Generally if I've felt impelled to write a review on here it's usually because I love Object A or I loathe it. In the case of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, I'm filled with abject and total confusion like a spaniel confronted with quantum mechanics.The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Generally if I've felt impelled to write a review on here it's usually because I love Object A or I loathe it. In the case of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, I'm filled with abject and total confusion like a spaniel confronted with quantum mechanics.
This is not because the film in question is complicated. Quite the opposite. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a pin-point send-up of 1950's creature-features. With a plot involving aliens, mutants, a new and powerful meteoric element and a legendary creature of evil (the eponymous Lost Skeleton) it's outline would made Ed Wood Jr proud. The dialog is stupid, repetitive, and patronising. The delivery is wooden, stilted and cheesy. The effects make Hartnell-era Doctor Who look like Jurassic Park.
In short it's terrible.
My terrible confusion and conflict stems, however, from the fact that it's meant to be. It's like the worst iteration of Plan 9 From Outer Space done by people who realise exactly how bad the thing they're making is. The film is bad, but only as far as a '50's era sci-fi flick would be. The camera work, acting, effects and dialogue are all spot-on. The creators have resisted any fourth-wall-breaking nods to the audience, sticking instead to making the "best" worst sci-fi film they could.
It's all so terribly post-modern (whatever the hell that means). If someone sets out to make a "failure" and they do so correctly, then the "failure" is hailed as a "success". For it's black-becomes-white reasoning, whenever I wind up following this line of thought I always end up in a state akin to an idiot with a piece of paper with "please turn over" written on both sides.
The tangent I usually escape on, certainly in cases like this, is the only question that can be asked that matters. To whit: Did I actually enjoy this thing for whatever reason?
The answer is: sort of. It's impossible to enjoy as a "straight" sci-fi film as it's too bad. As a send-up it's not actually that funny, as the creators have erred on the side of accuracy to the source genre rather than outright comedy potential. That was their decision, but it does mean that the film ends up being as funny as you find bad sci-fi can be. Which to me is... "kind of".
The trailer though is hilarious. It sends up the genre and even the trailers of the time wonderfully. The film just comes across as a slightly laboured joke.
Score 5/10
© Barny Russell 2005