Customer Reviews

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Larry Blamire wrote, directed and stars in this spoof of 1950s b&w science fiction movies that entertained audiences on Saturday afternoons. The movie is not perfect, but if you remember with affection films like Plan 9 from Outer Space and Attack of the Crab Monsters, you will laugh out loud many times. Written in 5 days and filmed in 10-1/2, from props to costumes the film captures the look of old sci-fi standards, and is even filmed in Bronson Canyon, the location of many a schlock feature, and uses vintage film music to excellent effect. While the plot, involving a good scientist and an evil scientist (both of whom travel with their microscopes), aliens and their escaped mutant and the evil lost skeleton (bought on eBay for $100), is very good, the script could have used one more rewrite, and the pacing in the middle third is way too slow. I'm giving it five stars despite those problems because I still laughed over and over, and the DVD features were great.

DVD extras include: a Q&A session at the film's 2002 premiere; trailer; a commentary track with Blamire and crew; a cast commentary; bloopers; cartoon; an 11-minute making-of featurette.

If you enjoy old sci-fi classics in spite of, or because of, the visible wires holding the creature costumes together, you should check out this funny and affectionate spoof.

Praise the cinema gods! The return of kooky 50's Sci-Fi, with cheezy not-so-special effects, dialogue that even Edward Wood Jr. couldn't come up with, and an inane storyline, makes The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra a must see. You've got it all here, a mad scientist bent on world domination. A male and female alien trying to pass themselves off as Earthlings, the hero who wants an unheard of element (atmospheium) to make the world better, and more goofiness than Plan 9 from Outer Space and The Brain from Planet Erous put together.

Note the hot chick Animala. Though she was made from forest creatures, note her tight fitting costume and short haircut. Remind you of anything? No? Than my friend you have yet to see the 50's classic 'Cat Women on the Moon'. Watching her dance is one of the highlight of the film, as is her culinary skills at the dinner table.

Of course no Sci-Fi picture would be complete without a man in a monster suit, and you have it here too. Though you can see the guys boots sticking out of the celery stalk body, you go along with it, knowing that that's how you are MEANT to see it.

And last but not least, this movie introduces 'The Skeleton'. If the skeletons lines don't slay you into a laugh fest, check your pulse. Whether he's laying in the cave giving out orders or 'running' through the woods, you got to love him. His fight scene with the mutant monster can only be described as momentous.

For those who are sick of multi-million dollar movies without personality or fun, than The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is strongly recommended.

In THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA we are introduced to Dr. Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) and his lovely wife Betty (Fay Masterson) as they are going away to spend a few days in a lovely cottage in the woods so that Paul can study his science. The opening scene finds them asking for directions from a mysterious farmer (Robert Deveau) who has a strange and foreboding prescence. Unbeknownst to the Armstrongs, an alien ship from the planet Marva has been forced to land in the same woods. In order to fix their ship, the alien couple has to acquire part of the same substance the Paul is studying and after landing the aliens discover that their pet mutant (who is capable of digesting people whole) has gotten loose. As a final twist to the plot, an evil scientist, Dr. Roger Fleming (Brian Howe) is in the same area looking for the same substance that Paul is studying so that he can resurrect the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and become the most powerful lackey in the world. False identities are formed, massive animal killings take place, strange creatures are brought to life, inter-galatic friendships are formed, and all of it in the pursuit of science.

THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA is one of the most hilarious movies I have seen in a long time. It's perhaps the best parody movie to be made in the past decade. The film is a total spoof of the 1950s and early 1960s sci-fi creature features. All of the cliches of those films are paraodized to perfection; from the menacing farmer who seems to have a vision of things to come to the helpful law official (ranger) who is blinded about what is really going on to inexpensive props, mad scientists, bad dialogue, stereotypical gender roles, and a "scary" monster--THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA has it all. What's so remarkable about the movie is that it doesn't just make fun of the bad movies--it pokes fun at the entire sub-genre.

Larry Blamire not only acts in the movie as Dr. Armstrong, but he also wrote and directed the film as well. It's impressive that he not only wrote the dialogue, but was able to speak so much of it without once loosing character Of course that's due more to good editing and directing, but I have seen parody movies of this type before where some of the performers just couldn't stay in character. That doesn't happen at all in this movie. No matter how corny the dialogue is or how humorous a situation is in, the performers appear like the most devoted of method-actors, immersing themselves in their totally unrealistic roles.

