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Sadly Over-hyped

Lack of good storyline.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Okay... "Dark and Stormy Night" is my new favorite movie. It's written and directed by Larry Blamire ("Lost Skeleton of Cadavra", "Trail of the Screaming Forehead") and it's a satire of Old Dark House horror movies. This movie is ten times funnier than "Murder By Death". I loved the movie version of "Clue" (sue me). This is better. I can't even begin to count the strange quotes you're going to be getting from me. The dialogue is rapid-fire and brilliantly off-the-wall. There is a love of and dexterity with language and a dearth of fart jokes.It has the goddess Jennifer Blaire (Animala in "Lost Skeleton") as wise-cracking reporter Billy Tuesday. As far as I'm concerned, she's right up there with the goddess Jane Lynch. This also has the goddess Fay Masterson (Betty in "Lost Skeleton") as a British ingénue so helpless she can't sit in a chair on her own and the amazing goddess Susan McConnell (Lattis in "Lost Skeleton") as a mad Scotswoman with the greatest heavily-accented vituperation this side of John Cleese as the French guard in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".If you like the Christopher Guest style of ensemble casting, you're going to love this movie. Andrew Parks (Kro-Bar in "Lost Skeleton") is the standard issue tuxedoed British fop. His mom, Betty Garrett (from "Laverne & Shirley") pops in and out of the story with her gorilla (Bob Burns. If you've ever seen a gorilla in a 1960s sitcom, it was Bob Burns.) Jim Beaver (Ellsworth on "Deadwood") is great as the deceased millionaire's safari guide ("Some of the toughest four days I've ever spent.") Actually, there isn't anybody in this movie who couldn't be singled out – which of course is what you're shooting for with an ensemble.I completely love Larry Blamire. In a Non-Threatening, Manly American sort of way, I mean. I watched the film again with the commentary track on. His frame of reference is so like mine, it's frightening. Who else bases a character on William Demarest in "All Through the Night" (a Bogart comedy that flopped because it was marketed as an action film)?This is a movie for anyone who ever wished the "Carol Burnett Show" had hired the writers from "Your Show of Shows".Quotes: "I'd LIKE a ducky.""Hi everybody my name's Ray Vestinhaus – a stranger – and my car just happened to break down just outside, can I stay for the reading of the will? (BEAT) Oop.""I am Dr. von Vandervon. Dr. Van von Vandervon.""Let the puppy go!" – "Come to Nana!" "Let the puppy GO!" – "Come to NANA!" "LET THE PUPPY GO!" – "COME TO NANA!""Let us leave this room of death and mounted heads who once were friends."

I'm a big fan of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. This movie definitely falls short of that one, at least on the first viewing, but still has its charm.If you're unfamiliar with Larry Blamire's work, this film is a "tribute" to those classic 1940's murder mysteries. As with Skeleton, it's definitely a comedy, but not a full-blown parody film. The film is funny (arguably) because it's a bad 1940's movie, not because it's full of jokes. However, there are jokes there too.The film succeeds in nailing a few stereotypes from the era. Some of the characters are very fun to watch (the high class British guy, the jungle guy, and the cook are among my favorites). Blamire also throws in some great jokes and a couple spoofs on movie conventions.Unfortunately, this film doesn't work nearly as well as his other movies. First off, the genre isn't played with enough. Just because the murder mystery clichés are exposed doesn't mean they're funny. A prime example of this is the dialogue. Often the dialogue is clichéd, but not unbelievable. Unfortunately, it's done *just* serious enough to not be funny or clever. We're left feeling like there's nothing intentionally funny going on.Blamire is clearly walking a thin line here: he's trying to make the film believable for the time AND funny for being of that time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it falls flat.Another of the film's shortcomings is inconsistent characterization. Some of the characters are great, but a few are weak, annoying, or simply feel tacked-on (and not for the sake of being tacked-on).Ultimately, this film falls short of both Lost Skeleton and its sequel. There are definite laughs to be had, and I suspect a second viewing will provide some new laughs, but overall this film feels lost between dedication to the genre and making fun of it.

I don't know about you, but I've become bored with the big budget Hollyweird movies that promise everything and deliver nothing. DARK AND STORMY NIGHT was such a refreshing change. I caught the movie at a premiere and laughed throughout. The acting was first rate. The sets were very well done, and the story never failed to deliver. Every time you thought Larry Blamire had packed all that he could into the movie, he surprises you by adding more.Bob Burns as Kogar was genius. Daniel Roebuck as the intrepid reporter hit the mark. Mark Refield as the diabolical attorney was fantastic.If this movie doesn't give you loads of belly laughs then you must be dead. Hollywood could take a lesson or two from Larry Blamire.

This is not a movie. It might be a Groundlings Theater exercise. Or a practice for an SNL sketch. Or a junior high school play. But whatever it is, this ain't a film, no way, no how.Doing a spoof of an old movie requires a certain belief in the genre, an understanding and respect for the source material. It also, and perhaps most importantly, means having actors who believe in what they're doing, believably inhabiting the characters they're portraying and the universe in which the story is set.There is not a single moment in "Dark and Stormy Night" where anybody watching this misfire will ever mistake the caricatures and cartoon figures presented here for real people... or even real movie characters. The acting is all of the overblown, wink-wink, nudge-nudge variety, as if presented on stage and pandering to the audience's reactions. Shooting on HD and converting to black and white is also no substitute for the rich 35mm film look of the movies this is supposed to satirize."Mad" magazine used to do hilarious movie and television spoofs, and they always worked - for the simple reason that the characters believed what they were doing, interacting in their own peculiar universes and never alluding to the fact that it was all a sendup. Mel Brooks knows this. So does Carl Reiner... and Woody Allwn... and whoever wrote "Austin Powers."This is exactly why "Stormy Night" does not work: every single second, we're acutely aware the actors are doing a sendup... as if they're constantly trying to TELL us it's all a big joke. It's like comedians laughing at their own jokes.That, of course, never works. And neither does this.