http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_03.11.04/film/onscreen.html
THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA Review by Adam Nayman Starring Larry Blamire, Fay Masterson. Written and directed by Larry Blamire. (PG) 114 min. Opens Mar 12. While vacationing with his wife, scientist Dr. Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) stumbles across a fallen meteorite containing the mysterious element "atmosphereum." Unbeknownst to him, a pair of stranded aliens require the meteorite, as does the nefarious Dr. Roger Fleming (Brian Howe), a sneering villain who hopes to use its miraculous properties to revive the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Oh, and there's a hideous mutant running around horribly mutilating cattle and farmers alike. Mankind, it would seem, is doomed. Larry Blamire's affectionate, black-and-white B-movie spoof works well for its expository first half-hour, as it replicates not only the look of a '50s drive-in chiller, but also the attendant, pitiable earnestness. The actors -- including wannabe Ed Wood Blamire, who also writes and directs -- deliver their stilted dialogue with admirable ineptitude. The special effects are bargain basement all the way, and the music seems assembled from dusty sound libraries. For a certain type of moviegoer (let's call them film geeks), this may all be very charming, and perhaps even ingenious, but sadly, Skeleton can't quite sustain the good times. As its plot creaks gamely onward, running gags -- like the aliens' tendency toward bizarre malapropisms --become frankly headache-inducing. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra starts feeling less like a lark and more like a chore, the arduous and thankless completion of which is foisted upon the audience. In a way, this failure is a product of its success: so adept is Blamire's backhanded homage that it results in a film every bit as gruelling as its antecedents. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
