The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001, Larry Blamire)

 

 Much like in my last review for House of the Wolf Man, here we have another throwback to the good old days of black and white thrillers.  Though where House of the Wolf Man was trying to make a film that really looked and felt like it was made a long time ago, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is more of a send up, focusing on the absurdity of those films and magnifying it.  I first read about this film recently in an interview with director/writer/star Larry Blamire in a piece about the sequel to this film, The Lost Skeleton Returns Again and its accompanying haunted house homage Dark and Stormy Night.  Blamire's vision intrigued me enough to seek out his films.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra stars writer/director Larry Blamire as Dr. Paul Armstrong, a scientist looking for a meteor containing the precious element atmosphereum, with his wife Betty (Fay Masterson).  They end up finding the meteor and bring the atmosphereum back to the cabin they are renting in the mountains near the meteor.  Nearby is another scientist, Dr. Roger Fleming (Brian Howe) searching for the legendary Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, which he finds in a cave and is telepathically instructed by the Skeleton to find some atmosphereum to bring him it to life.  A spaceship carrying two aliens and a mutant also land nearby and must search for atmosphereum to get their ship running.  Needless to say, the three groups meet up and must fight for the atmosphereum.

Last Skeleteon of Cadavra was a hilarious, silly little film made by someone who obviously knows and loves the genre he is poking fun at.  There are plenty of things to laugh at in some of the old sci fi/monster/adventure films of yesteryear but it is all unintentional.  Here, Blamire makes those things intentional and the outcome is a huge success.  I found myself laughing out loud at several parts, either dialogue, kooky characters or ridiculous monsters.  The real star of the film though (as obvious as you think it would be) is the Lost Skeleton himself.  I don't want to give too much away but his snarky attitude and one liners had me in hysterics.  For anyone who loves old B movies and doesn't get sand in their vagina when people laugh at the unintentionally funny parts, I highly recommend this film.

RATING:  8/10