fisted actors who still thought they were on stage. TLSRA attempts to do the same, but goes so far over the top with it it becomes obvious that some of the characters in the film are in on the joke, and that pretty much defeats the whole purpose. |
Rowr
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The plot is another sticking point. All the principals return, as I mentioned, and that is a good thing. Larry Blamire as Paul, the now alcoholic and embittered scientist, is the steadiest, least jokey of the bunch, and Fay Masterson as his Ivory Soap-as wife, Betty, Andrew Parks and Susan McConnell as extraterrestrials Kro-Bar and Lattice, respectively, and Jennifer Blaire as the seductive Animala are just as much fun as they were in the original. Brian Howe and Dan Conroy don’t technical portray their original characters, as both died in the original, but they’re here as identical twins to them, and that was good enough for me.
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I BOARD NOW!
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The new characters, though, just get in the way. They’re all fine actors and do their best, but it just ends up being too weighty for the film. We end up with two parties traipsing through the jungle looking for Jeranium 90, Paul’s life’s work, and running into a bunch of Chiodo Brothers' monsters and Chinfa, queen of the Cantaloupe People, who is grossly over-campy. The Lost Skeleton is now just a skull, and between it, the new monsters, the Cantaloupes, and the rival party, it all becomes too complex and never gets any focus on one set of events to keep its acerbic sights set on. |
It’s not all bad news, though. The Lost Skeleton is still really funny, the switch to color shows off Fay Masterson’s gorgeous red hair nicely, and Animala is entrancing in every scene she’s in. Some of the jokes work well, and the only bad Chiodo Brothers' creatures are no Chiodo Brothers' creatures (see Killer Klowns From Outer Space for a good representation of their work). By the end of the film I found myself laughing at the inanity of it all, in a not entirely unkind manner.
| If you’ve never experienced the brilliance of the original Lost Skeleton, you’ll probably quite like this sequel and not find as many problems with it as I did. If you have, though, you won’t be able to help but feel Blamire was trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time, a task he should have known was impossible. Still, while I had these niggling problems with the film throughout watching it, after it was over I found myself thinking fondly of it. I guess there was enough charm left over to make me not dislike the film, even if not enough to make me recommend it. So, do what you will with that. |
Attack of the Chiodo monster!
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Now I’m off to track down a copy of Trail of the Screaming Forehead.
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