The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

Starring:Jennifer Blaire, Dan Conroy, Robert Deveau, Brian Howe, Fay Masterson, Susan McConnell, Andrew Parks, Darren Reed
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A complete delight for fans of psychotronic cinema and the Saturday-afternoon creature feature. Writer-director Larry Blamire has distilled every cliché of the drive-in movie era of low-budget horror and put it into The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, 90 minutes of pitch-perfect spoofing. The dialogue is marvelously insipid, and the music (taken from a stock music library) cuts in and out of the action with breathtaking suddenness. It was even shot in Bronson Canyon, location of many a cheap B-picture (one knock: the black-and-white image, shot on video, wears the eye out after a while). Aliens from Mars crash-land, setting loose a mutant, while a mad scientist re-awakens a talking skeleton that could hold the key to world domination. And don't forget Animala, a half-woman, half-animal beatnik! Rowwwr! Blamire allows it all to run on too long, yet hardcore fans of this movie world will be hard-pressed to complain. --Robert Horton

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Average customer rating:

Funniest movie of the new millennium!

Cult Classic

Intentionally ghastly!

Animala!

REAL B-movie made in the style of yesteryear

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Starring: Jennifer Blaire , Dan Conroy , Robert Deveau , Brian Howe , and Fay Masterson
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
General | Parody & Spoof | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video
Comedy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video
Masterson, Fay | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
All Sony Pictures Titles | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00020HAY2
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Amazon.com

A complete delight for fans of psychotronic cinema and the Saturday-afternoon creature feature. Writer-director Larry Blamire has distilled every cliché of the drive-in movie era of low-budget horror and put it into The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, 90 minutes of pitch-perfect spoofing. The dialogue is marvelously insipid, and the music (taken from a stock music library) cuts in and out of the action with breathtaking suddenness. It was even shot in Bronson Canyon, location of many a cheap B-picture (one knock: the black-and-white image, shot on video, wears the eye out after a while). Aliens from Mars crash-land, setting loose a mutant, while a mad scientist re-awakens a talking skeleton that could hold the key to world domination. And don't forget Animala, a half-woman, half-animal beatnik! Rowwwr! Blamire allows it all to run on too long, yet hardcore fans of this movie world will be hard-pressed to complain. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Funniest movie of the new millennium!.......2007-06-09

It's hard to add much to the 70+ great reviews already on this site. Lost Skeleton was my favorite movie in years! If you haven't seen it on the big screen do so! If you haven't bought it on DVD, you MUST! If you don't find this movie funny, you seriously need a check-up. I just saw the premiere of their follow-up movie at the Seattle International Film Festival ("The Trail of the Screaming Forehead"), and it, too, was very, very funny! Look for it in your town (and on DVD soon, I hope!). In the meantime, fans can see shorts from Blamire et al. on Youtube (search "Tales from the Pub").

Cult Classic.......2007-06-02

An absolutely excellent sendoff of the campy science fiction films of the 1940s. What's amazing is how deadpan and serious the acting is: the mockery is done in a deliberate, serious manner without any laugh tracks or winking at the camera, giving the movie a truly authentic feel.

Intentionally ghastly!.......2007-05-30

Someone from work lent me her copy, and I showed it to a group of friends having only a vague idea what we were getting into. We sort of moaned at the first five or ten minutes. Then when the aliens visited the cabin and sat down, we all cracked up. We had to back it up and watch that scene again -- and then we didn't stop laughing for the whole rest of the movie. We're going to watch it again with a bigger crowd so more people will get the inside jokes.

It really is a B movie, in the tradition of sci-fi and horror from the 50s, just ever so slightly exaggerated. It's full of non-sequiters, recycled props, a cardboard rocket that lands in a broccoli forest, a walking skeleton that is obviously being held up by one of the actors, exaggerated acting, bad science, worse science, etc. It has all the required elements for a sci-fi-horror story: aliens, a space monster, the undead, mind control, a good scientist, his beautiful but ditzy wife (who wears the same June Cleaver outfit the whole way through), an evil scientist, and his sidekick. It takes place out in the middle of nowhere (just out of sight of the Hollywood sign). Characters do things and give reasons for their actions, but at some point you have to give up trying to make sense of any of that and just nod and laugh. That said, the plot hangs together surprisingly (disturbingly?) well, better than many actual B movies I vaguely remember.

It's intentionally ghastly.

As far as I know, they don't advertise this movie, it just gets passed around by word of mouth.

The bonus features are great. Here's my favorite. The movie was made recently, but in the style of old-fashioned sci-fi horror flicks, they made mock ups of movie merchandise: a board game, a lunch box, paper dolls, halloween costumes... and pictures of all that are included on the dvd.

If you like Plan 9 From Outer Space, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Doctor Who, Galaxy Quest, Amazon Women on the Moon, and Isaac Asimov's elaborate puns, then you'll like this.

The same crew is supposed to be making a follow up movie called Trail of the Screaming Forehead, and we're eagerly awaiting it.

The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is that you really have to have the right audience for this movie to be funny. I know plenty of people that don't appreciate this kind of humor like I do and just wouldn't get it.