There are some points in the movie that the plot moves too slowly. But these moments don't happen that often. Not everyone will like the picture and in fact many will be unable to appreciate the humor and find most of the movie plain dumb. However, overall, this is a great movie to watch if you've seen a lot of 1950s sci-fi mutant/creature type movies and have a good sense of humor.

Why, oh why isn't there a sixth star? Or a seventh? Or a tenth? Or ten-thousandth?
Bless the shoestring film-makers of this world; what they make can bring such joy to us mere mortals. Movies like The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra are so wonderfully kooky, one cannot help but smile at them. Watching it, I was reminded of being a little child. On Saturday afternoons, the local public television/UHF station would play cheap old monster movies. Though most of the ones they showed were Japanese, the spirit of these movies was the same as that which infuses their Anerican counterparts; the idea that with a camera or two, some starving actors, some fishing line, an inexpensive location, a little makeup and spirit gum, and a rubber suit, one could make a movie. Critics, take note; it is this attitude which spawned more "sophisticated" fare, like Clerks and Resovoir Dogs.
I would watch these Z-movies movies with my Dad, and we would fall over ourselves laughing, mocking the hammy acting on the screen. Interestingly, Lost Skeleton does not do this -- at least, not the way I did when I was four. Instead of winking at the camera and really overdoing it, the film-makers play it all entirely straight, which makes it that much funnier. This is the reason why I don't find a lot of parodies (particularly Scary Movie) funny; they make their subject matter look stupid. It is a far, far better (and more difficult) thing to pay humorous homage to a film genre by not poking fun at it, but instead laughing along with the genre's existing audience. Evil Dead II does it; George Lucas in Love does it; Not Another Teen Movie......does not do it............
And The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra definitely does do it.

Corny, pretentious dialogue. Hokey special effects. Stereotypical characters. Inept pseudo-science. A lame plot full of holes.

So why even bother watching "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra"? Well, to start with, there's the fact that it's not a hokey sci-fi movie, but a clever, hilarious spoof of those old cheap movies made in the 1950s. It's gloriously pompous and idiotic, with some of the best/worst dialogue outside a Christopher Guest mockumentary. ("Why shake when we can touch other things... like lips.")

Scientist Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) and "scientist's wife" Betty (Fay Masterson) arrive at a rural area, looking for an asteroid made out of (I am NOT making this up) "atmosphereum." Little do they realize that evil Roger Fleming (Brian Howe) has found the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, which needs atmosphereum to move, and subsequently conquer the world, yada yada.

To make matters worse, a pair of aliens have landed. Not only do they ALSO need atmosphereum, but they have let a lethal Mutant loose on the countryside. Both the aliens and Roger manage to infiltrate the Armstrong cabin to find atmosphereum. Now Betty and Paul must befriend the aliens, and stop the evil Skeleton and the killer Mutant.

The entire movie is mockingly affectionate of those old sci-fi movies -- it's even filmed in the same location as most of them. The costumes are cheap, the aliens are cheesy, and very few of the events make any logical sense. When the Armstrongs and aliens sit in a spaceship and drink "cranberroid" juice from decorative candleholders, the goofiness is officially complete.

Admittedly, the plot does slow down to a crawl in the middle, and seems to temporarily lose its way. But fortunately it's peppered with high-school special effects (check out the skeleton climbing down the rocks), ridiculous props (spot the caulk gun), and the giant fish-faced Mutant, who falls for the Earth girl. It's practically a checklist for old cliches.

And then there's the horrible dialogue. One clunky gem: "It is different, this 'Earth' as it is called. But then are we of the planet Marva -- as we call our planet -- not also strange and different to think planet and its people also?" The best plot twist would have to be the "Bride of the Lost Skeleton" scenes, which would have made a great title for the movie.

Director/writer/actor Larry Blamire is wonderfully emotionless as Paul, saying lines like "Betty, you know what this meteor could mean to science. It could mean actual advances in the field of science!" with a straight face. I certainly couldn't. He's solidly backed up by a cooing Fay Masterson, intentionally wooden Andrew Parks, and a goofily seductive Jennifer Blaire.

