Dark and Stormy Night

There's some really good stuff in the Old Dark House parody Dark and Stormy Night. A fortune teller is wonderfully strange and funny, a cab driver beautifully captures the cadences of a '30s actor, director Blamire does a pitch perfect impression of a terrible actor, and the movie really captures the look of its inspiration.

Unfortunately, it's not nearly as funny as the two Skeleton of Cadavra films.

I think a lot of the problem is that the Old Dark House genre was generally comedic; the movie the genre was named after was a comedy. The movies feature wise cracking reporters and detectives, offbeat characters, inane plot twists, in-jokes (in one, a character asks Basil Rathbone his opinion on what's going on and he replies "who do you think I am, Sherlock Holmes?), and purposefully broad performances. The Cadavra movies parodied humorless incompetence, but how do you parody something that is already funny?

The result is a movie pretty close to the movies it's a take-off of, and I think the director might have been better off simply attempting to create a real ODH movie rather than a mock-up.

Since it's hard to parody comedy, the movie drifts, even further than Blamire's previous films, into absurdist theater, and the movie is best and funniest when it throws non-sequitors at the audience with like darts.

Dark and Stormy Night is funny, and Blamire's usual cast gives their usual fine performances (Blamire's wife does an excellent job as a wise- cracking reporter), but this is not Blamire's best.

"Dark and Stormy Night" is my second encounter with the work of writer/director Larry Blamire; following "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra". Both films establish the same fact, namely that Blamire is a devoted and fanatically enthusiast fan of old-fashioned cheap and cheesy B-movies. "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" was the ultimate tribute to nonsensical Sci-Fi movies from the 1950's and 60's, complete with all the clichéd story lines and campy alien monster designs you could ever imagine, whereas this "Dark and Stormy Night" is a parody of all those typical old dark house movies and Agatha Christie mysteries. In good old "And then there were none…" tradition, a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated individuals arrive at a creepy isolated estate during a … well, dark and stormy night! The estate belonged to the rich but recently deceased Sinas Cavinder and everyone there gathered for the reading of his will. Moments before a giant revelation, however, the lights go out and lots of turmoil can be heard. When the lights are back on, the attorney has been stabbed to death and the invitees have to figure out the secret of the testament, knowing one of the group is a murderer. The rest of the night is filled with assassination attempts, dark corridors and secret passages, random gorilla encounters and a competitive battle between two freelance journalists. Personally, I think it's truly praiseworthy how Larry Blamire exclusively wants to bring comedy through substantial jokes, stereotypical characterizations and subtle references towards old movies. There are numerous spoofs and parodies being made nowadays, but they always revert to crude and vulgar sex jokes. "Dark and Stormy Night" doesn't feature any infantile humor like that. You won't hear me claim that all gags and references are successful and laugh-out-loud hilarious (far from it…), but at least the nature of the jokes never becomes embarrassing. The acting performances are decent, especially Larry Blamire himself who portrays one of the invitees in a deliberately wooden and amateurish fashion. There are some nice decors and the man in the gorilla suit is a delightful detail, seeing so many of those old haunted house movies had a gorilla locked up in the basement.

Writer-director Larry Blamire has a very distinctive comedic talent - genius, really - for spoofing movie genres not by throwing in everything but the kitchen sink (a la the great AIRPLANE!, the mediocre SCARY MOVIE, or the awful DATE MOVIE) but by recreating those movies, and all their endearingly dated conventions, in a manner so precise you could have a hard time telling them from the real deal. THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA was a dead-on parody of grade-Z Ed Woodian sci-fi, and one of the funniest movies of recent years. THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN added cheesy jungle adventures into the mix. And this wonderful picture, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, heads into an entirely new direction for Blamire: 1930's and 40's murder mysteries (a la THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE CAT AND THE CANARY, and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE) that were inevitably set in a spooky old mansion on a rain-soaked night where a motley assortment of characters are gathered for the reading of a will. Most of Blamire's brilliant cast of players from the two SKELTON movies (as well as the hilarious web series TALES FROM THE PUB) return, and they are deliciously in tune with each other and with Blamire's unique comedic sensibilities. Jennifer Blaire (aka Mrs. Larry Blamire) is particularly at home with the stylized, lightning-paced wisecracking written for her reporter character; in another era, Blaire could have been another Jean Arthur or Rosalind Russell. If you loved LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA, if you're a fan of old movies, or you're just looking for 90 minutes of clever, rib-tickling fun, this one is a must.

As a fan of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and its sequel as well as Tales from the Pub, I also enjoyed this movie. I will say that all these movies are funnier in direct portion to the number of people watching at once. By yourself it is not that funny, but for some reason when you get about a dozen people or more together to watch, it is the funniest movie you ever say and you will laugh so hard you cannot breathe. If you saw it by yourself or with one other person and din't find it that funny - do yourself a favor and watch it with a group and don't give them any info about it other than you will enjoy it.

I have watched a few movies and plays and even read old books of the murder mystery at a mansion variety, and I think this is a good send off to it. The characters are larger than life and ridiculously overacted even as caricatures of the archetypes, except a couple of reporters who actually have a good repertoire and are believable as examples of the old archetypes of 40s and 50s reporters. If you can't stand overly-characterized acting, you will get annoyed at anyone besides these two characters, but try to not be overly critical and just enjoy it.

I'm a big fan of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. This movie definitely falls short of that one, at least on the first viewing, but still has its charm.

If you're unfamiliar with Larry Blamire's work, this film is a "tribute" to those classic 1940's murder mysteries. As with Skeleton, it's definitely a comedy, but not a full-blown parody film. The film is funny (arguably) because it's a bad 1940's movie, not because it's full of jokes. However, there are jokes there too.

The film succeeds in nailing a few stereotypes from the era. Some of the characters are very fun to watch (the high class British guy, the jungle guy, and the cook are among my favorites). Blamire also throws in some great jokes and a couple spoofs on movie conventions.

Unfortunately, this film doesn't work nearly as well as his other movies. First off, the genre isn't played with enough. Just because the murder mystery clichés are exposed doesn't mean they're funny. A prime example of this is the dialogue. Often the dialogue is clichéd, but not unbelievable. Unfortunately, it's done *just* serious enough to not be funny or clever. We're left feeling like there's nothing intentionally funny going on.

Blamire is clearly walking a thin line here: he's trying to make the film believable for the time AND funny for being of that time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it falls flat.

Another of the film's shortcomings is inconsistent characterization. Some of the characters are great, but a few are weak, annoying, or simply feel tacked-on (and not for the sake of being tacked-on).

Ultimately, this film falls short of both Lost Skeleton and its sequel. There are definite laughs to be had, and I suspect a second viewing will provide some new laughs, but overall this film feels lost between dedication to the genre and making fun of it.