Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

DVD Review: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
I have to thank Ethan H. for pointing this film out a while back when it was making its rounds through the revue cinema circuit. As I was returning a couple of kids films taken out the previous week, I saw this on the shelves and decided to rent it. What a hoot this film is - it is a dead-on parody of grade-Z films from the late 1950s, played absolutely straight. Ed Wood would be proud.

The basic plot involves a scientist heavily involved with science searching for a meteor containing the rare radioactive element "atmospherium" in order to make scientific discoveries (much of the dialog in the film echoes this repetitive tone). He goes into the hills with his put-upon but cheerily blasé wife in search of this meteor. Meanwhile a mad scientist is looking for the lost skeleton mentioned in the title, and aims to bring it back to life and for no easily understandable reason, intends to take over the world with it. As if that weren't enough, a broken spaceship lands nearby, stranding an alien couple and their pet mutant - who promptly escapes. Both the mad scientist and the aliens ultimately need the same atmospherium to help them in their respective plans. On the flimsy excuse that a lone man will seem suspicious visiting the (good) scientist's cabin, the mad scientist us the alien's transmutatron device to change four forest animals into the single Animala, an apparently non-suspicious feral cat-suited female companion. All of this done with the cheapest of sets (the whole movie cost under $100,000), and much of it shot in the same woodland areas where the original movies of this type were shot. It is a great and enjoyable homage to z-grade 1950s sci-fi/horror movies it works, setting the right tone from the start and faithfully following it through. Terrible dialog played straight. Fixed master shots that must have driven the modern cinematographer mad. Enjoyably bad monster suits and silver-spray painted toilet rolls masquerading as spaceships. A skeleton that is moved by highly visible strings. A great soundtrack lifted from a vintage catalog of 50's era movie music. All without anybody deliberately mugging for laughs or spoiling for self-conscious inside jokes. Terrific stuff.

Recommended, especially for fans of MST3K.