Dr. Paul Armstrong and his wife Betty investigate a meteor which may contain the highly precious element Atmosphereum (which is radioactive, even though everyone handles it with their bare hands). At the same time, evil Dr. Roger Fleming also seeks Atmosphereum in order to revive the also evil Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and rule the world (it’s never explained how or why). Also at the same time, aliens (“from Outer Space!”) Kro-Bar and Lattis crash land on Earth and seek Atmosphereum to repair their ship. Oh, there’s also Animala, a creature created from four different kinds of forest animal and a terrifying mutant that the aliens carry around with them for some reason and some people who get horribly mutilated.
In case you haven’t guessed, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a parody of 1950s, MST3k fodder Sci-Fi B movies, and a great one at that. Obviously, any Sci-Fi or bad movie buff will love this, but just about anyone who appreciates pure silliness will get some great chuckles out of this movie. The cast does a stellar job at delivering wildly absurd lines with absolute seriousness (“We’ve been walking so long, my legs feel like two big, heavy things,” “Sorry, sometimes my wife forgets that she is not an alien from outer space,” and “We take our horrible mutilations seriously around these parts” are only some of the quotable gems to be found) and there are a number of Monty Python-esque bits of stupidity ideas stretched WAAAAAY longer than they deserve (see, Dr. Fleming’s train of maniacal laughs) The film also does a startling job of recreating the sterile, unimaginable look of classic B-movies, to say nothing of the “special” effects. I don’t know how many other people here have actually seen this film, but I guarantee that this is the EXACT crowd it was made for.
I do have some beefs to mention, however. For one thing, the movie is about 15 minutes longer than it ought to be and simply looses momentum as the end nears. Then again, so do most of the movies Lost Skeleton is based on, so maybe it’s a nice touch. Worse, writer/director Larry Blamire (Dr. Armstrong) and Brian Howe (Dr. Fleming) just look to much like normal, everyday people to live up to the “ideal, square-jawed, white male” standard that just about all ‘50s films were compelled to meet.
Sounds like it has the same appeal as 1993"s "Matinee". That film tried to recapture some of the atmosphere of the early 60's (specifically, the time during the Cuban Missile Crisis) and featured a film within a film :"Mant" a horror film spoof.
I hadn't heard of this film; sounds interesting ! Thanks for the info.
This movie was just on this morning,
It seems to be a spoof of all those grade Z monster movies that used to run on Saturday Creature Double features back in the eighties. It was fun, though obviously very low budget. The mutant didn't have to be that cheesy though. I thought the line where the hero said "I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything " was funny. The acting in this film was actually better than that in many of the films it spoofs. This looks like Academy Award material next to Mars Needs Women (which, for some reason, keeps popping up on cable; I didn't know there was a demand for it).
Of course, it had to have a happy ending. And we got to find out just what type of animals "Animala" was made from.