William Bibbiani Reviews The Lost Skeleton Returns Again!

“And do you know what else I hate about disembodied skulls…?
Oh crap, there’s one behind me right now, isn’t there?”

It’s hard not to like writer/director Larry Blamire’s films, but to love, love, love them you probably have to know, know, know him personally. Most of us were introduced to the strange, innocent world of Larry Blamire through 2001’s The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, a sweet homage to the inept and sometimes thematically rich low budget science fiction films of the 1950’s. That film has an appreciative cult following to this day, but Blamire’s tendency to overplay his comedic hand by milking the same joke over and over again caused its otherwise lean 90 minute running time to seem at least half an hour too long. Now, Blamire returns again with The Lost Skeleton Returns Again, a very funny sequel that will please his hardcore fans, even though it recycles many of the same gags and all of the same problems.

A few years have passed in the Cadavra-verse, and professional doer-of-science Paul Armstrong (Blamire) has disappeared in the wilds of the South American rainforest, which to the untrained eye will look uncannily like Griffith Park. After him follows his wife Betty (Fay Masterson, still arguably the prettiest woman alive), government agent Reet Pappin (Frank Dietz), and a host of ne’er-do-wells, all of whom are seeking the mysterious metal Jeranium-90. When they find Armstrong, they are shocked to discover that he has become embittered by mysterious circumstances. Very embittered indeed.

All this would be bad enough, but the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra – unexpectedly undestroyed after the events of the previous film – has returned, and seeks the same metal to build himself a new body. In order to get there he’ll have to psychically control Peter Fleming (Brian Howe), the identical twin brother of the original film’s deceased antagonist. Rounding out the cast are Jungle Brad (Dan Conroy), the identical twin brother of the original film’s deceased Ranger Brad, and the hapless aliens Kro-Bar and Lattis  (Andy Parks and Susan McConnell), whose danger detector happened to be on as they passed Earth in their spaceship and indicated that their friends the Armstrongs are in terrible danger.

It’s an overcomplicated plotline for a hypersimplified movie, a fact which seems like a calculated move on Blamire’s part to keep the movie from getting dull. He almost succeeds. Everyone runs around like various chickens with their various heads cut off and the brisk pace gives Blamire’s running gags – low production values and ridiculously circular dialogue mostly – a healthy workout. But not every punchline is created equal, which is a particular problem when the plot revolves around the clunkers. There’s a major subplot as the film progresses involving a mysterious cult of casaba melon worshippers which Blamire clearly thinks is hilarious, but probably won’t be to discerning audience members or anyone old enough to remember the actual low-budget jungle flicks of a bygone era like Jungle Goddess or Lost Continent.

Don’t mind me. I just like looking at Fay Masterson. Sigh…

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again is a funny movie. You’ll laugh, particularly if you were a big fan of The (original) Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, but if you really were a fan of the original you probably appreciated that Blamire didn’t shy away from subtext, which of course made the films that so clearly inspired him so culturally significant in the first place. Like The Rocky Horror Picture Show before him there was a distinct underlying theme of sexual repression and awakenings under the supposedly chaste “ideal” romances of the 1950’s, as well as a healthy although foregrounded condemnation of the era’s famed xenophobia. The Lost Skeleton Returns Again hints at this kind of ambition with the protagonists’ condescension towards obviously intelligent foreign cultures, but there doesn’t seem to be as much on Blamire’s mind this time out, and the film feels a little empty as a result. It’s amusing, but it’s mostly a retread of the original, so I guess The Lost Skeleton Returns Again is about as good as sequels get.

Dark and Stormy Night co-stars Alison Martin as Mrs. Cupcupboard, a very happy medium. 
Does that make her a gay guru? 

Less good is Blamire’s Dark and Stormy Night, also out this week from Shout! Factory. Though not in continuity with the Lost Skeleton films, it’s clearly a kissing cousin: A Black & White send-up of an old-fashioned movie genre – this time the Old Dark House style of gothic murder mysteries – which overstays its welcome by about half an hour. Daniel Roebuck of “Lost” heads an ensemble cast comprised of Blamire regulars and a few guests like “Supernatural’s” Jim Beaver as they congregate in a spooky mansion on the night a rich millionaire’s last will and testament is being read. Soon, one-by-one they’re all getting picked off, one-by-one, as a mysterious cloaked serial killer picks them off one-by-one.

If you thought that last sentence was funny you’ll love Dark and Stormy Night, which relies on unexpectedly redundant dialogue for many of its gags. Like the Lost Skeleton movies it’s pretty funny for a while – Andy Parks and Fay Masterson in particular seem to be having the time of their lives this time out – but despite a large cast of colorful characters there just isn’t enough plot to keep audiences distracted, and there certainly isn’t anything meaningful under the surface of this parody to keep us involved. Topping it off is the underlying notion that Blamire’s shtick just doesn’t quite fit this genre, which has arguably better entries than the low-budget 1950’s sci-fi mold. Agatha Christie, for example, was a bright, witty writer, but while Blamire is no slouch in either department he didn’t seem to challenge himself to meet the standards of And Then There Were None as he did the standards of The Amazing Colossal Man.

One gets the impression that Dark and Stormy Night would be a well-received and memorable play – particularly if the intermission was long enough to make the gags feel fresh again afterwards – but as a film it just can’t carry its own weight. So it’s a lesser entry in Blamire’s likable oeuvre, just not the standout that remains The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. But if you were a fan before you’ll like these two new films. Maybe even like them a lot. But let’s hope that Blamire has the freedom to challenge himself beyond his apparent comfort zone in the future. He’s clearly bright enough to do better, or at least more ambitious things.

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again and Dark and Stormy Night are both available on DVD this week from Shout! Factory.