If you are a fan of those god-awful B-rate sci-fi movies of the 50’s and 60’s, and you love to watch the boys of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" rip them apart, then have I got a movie for you. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a parody of those schlock films like Plan 9 From Outer Space and Attack of the Crab Monsters, while at the same time being a schlock film itself. Writer/Director Larry Blamire has a group of friends over to his house every Thursday evening for Bad Movie Night. Basically, this means that they sit around and watch the aforementioned schlock films and make fun of them. They have been doing this for many years. He eventually got the idea to write a parody of these films, ala Young Frankenstein. Whereas the Mel Brooks opus pays tribute to one specific movie, however, Lost Skeleton is an homage to all bad films. The basis of the story is this: a scientist and his wife drive deep into woods to find a meteor filled with that rarest of all radioactive elements -- Atmosphereum. At the same time, another scientist discovers the mythical skeleton that contains the power to rule the world as long as it has one thing -- Atmosphereum. Elsewhere, and also at the same time, an alien couple have to make an emergency landing because their spaceship has run out of fuel -- Atmosphereum. Oh, and while they are figuring this out, their pet mutant (with a penchant for horribly mutilating things) escapes into the woods. And so the fun beings! Blamire was obviously paying attention to all those bad movies he watched. Lost Skeleton is chock full of references to the style of those films: plenty of re-occurring stock footage, repetitious dialogue, horribly unwitty jokes, stiff and rigid acting, and a bad mutant costume. The cast of the film, many of which attended the Bad Movie Nights at Blamire’s home, pull of the dialogue with a perfect blend of parody and sincerity. Just to give you an idea, here’s a sample:

Betty: I hope the owners don’t mind their good dishes holding a radioactive meteor.
Paul: Don’t eat the meteor by mistake, whatever you do!
(They both laugh, then stop immediately)
Paul: Seriously, we’ll clean the dishes before we go.

Unless you have a soft spot in your heart for these cheesy old films, you probably won’t get much out of the film. Most of the comedy comes from the actual parody going on and not from just straightforward jokes. I have a feeling that this film will go over well at various sci-fi conventions and movie festivals. And now ... on with the good stuff! Here is a breakdown of the Lost Skeleton Special Edition DVD: THE GOOD

1. The movie itself, of course.
2. Director and Crew commentary - Writer/director Larry Blamire sits down with his editor, producer, director of photography, and production manager to discuss all the technical aspects of making the film in this full-length commentary. Very entertaining and insightful in the ways of low-budget filmmaking.
3. Cast commentary - Yet another full-length commentary, but this time it’s from the entire cast of the film. Extremely entertaining and funny, almost more so than the film.
4. A Featurette entitled "Obey The Lost Skeleton!" - Interviews with the entire cast on their roles and the movie itself.
5. Q&A at the American Cinematheque - The movie officially premiered at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on January 24, 2002. After the movie, the entire cast and crew held a question and answer event with the audience. The event was filmed with a digital video camera (just like the one they shot the movie with), and it is presented on the DVD in its entirety. It’s about 30 minutes long and very entertaining. It also shows how funny the cast is off screen, as well.
6. Blooper Reel - Let’s face it - we all love bloopers. Admit it!!! This is the only chance you get to see the actual dailies in their original digital form ... and in color, too!
7. Virtual Skelectables - This is a scroll-though display of fake merchandise that probably would have been sold if this movie had actually been made in the 50’s. (Personally, I’d love to get my hands on a Lost Skeleton lunch box!)
8. Skeleton Frolics cartoon - A cute little cartoon about skeletons dancing around in a graveyard. It was shown before Lost Skeleton in theaters.

THE BAD

1. The only thing that could have made this DVD any better is if it had come with a free steak and lobster dinner.
2. Seriously, this DVD is jam-packed with just about everything you could want in a DVD. I can find nothing at fault with this DVD except that it has too many previews of other movies on DVD (about 10 all together). But the nice part is that you don’t have to watch them if you don’t want to!

THE UGLY

• I wish more people had seen it in theaters when it came out. This movie really had the potential to become a fun midnight movie, but for some reason it just didn’t draw many audiences. It will probably have a very good shelf life at the video stores.

MOVIE RATING: 4 out of 5 Atmosphereum Meteors DVD OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 Amish Terrariums