Halloween com a Nova Família Addams

This low-budget, color video followup to the 1960s Addams Family series was a hardcore stinker. The original series, which in my opinion was never as clever as the original Charles Addams cartoons which inspired it, nevertheless had a certain charm and atmosphere that made a big impact on me as a kid. This special had none of that, and was little more than a chance to point the camera at the same group of actors (or at least the surviving ones). I mean, it ends with the family singing a Halloween carol! How lame is that? I had the good fortune to meet Charles Addams shortly before he died in 1988. While he was politely dismissive of the original series (he called it a kids' show, but not a bad one), he mentioned the reunion show as being singularly terrible. I agree.

I remember this when it came out. I loved the Addams Family and had seen it in re-runs all the time as a child. So imagine my surprise when they were coming out with a Halloween movie starring the original cast.

And... it wasn't that good. The characters were the same and I love John Astin's Gomez but the rest of it felt a little flat. You could see that it was done cheap meaning it was shot on video and the special effects were no better than they were back in the 60's. The set lighting made it seem too bright and why didn't they make Lurch green? He always struck me as being green during the black and white days.

The story is, pretty basic. It's Halloween and the entire Addams clan is getting together. Wednesday and Pugsley have moved out. She's studying the picolo and he's training to be a witch doctor in Nairobi. Just go with it, it was the 70's. But Morticia and Gomez have had two more children that look suspiciously like their older siblings. They're Wednesday Jr and Pugsley Jr. Rounding out the cast are the rest of the Addams clan as well as the newcomer Pancho, Gomez's brother.

There's a bunch of thieves that are trying to rip them off, doubles of Morticia and Gomez resulting in a lot of mistaken identity and a bit of unrequited love.

Overall it's not that bad as there are parts of it that work but in the end it feels rather empty and is best left as a curio of failed revivals.

Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)

** (out of 4)

Gomez (John Astin), Morticia (Carolyn Jones), Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) and various other members of the family return in this made- for-television special that has the weird family getting ready for a Halloween party. Along the way an outside tries to work himself into the family to try and so some spying on the various creepy things going on.

If you're a fan of the television series then you'll probably be slightly entertained by this special, which at least gets the majority of the original cast members back and in action. I personally thought this special was okay but there's certainly nothing classic here. It seems that this period was full of popular television shows getting feature length movies and this here is pretty much average for this type of thing.

I thought the best thing about this was Astin who has no problem fitting back into the role of Gomez. He's certainly very fun to watch and brings a lot of energy into the film. The supporting players are fun to watch as well but there's still no question that the screenplay is rather weak and there aren't nearly enough laughs to carry the picture.

The entire film seems like a bunch of skits and it just never really feels like a movie or even a television show for that matter. It certainly doesn't help that the laugh track is so annoying and often has laughter at the lamest of jokes. Still, fans of the original will enjoy seeing the cast members and that's probably enough for them to watch this.

As stated by others, this is not as well-crafted as the more recent movies, but this was a pilot attempt to revive the original series in 1977.

Nearly all the cast returned, and new young children (Wednesday Junior and Puglsey Junior) were also added. Unlike the sound stage original, this special was shot on video in a real house, with props added, including good ol' Thing.

But, like many other shows that made the black and white to color transformation, the Addams' gallows dark humor seems lost in a bright colorful world of early video tape. Still, hats off to the performance of the original cast especially John Astin, Caroline Jones, Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy.

Eleven years after the previous televised adventures of the Addams Family, Gomez' brother, Pancho (Henry Darrow), visits just in time for a Halloween celebration. He's still interested in Morticia (Carolyn Jones), which stirs the jealousy of Gomez (John Astin). Meanwhile some burglars (Vito Scotti, et al.) are interested in getting their hands on the family fortune. The cast also includes Ted Cassidy (Lurch), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) and Felix Silla (Cousin Itt), amongst others.

"Halloween with the New Addams Family" (1977) was considered a pilot for a revival series, which wasn't picked up and wisely so. While I always prefer color over B&W, this is the exception because the color mixed with videotape, as opposed to film, give the proceedings a seriously amateur quality. It's so bad you'll be tempted to tune out in 5-10 minutes.

Also, the Addams' house set is long gone and the real-life mansion used (cited below) just isn't very effective by comparison. Then there are curious additions that don't work, like Gomez's brother who's basically a replica of Gomez. It's the same with Wednesday Jr. And Pugsley Jr., who add nothing to the proceedings. So why are they there? Lastly, the corny gags that were amusing in the mid-60s are now hackneyed and unfunny, like the spy (Vito Scotti) being scared by every little odd thing in the Addams' creepy manor.

Thankfully, Carolyn still looks great and Lisa Loring as Wednesday Sr. Is a highlight on the feminine front, being 18 during shooting. There are some entertaining bits, but this is strictly for die-hard fans of the 60's show interested in a low-rent reunion over a decade later.

The flick runs 1 hour, 14 minutes, and was shot at Higgins-Verbeck-Hirsch Mansion, Los Angeles.

GRADE: C-