Animala!.......2007-05-24

As an admirer of schlock cinema, you would think I spend most of my time revisiting the golden age of bad movies. No, I'm not talking about the 1970s. I watch scads of films released during the Age of Nixon and Carter, most of them appallingly awful, but this decade does not really define bad movie making. We need to look further back, back to the 1950s, to appreciate the truly dreadful potential of b-movie filmmaking. The Red Scare and the Soviet Union's acquisition of the atomic bomb threw America into a fearful tizzy. So did the space race. And what better way to capitalize on people's fears than to incorporate nuclear war and alien invasions into movies. What followed became the real golden age of the bad movies. I don't often go there, not yet anyway, but I know that the 1950s offer a cornucopia of cringe inducing cinema. Movies like "Them!," "The Day the World Ended," and of course "Plan 9 From Outer Space". These films achieve such heights of ridiculousness that it was only a matter of time before someone came along and viciously spoofed them. Enter Larry Blamire's "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra".

We have three important story arcs snaking their way through "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra". The first involves Dr. Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) and his wife Betty (Fay Masterson) on an expedition to discover a recently fallen to earth meteorite. Armstrong wants to locate the space debris because he believes the rock contains the rare element atmospherium. What's that, you say? Can't remember seeing that one on the chart back in science class? That's because it doesn't exist outside of this movie. We soon learn, aside from how the discovery and use of this element will benefit the field of science, that just a trace amount of atmospherium would allow a person to travel to the moon and back at least a half dozen times. That's the first plot thread, and Blamire could have made a fun film just by following these two dolts around. He decided to throw in two more ideas. The second arc involves the arrival of a spacecraft--populated by the aliens Kro-Bar (Andrew Parks) and Lattis (Susan McConnell)--in need of repair. Unfortunately, their pet, a hideous beast, accidentally escapes from the ship. They need to capture the creature before it attacks the locals. Too, they need some atmospherium to power their ship.

A third arc tells the tale of the infernal Dr. Roger Fleming (Brian Howe) and his plans to resurrect an ancient skeleton located in, not surprisingly, the Cadavra Cave. Fleming figures out that if he can only find some atmospherium, he can use the element to resurrect the skeleton and conquer the world. Or something like that. It doesn't matter what's going on, however, as the plot soon gives way to comedic antics executed so brilliantly that I sat in front of the television with mouth open in wonder. Blamire took great pains to make sure that his script, especially the dialogue, meshed with the 1950s cinematic atrocities so many people know and love. He succeeds beyond all expectation. Nearly every word, every phrase these characters utter, is stupid on a cosmic scale. Armstrong's fascination with the field of science. Kro-Bar and Lattis assuming the guise of humans and trying to navigate their way through a world alien to them. These things are as stupid as they are brilliant, if that makes any sense. The dinner scenes involving these losers rank as one of the most hilarious sequences I've ever seen in a film.

A few other elements of the film really hit the mark. Primarily, I'm talking about Animala (Jennifer Blaire). A whole separate review could discuss the merits of this odd creature, thrown into the movie just to rev up the camp factor. Created by Dr. Fleming thanks to his illicit use of Kro-Bar's transmutatron, Animala is part woman and four parts of different woodland creatures. Her behavior closely resembles that of a house cat. She purrs, drinks milk, and performs a dance number that truly is a marvel to behold. Honestly folks, you haven't lived until you've seen Animala go through her motions. I'd like to see Blamire make a sequel based around this oddball. This marvelous character aside, everything else mirrors perfectly a bad 1950s movie. The cheesy props obviously picked up at a hardware store, out of someone's garbage can, or on the side of the road work marvelously to recreate the atmosphere of a film only Ed Wood, Jr. could love. The costumes worn by the characters and the silly looking monsters are sublime in their awfulness. I also loved the actors' facial expressions and monotone delivery; they give the term "wooden" a whole new meaning. It's all intentional, of course, but it doesn't seem like it on the screen. It would be easy to think these really are terrible actors working for a terrible director.

The DVD version of "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra," which I suggest you pick up immediately at the nearest retailer, contains several worthy extras that heighten the viewer's enjoyment of the movie. Two commentary tracks--one with Blamire and other crew members and one with the cast--tell you just about everything you would want to know about every aspect of the picture's production. If you're not satisfied, a featurette called "Obey the Lost Skeleton" provides additional details. We also get a trailer for the film, previews for schlock classics from the 1950s, a blooper reel, a cartoon, and a Q&A with the cast and crew filmed at the American Cinematheque a few years ago. Run, don't walk, to get a copy of this five star effort. If this movie is any indication, Blamire's next feature (also a satire) ought to be another classic. Have fun!

REAL B-movie made in the style of yesteryear.......2007-04-02

This is an INCREDIBLY amusing movie, made in the style of the mid-20th century when people would get a few actors, a couple cameras and go out into the desert and film a movie. Reminiscent of many of the best sci-fi B-movies, "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" is a nostalgic romp for those who love this type of movie. Do not miss it!

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