A Dark and Stormy Night and A Comedic Whodunit: A Movie Review

Director/writer: Larry Blamire.

Parody is sometimes used as a profession of love of a genre, and it is used to great effect in Dark and Stormy Night. For the era it is set in, the Golden Age of Hollywood, writer/director Larry Blamire shows his extravagance in what he does best–writing comedy dialogue. Instead of focusing on the pulps from the yesteryears, as he's done with Lost Skeleton of Cadavara and The Lost Skeleton Returns, he plays with the murder mystery genre.

After two tries, the third product he made is uniquely charming–especially for those who are familiar with the 30's whodunit genre. One would expect that the butler did it but no, what he does is to take all the conventions and blend it into one huge mixing pot this time around.

This film does a better job at invoking the fun that the comedic greats of the time did. There were The Bowery Boys, The Three Stooges and Abbott and Costello. While Larry, Moe and Curly-Joe never encountered the terrors that Bud and Lou did when they met Frankenstein, they did have their share of ghostly and Mummy encounters. The studios created the horror-comedy genre, and some of the frights didn't feel genuine. They were more like cash grabs before the Universal Monsters faded out of the limelight.

At least Blamire manages to have fun with this film. His product shows how well he understands the horror-comedy genre. He talks more about the pre-production process in the behind-the-scenes featurette on the DVD. Although this release is bare bones, there is no Skeleton this time around making snide remarks.

This director also doesn't stop with his own about how he likes to keep his film projects within budget. When considering that this film has a larger cast of performers, what is amazing is that he has a few recognizable names involved this time around. From the Supernatural set is Jim Beaver. He plays Jack Tugdon, a big-game hunter. And comedian Marvin Kaplin comes out of retirement to appear as a talking head during this film's prerequisite séance sequence. Beaver has some work ahead of him before he can be taken seriously as a comedian, but Kaplin still has the charm from his earlier roles like Henry Beesmeyer in the TV show Alice, and Choo-Choo in Top Cat.

But the humour is not just left unabridged. Reporters Eight O'Clock Farrady (Daniel Roebuck), Billy Tuesday (Jennifer Blaire) and cab driver Happy Codburn (Dan Conroy) demonstrate great chemistry when they start playing it up like The Three Stooges. But even in pairs, they have the routine down. They give some good laughs, and when the screams come calling, Sabasha Fanmoor (Fay Masterson) will have to pass out earmuffs. The scares, like in the films from the era, are not played up. Just like in Scream, it runs dry near the end.

All that is left is continuous satire. As far as horror is concerned, that is a result not many will appreciate. Just look where Freddy has gone before the reboot.

Overall: 3 out of 4 stars.

On DVD:



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Posted in: comedic,comedy,film comedy,movie review,nostalgia