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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Comedy > The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (2009) + Dark and Stormy Night (2008/Shout! Factory DVDs)

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (2009) + Dark and Stormy Night (2008/Shout! Factory DVDs)

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: B-     Features: Skeleton: C/Night: B-



Here we have two releases from Shout! Factory, featuring the work of Larry Blamire.  The first being a sequel to 2001’s The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, which puts a humorous spin on the atomic-age cycle of films from the 50’s.  Meanwhile, Dark And Stormy Night is a send-up of the old dark house movies popular throughout the early days of horror cinema, but a subgenre that was most prolific during the 1930’s.

Unfortunately, while Mr. Blamire seems to have a working knowledge of the films he is sending up, he fails to put that knowledge into practice.  So while the framework is ably copied from the forebears of these genres, the experience is dulled by wandering scripts and actors that don’t quite know when to stop.  Fewer antics and more subtlety would have been a better approach to riffing on these films, as a little slyness would go a long way.  Jokes are often repeated past their breaking point, and instead of coming up with something new, the filmmakers decide to keep hammering at the same gags you stopped laughing at an hour ago.  The resultant films end up being underwhelming affairs.

Both features are in widescreen, with Lost Skeleton being presented in 2.35:1, while Dark and Stormy Night has a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Were this is another production, the picture quality may have rated just a tad higher, as it is well lit and fairly crisp.  However, since it is intended to replicate the look of older films, the use of digital just doesn’t do.  Capturing the image this way might have been the wrong approach, as the light and shadow just don’t come across like they should.  Shooting these features on real black and white film would have provided that right amount of contrast and rang true to the experience of watching a classic motion picture.

Interestingly, the color portions of Lost Skeleton, as well as the “colorized” alternate version of Dark and Stormy Night have a very interesting color palette that gives strong argument for the entirety of these features to have had their main release in their color versions.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound quality is good, and although a bit clearer than what we now expect from films of these bygone eras, the filmmakers seem to have done an excellent job of mimicking the tone of those older recordings.  This is quite the asset in making these believable as lost films just unearthed from the vault.

For extra features, each film is given a behind the scenes look, as well as a fairly lively audio commentary that fans will appreciate.

Overall, these films do have their merits, but stop short of being new cult classics.  If you enjoyed The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and have been hoping to see more of this director’s work, I would recommend these as they are in much the same vein.  For a newcomer, you might be better served by checking that film out before moving on to these two if you so choose.



 David Milchick


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