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The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra…

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I read three reviews of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, which was released on DVD on June 22nd, and all three of them told me the movie would be a nigh-complete waste of my time.

Naturally, I ran right out and rented it.

The movie was filmed in the style of the campy Sci-Fi B-movies of the 1950s and 1960s. It’s in black-and-white, the dialog is bad, the acting is bad, the plot is bad, the science is bad, and the special effects are atrocious.

It’s perfect.

Well… almost.

See, it’s entirely possible to watch this movie and NOT KNOW you’re seeing parody. They nailed their subject matter so closely, that the movie MIGHT AS WELL BE a campy, Sci-Fi B-movie shot in 1962. That fact alone ensures that this movie will never be generally accessible.

If they had it to do over, they should shorten the film by 15 minutes (easy) and then wrapper it with 30 minutes of “mockumentary” in full-color. They could then do to B-movies what Spinal Tap did to Rock & Roll films.

Should you rent it? Not if you’re going to watch it by yourself. You need to surround yourself with geeky friends, and do your own “Mystery Science Theater 3000”-style voice-overs with it. That may be the best party game ever, or your video party may fall flat on its face.

Sandra and I watched it together. It got pretty stale in spots, but there were laugh-out-loud funny moments, too. And the gag reel on the DVD was like dessert — you have to eat dinner first, but then the dessert is the best part.

–Howard

12 thoughts on “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra…”

    1. Re: MSTing movies with friends

      ARGH! College flashbacks!

      Sunday nights with about 20 geeks lounging all over a den watching bad B-movies!

    2. Re: MSTing movies with friends

      I’m going to have to pick this movie up so we can heckle the snot out of this one, it sounds perfect.
      The last movie we all got together to heckle was Equilibrium. That movie honestly was a dissapointment (I was expecting more from the trailer) but it was fun to heckle, especially at the point where he’s in the room out in the barrens and puts Beethoven on. The song that they started playing (one of the earlier parts of the 5th Symophony if I remember correctly) was at the beginning of Rejected by Don Hertzfeld and BitterFilms. The three of us there all in unison as the main character was half falling back in near tears at the music all simultaniously yelled “You sir have been… Rejected!”
      Amusing stuff.
      -J-

      1. Re: MSTing movies with friends

        Braindead is kinda hard to heckle as it doesn’t take itself seriously in the least. Kind of like Bad Taste. Not surprising considering they’re both directed by the man who went on to direct the LOTR trilogy.

        Or maybe it *is* surprising.

        Either way, watching Bad Taste is doubly fun once one reads the credits and sees who is playing Derek. (Don’t peek and spoil the enjoyment!)

  4. “I hope the owners don’t mind their dishes holding a radioactive meteor.”
    “Don’t eat the meteor by mistake, whatever you do. Ha! Ha! Seriously, we’ll clean the dishes before we go.”

    I loved it, my wife absolutely hated it, but it’s that kind of movie. I agree with you – it’s main detraction is that it’s just not campy enough. Still, worth a watch.

  5. I was fortunate enough to catch it in a (remodeled up to modern standards) vintage one-screen theater with some friends. I have the DVD on order so I can show it to the rest of my friends.

    Rowr.

    Dav2.718

  6. I love doing that! Except in my case we use anime, and they get upset if you make TOO many quips (which is good–keeps it down to the briefest, funniest comments.) One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that it’s usually better if you use slightly-better-than-bad material. It’s no fun if the jokes are too easy!

  7. My friends and I used to do that all the time. I remember when Lost in Space came out; we were yelling comments at the screen, and everyone else in the theater just laughed at us. No one cared, because we were more entertaining than the movie was.

    But some of the best movies for that are bad horror movies. Watching Uncle Sam at my sendoff before going to Army boot camp was our best party MSTing ever.

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