The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

Spoofing '50s B-movies is a tricky proposition. Why make fun of a medium that's already so inherently amusing? Even the best of the parodies -- Rocky Horror, for instance, or Mars Attacks -- tend to be somewhat hit-and-miss with audiences, while the worst inspire talentless hacks like L.A.-based "filmmaker" Chris Morrissey (dubious auteur of Superstar Female Serial Killer) to keep using cameras. Writer-director-star Larry Blamire's Cadavra pits feuding scientists, alien invaders and an evil skeleton against each other in a race to obtain the rare radioactive element "atmospherium," with a big, foam-rubber mutant and an animal woman running around in there somewhere. Blamire has his deadpan dialogue parodies down pat ("All skeletons are against me -- they always have been!"; "Mysterious...and yet still perfectly understandable!") but he falls in love with the script a bit too much and the endless talking slows the film's pace down. It also would have been better shot on film than digital video, and could use a deliberately poor mono sound mix like the Ed Wood films had. Still, the skeleton's a hoot, and the score, credited to the solo monikered Valentino, is pitch perfect, adding a crucial atmospheric element lacking from similar films. Andrew Parks is particularly retro as the alien "Kro-Bar," and despite the slow pace, the movie's frequently very funny. Some judicious editing would make a huge improvement, however, because even at 90 minutes it feels like Blamire's stretching the joke a bit thin.