"The Lost Skeleton of Cadava"

Columbia-Tristar - Starring Larry Blamire

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Posted: 3/4/04

A tongue-in-cheek sendup of a 1950s science fiction film, "The Lost Skeleton of Cadava" is hilarious in its awfulness. Seemingly built for late-night movie watching parties, the movie is laugh-out-loud funny as it celebrates and builds upon the clichs that helped earn legendary director
Ed Wood his infamous legacy.

When a serious scientist (Larry Blamire) and his bubbly wife embark on a trip to the woods to locate a meteor that contains atmospheria, an elusive element that potentially holds the key to mankind's salvation, they become entangled in a web of mock-horror. A mad scientist with dreams of conquering the world, Dr. Roger Fleming, is also in search of atmospheria to resurrect the evil skeleton that resides in the cave of Cadava.

Also in search of atmospheria are two well-meaning aliens who need to repair their ship that crashed and unfortunately let loose a bloodthirsty mutant, which is not much more than a man inside of a costume that looks as if it was built for a play at a school that lost all of its theater funding for the year.

Much like the movies it mocks, the film's plot is just gift wrapping for the collection of genre standards. Eclectic objects find a home in this bizarre movie, with everything from bizarre weapons made from household appliances to the mysterious half-animal, half-woman temptress Animala.

Writer/director/actor Blamire cleverly inserts satire among the slapstick humor that helps sell this retro comedy. The script cleverly parodies the schlock-tastic dialogue of 1950s science fiction movies to a T. Audiences won't help but find themselves quoting the movie's spot-on dialogue. Just thinking back to Animala's rock dance will leave fans softly giggling at the memory.

The movie is filmed in black and white and features a standard science-fiction score that helps add to the legitimacy of the movie. Part of the movie's charm is the way it takes itself seriously throughout the hour-and-a-half screen time. The movie lends itself to repeat mocking and is ideal for a night of movie watching with friends.

Unfortunately, like most one-joke ideas, the movie often contains slow parts and lolls in the humor, but audiences will be too busy resting their smile muscles to care. More hilarious jokes are just around the corner.

The actors are exceptional at bad acting. Never letting in on the joke, the actors all help to carry the sight gags and inane dialogue with flair so believable, one begins to wonder if some of today's notoriously bad actors may be faking bad as well.

While most modern spoofs seem to find the need to hide behind gross-out humor and sex jokes, the movie, at a rating of PG, is so cleverly crafted it never strays from the wide-eyed innocent roots of the movies it spoofs.