Made on a shoestring budget, with terrible effects and costumes and a clunky script, "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" is a delicious little spoof. Now to wait for the sequel, "Trail of the Screaming Forehead"!

Fans of the 1950's and '60s sci fi/horror "B" movies that were so prevalent during those decades will certainly want to give THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA a look. Writer/director/actor Larry Blamire shows his love for those movies from a bygone era by creating a homage that is both funny and dead-on. Filming the movie in glorious black and white and on location at Bronson Caverns where many of these low budget flicks were done is a stroke of genius. The budget ($100,000) for ...SKELETON was even in the same range as the '50s and '60s models.

The plot contains elements of many of the great "B" sci fi movies: Aliens who crash land on earth, an evil scientist bent on world domination, a hokey-looking mutant with poor costume design, and the platinum-haired hero and his All-American wife. Throw in bad lighting, bad editing, stilted dialogue, and the ever-present melotronic "B" movie soundtrack and you've got the whole package. The key component (literally) that binds all of this craziness together is "Atmospherium", an element found in a meteorite that recently crashed to Earth that each of the above parties (plus the Skeleton of Cadavra) need for various reasons.

Without reveiling any other plot details, let me just state that the formula used by Blamire and the cast are true to these great (and sometimes underappreciated) cinematic gems from the past. As with some movie spoofs, the viewer will need to watch the scene a second or third time to "get" the gag. Added features to the DVD include bloopers, movie trailers, director and cast dialogue over the film, and a question and answer session with the cast filmed after the movie's premier.

If you've a fan of Mystery Science Theater or if you cut your movie-viewing teeth on Creature Features or the Saturday Matinee, you will want to add THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA to your collection. Happy viewing!

As far as spoofs go, it doesn't get any better than this. They nailed it dead on. This is so bad that it's good. It is pathetic but this movie is actually pretty much totally accurate of its spoofing of really old sci-fi movies. They were that badly done. Some of it goes way over the top but that's what makes it so enjoyable. It is so purposely poor that it's almost impossible not to laugh.

This movie was just plain fun on so many levels. The bad dialog, the over acted acting, cheesy effects. Some might think of it as an ordinary b-movie but it's a clever homage to them. It plays it straight and never let's on that it doesn't take itself seriously. It will have your eyes watering and sides hurting from laughing so hard. And since it was made for $40,000 it shows it's just more than an homage. It shows you don't have to have a giantic budget to make an entertaining film today! I can't wait to get this one on DVD.

Unlike the other reviewers, I didn't find this movie to be laugh-out-loud funny so much as ingenious and genuinely witty. The cast do an excellent job of playing their characters straight, without a hint of that annoying tongue-in-cheek, "look at me, ain't I CUTE?!?" attitude one finds in the vast majority of TV and independent "wacky" comedies these days. Although the pace is sometimes slow, I thought the varied tempo added a nicely surreal feel to the film and never really dragged. All in all, an excellent piece of work that fans [and prospective makers] of independent film would be well advised to check out. Kudos to Larry Blamire and the whole cast!

I laughed. I cried. I did a weird little dance....you know, this movie is one of those movies where something so, so, impossibly strange happens that everyone in the room suddenly stops mid-chew, mid-breath, mid-everything. You look over at the person sitting next to you, both your eyes meet, silently saying exactly the same thing at exactly the same moment: "What the heck was THAT?" It is a split second of perfect, quizzical communion followed instantly by unrestrained laughter. Some movies just have that effect.

Every good 'n' cheezy B movie has a moment like that. Maybe it was the guy in the gorilla suit out in the desert with a scuba helmet on his head and a bubble machine. Maybe it's the 12 inch lizard with the taped-on fins so obviously thrown into camera range. Perhaps it was the rubber rocks that bounced when they weren't supposed to. Perhaps it's just plain bad editing. I love those weird B movie moments. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is all those things you ran home for on a Saturday afternoon when you were a kid.

Personally, I think the only drawback to this movie is that it purposely makes those 'Ed Wood' goofs. If it weren't for my knowing this, that the director was actually trying to be that awful, it would be the penultimate "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

Nevertheless, I love sci fi. I really do. The good, the bad, AND the ugly. I'll take all of it.