Category: Movies & Television (Videos)

SUMMARY:           RUNNING TIME: 93:00 Min.

In 2009, writer-director Larry Blamire devised this low-budget, black-and-white parody of haunted house murder-mysteries featuring his unofficial repertory company.  Most specifically, Blamire’s spoof homages the horror-comedy silent classic, The Cat and the Canary, and, to a degree, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.

One night sometime in the 1930’s, at the secluded Cavender estate, rival journalists “8 O’Clock” Farraday (Roebuck) and Billie Tuesday (Blaire) attend a contentious will reading for the late tycoon, Sinas Cavender.  Amidst a nasty overnight storm, multiple uninvited guests claiming to be stranded (conveniently, due to car trouble) quickly show up and attend the will’s reading. 

Worst yet, a notorious serial killer is evidently terrorizing the area in search of female victims with a certain first name. It’s revealed that this odd name was once a childhood nickname for one of the household’s residents. Adding to the ‘bone-chilling’ vibe, local legend also has it that the 300-year old ghost of ancestor Sarah Cavender is reputedly set to haunt the estate that very night.  Word of an escaped mental patient now on the loose also eventually reaches the attendees.

Once Cavender’s naïve adult ward, Sabasha (Masterson), inherits the bulk of his considerable estate, it appears that she has been targeted for death by someone else in the house.  Standing watch over a hysterical Sabasha are Farraday, Tuesday, &  bemused taxi driver Happy Codburn (Conroy), who insists on getting his remaining thirty-five cents fee from either his deadbeat fare, Farraday, or anyone else willing to pay it. 

Over the course of an ominous night, Sabasha vanishes, as a series of ghoulish homicides ensue.  Then again, there’s also the threat of whatever dark secrets are lurking upstairs in the Cavender mansion’s attic.

“Eight O’Clock” Farraday: Daniel Roebuck

Billie Tuesday: Jennifer Blaire

Happy Codburn: Dan Conroy

Burling Famish, Jr.: Brian Howe

Ray Vestinhaus: Larry Blamire

Jack Tugdon: Jim Beaver

Seyton Ethelquake: James Karen

Sabasha Fanmoore: Fay Masterson

Mrs. Cupcupboard the Psychic: Allison Martin

Teak Armbruster: Kevin Quinn

Jeens the Butler: Bruce French

Pristy Famish: Christine Romeo

Jane Hovenham the Maid: Trish Geiger

Inspector Riley: Tom Reese

Archie the Cook: Robert Deveau

Gunny Luckcakes’ Spirit: Marvin Kaplan

Farper Twyly: Mark Redfield

Lord Partfine: Andrew Parks

Mrs. Hausenstout: Betty Garrett

Gorilla: Bob Burns

Thessaly: Susan McConnell

Dr. Van Von Vandervon: H.M. Wynant

Hooded Villain(s): Unrevealed

Notes: Geiger is the film’s co-producer.  In terms of real-life family, co-star Jennifer Blaire is Blamire’s spouse while Betty Garrett and Andrew Parks are mother and son.

REVIEW:

Despite its outlandish premise, Dark and Stormy Night is really more amusingly watchable than the hilarious anything-goes farce it ought to have been.  In that sense, the film’s ambiance exudes a generally PG-rated stage play.  Still, the film’s likable cast is game from start to finish; in particular, Blaire, Howe, Masterson, and Romeo are terrific portraying their roles. 

For fans who have enjoyed 1976’s Murder By Death, 1985’s Clue, and/or some adaptation of The Cat and The Canary, they won’t likely be too disappointed. 

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    5½ Stars

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SUMMARY:            RUNNING TIME: 1 Hour, 29 Min.

In 1979, Rastar Films released director Hal Needham’s cartoony spoof playing up classic Western genre clichés.  Set sometime and somewhere in the Old West, rancher Parody Jones (Martin) badly needs a loan for his struggling ranch.  He sends his beguiling daughter (and she knows it), Charming (Margret), off to a frontier town to collect a much-needed loan from the local banker, Avery Simpson (Elam). 

Yet, the unscrupulous banker wants to keep the money for himself, not to mention the Jones ranch upon foreclosure.  After bungling an overnight bank heist in the same town, notorious “Cactus” Jack Slade (Douglas) faces either an imminent hanging, or he can secretly work for Simpson.

Specifically, Charming and her ultra-dense bodyguard, Handsome Stranger (Schwarzenegger) are traveling cross-country by wagon through the desert back to her family’s ranch.  To earn his fee from Simpson, all a down-on-his-luck Slade has to do is rob them during this journey. Shadowing the ornery Slade is another of Simpson’s inept cohorts: Native American Chief Nervous Elk (Lynde), who has brought along a horde of marauders from his tribe.

With the help of his frisky horse, Whiskey (the smarter half of this outlaw duo), Slade pulls out all the stops trying to intercept his intended quarry.  Meanwhile, Charming tries her best seducing her oblivious protector.  

“Cactus” Jack Slade: Kirk Douglas

Handsome Stranger: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Charming Jones: Ann-Margret

‘Whiskey’: Ott the Horse

Avery Simpson: Jack Elam

Parody Jones: Strother Martin

Damsel in Distress: Ruth Buzzi

Nervous Elk: Paul Lynde

Mashing Finger: Robert Tessier

Bank Clerk: Foster Brooks

Telegraph Agent: Mel Tillis

Sheriff: Jan Eddy

Train Conductor: Mel Todd

Bartender: Jim Anderson

Saloon Crowd: Laura Liza Sommers, Ed Little, Dick Dickinson, & Richard Brewer

Townspeople: Uncredited

Nervous Elk’s Raiders: Uncredited

Notes: Tillis also performs the title song.  Interestingly, this comedy offers the rare sights of seeing both Lynde (in a politically incorrect role) and Schwarzenegger riding on horseback.

REVIEW:

This wacky, live-action Hal Needham cartoon tries to be the next Blazing Saddles, with its obvious homages to Chuck Jones’ classic Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote gags.  Despite the plot’s inability to reach its potential, reliable veterans Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret, at least, are game trying to make the best of this comedy-Western misfire. 

The unavoidable obstacle, however, is that they can’t overcome such weak storytelling, let alone jokes (too many off-color) that fall flat … just like Slade often does.  Case in point: the movie’s finale abruptly shifts into the closing credits without even resolving the evil banker sub-plot.  This omission spells out that Needham’s movie is merely settling for a series of hit-or-miss gags vs. concocting an actual story.   

If there’s any hilarious incentive/guilty pleasure to see The Villain (aside from perusing one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s earliest roles), then it’s the fact that Ott the Horse (aka ‘Whiskey’) steals this movie from Douglas several times over.  Suffice to say, he’s a far better thief that the moronic “Cactus” Jack Slade.   

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                        3½ Stars

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