The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)

A Major Disappointment

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Blistering performances.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Intentionally making a bad movie seems counterproductive. There have been a number of films over the years that spoof, make fun of, and play off of the low-budget sci-fi B-pictures of the fifties. Some of these films are entertaining, some are tedious. "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra," which was made with the same budgets Ed Wood had minus inflation, falls on the entertaining side of that equitation, at least for me anyway.The Ed Wood comparison is apt. Wood is notorious for his minuscule budgets and floppy, sometimes incoherent scripts. What actually makes Wood's films preserve aren't that we can laugh at their lousy production values and crappy scripts. Lots of movies nobody care about have that. What made his films memorable was Wood's ear for surreal, oddly quotable dialogue. "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" has a fantastic understanding of that. It's fair to say the movie's primary comedic device is the oddball, awkward, frequently hilarious dialogue. "Sometimes my wife forgets she is not a space alien." "I've seen bears do things… Things a bear wouldn't even do." "Even as a child, I was always hated by skeletons." And on and on. This is one of those films were visiting its IMDb quote page before watching it will ruin the fun. (But, in all likelihood, you probably will want to visit that page afterwards.) Unlike say, "Alien Trespass," the filmmakers also had a grip on the pacing, style, and tone of those fifties B-movies, right down to lag at the end of the second act. The camera hangs onto scenes just a second longer then it should. Music cues cut wildly between scenes. Hand-held close-ups are used whenever the monster is about. Clearly this was made by fans. The filmmakers weren't just making fun of unconvincing special effects or visible wires. (Though it does that a few times as well.) They were trying to replicate the off-kilter tone of the time period and genre. The plot wildly masses together story elements from "It Came From Outer Space," "Creature from the Black Lagoon," "Invaders from Mars," "The Blob," "I Married a Monster from Outer Space," "Plan 9," in actuality some of the best films of the era. The score is composed solely of library music.The movie is generally just pretty fun. In a post-"Avatar" world, naming phlebotnum "Atmospherium" really doesn't sound any worse then "Unobtainium." The cast is amazingly game. Andrew Parks and Susan McConnel as the alien couple go for broke as far as physical comedy go. Their uniformly stiff posture and unblinking gazes never disguise for a minute that they are aliens, which is obviously the joke. I especially love how they "bend themselves in half" whenever sitting. Brian Howe as the mad scientist is especially hilarious, with his love-hate relationship with the Lost Skeleton. Jennifer Blaire, providing some decent eye-candy in a skintight body suit, has a lot of fun as Animala, carrying an interesting body language and pronouncing her lines in just an unusual enough way. The whole cast carries the film astonishingly well. The best character isn't actually played by an actor. I love the Lost Skeleton. His booming psychic voice makes some of the simplest lines hilarious. "I sleep now!" There's a deadpan to the monotone that makes the more absurd moments even funnier, most notably his passive-aggressive relationship with the mad doctor that brings him to life. ("Stop that giggling. It makes me uncomfortable.") Not all the gags work. The scene where numerous characters are giving Betty the housewife psychic suggestions goes on too long. Generally, the repeated gag of people laughing until they stop is repeated one time too many. The scenes of Betty and Paul sharing lunch with the aliens inside their ship is also a victim of the film's intentionally static pacing. Still, "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" squeezes enough hearty laughs into its short runtime to certainly make it worth your while. Always agree.

If you, throughout watching "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra", caught yourself thinking at various occasions: "I can't believe the things I'm seeing here", well, then don't be alarmed. That is absolutely normal and even the intentional set-up of writer/director Larry Blamire. This man wanted to bring the ultimate tribute to cheap and nonsensical Sci-Fi movies from the 1950's and 60's and you could state that he more or less succeeded. The only main difference is that all those old-fashioned and passionately devoted directors, like for example Ed Wood, really tried to deliver a good film, whereas Mr. Blamire deliberately acts incompetent. In other words, it's rather debatable whether he brought a homage or simply spread mockery. Either way, fans of old-school Science Fiction will have a field trip spotting all the subtle and not so subtle references and winks towards Z-grade trash classics. The scenario is incoherent and downright awful, with talking skeletons, murmuring aliens, characters philosophically talking to themselves and utterly random plot twists. The acting performances are – again, deliberately – horrible to the nth degree. Well, at least I sincerely hope the bad overacting was deliberate. The decors and scenery are indescribably charming and inventive. Apart from the expected cardboard set pieces, there are plenty of imaginative details to spot, like chandeliers serving as intergalactic glasses for example. Some of the jokes in the script are embarrassing misfires, but there are also a handful of truly genius and hilarious moments, like when the infiltrating aliens are trying to behave like ordinary earthlings. I also loved the scientist character, whom refers to himself being a scientist in nearly every sentence he produces. That guy is really proud of himself being a scientist! "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" could definitely have been better, but it's nevertheless recommended for the apt audiences (you know who you are)

OK, so if you are in your 40's and have seen every horror movie since the beginning of time, you know that there were many spoofs made over the years.The Lost Skeleton is probably the worst spoof I have ever seen. Just about every part of this movie was poorly done. The lighting was bad, the lines were bad, the acting was....oh forget it! I found it rather difficult to sit through the entire movie and did not pause it when I had to take a few breaks.Come on Sony....what were you thinking? And why did IMDb "not" say how much it grossed.There are hundreds of film festival movies out there waiting for a Theatre opportunity that should have been chosen instead of this spoof (not worthy of being called a film).

It was the late Charlton Heston from THE OMEGA MAN, who said, "They don't make pictures the way they used to." Well with Hollywood cooking up multi-million dollar movies, that happen to be sequels, remakes and adaptations of comics, TV shows and cartoons, anime, and animated CGI features, all which end up being stuffed down our throats, it is time to take a breathe of fresh air and watch independent movies or movies made in a retro manner, like this one. I am a big fan of B-movies and 50's sci-fi schlock. This one is an homage to classic films like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, DEVIL GIRLS FROM MARS and ROBOT MONSTER. The film is deliberately supposed to funny and silly, so the film-maker can give his tip of the hat to the veterans of these sort of films. There some scenes that are very funny. Where the bad-guy gets killed by the skeleton and the skeleton says something like "I never liked you." How can you hold a straight face to the battle with the cheesy monster and the skeleton? It looks like as if they were dancing. Bottom line: It is imaginative and I highly recommend it.