Haunted Honeymoon is set in the 1930's & starts in a radio studio where 'Manhattan Mystery Theatre' is going out live, actor Larry Abbot (Gene Wilder) & his co-star Vickie Pearle (Gila Radner, Wilder's then wife & her last film before she died) are soon to be married. However the engagement to Vickie has set a screw loose in Larry's head & he often can't control himself on-air. The shows sponsor Charlie (Lou Hirsch) is about to fire him when Larry's psychiatrist Brother Dr. Paul Abbot (Paul L. Smith) assures Charlie that he can cure Larry by literally scaring the condition out of him when the entire Abbot family meet up together at their large ancestral mansion to celebrate Larry's engagement. As the guests begin to arrive strange things start to happen, Larry's Aunt Kate (Dom DeLuise) talks of a Werewolf, a family member (Roger Ashton-Griffiths) is murdered shortly after being told the contents of rich Aunt Kate's will, Larry begins to start seeing ghosts & quickly discovers not everything is as it appears...
Staring, co-written & directed by Gene Wilder this is one tragic mess of a film, just about a complete failure on almost every level. The script by Wilder & Terence Marsh is supposed to pay homage to the old dark haunted house mysteries from the 30's like The Cat and the Canary (1939) among others. Unfortunately it also tries to mix other genres as well, comedy, musical & horror, quite simply it doesn't work in the slightest. The comedy elements are so unfunny I couldn't believe it, I did not laugh once during this film. It tries far too hard with all out slapstick, comedy sound effects & sequences which probably looked OK on paper but ended up being far from OK in the finished product. Scenes of Wilder trying to pass a dead body off as a living person by dancing with it in front of two idiotic cops (Billy J. Mitchell & R. J. Bell) is embarrassing to watch, or a scene in which Wilder is sitting on top of a stuffed moose head hiding from a snake is just dumb & Dom Deluise in drag as Aunt Kate is a truly hideous & laugh free image. Not one single moment of supposed comedy in Haunted Honeymoon worked for me, the jokes are far too drawn out & predictable. The mystery elements are better but are all but lost amongst the lame attempts at humour & nothing is explained, the killer is revealed but how he achieved certain things are unclear like them walking down a wall & those crazy mirror effects. There is even a brief musical interlude as Vickie & Aunt Kate perform a little number, once again it just comes across as embarrassing to watch. I also hated the ending, it makes a mockery of everything that precedes it & is just lazy & clichéd. One area in which Haunted Honeymoon does succeed is with it's good atmosphere, the period production design & sets are excellent & really capture the feel of those old horror mysteries. The cinematography & special effects are good & generally speaking Haunted Honeymoon is very well made with that Hollywood polish about it. The acting is pretty bad by all involved including Wilder whom I usually like, perhaps he was more concerned about behind-the-camera activities as director rather than acting in front of it, Dom Deluise is highly annoying & irritating as Aunt Kate. As far as I'm concerned Haunted Honeymoon is a complete failure as either a horror mystery or a comedy & I just can't see what sort of film goer this would appeal too & enjoy it. Haunted Honeymoon was Wilder's last directorial effort to date which says it all really, you have been forewarned!
Staring, co-written & directed by Gene Wilder this is one tragic mess of a film, just about a complete failure on almost every level. The script by Wilder & Terence Marsh is supposed to pay homage to the old dark haunted house mysteries from the 30's like The Cat and the Canary (1939) among others. Unfortunately it also tries to mix other genres as well, comedy, musical & horror, quite simply it doesn't work in the slightest. The comedy elements are so unfunny I couldn't believe it, I did not laugh once during this film. It tries far too hard with all out slapstick, comedy sound effects & sequences which probably looked OK on paper but ended up being far from OK in the finished product. Scenes of Wilder trying to pass a dead body off as a living person by dancing with it in front of two idiotic cops (Billy J. Mitchell & R. J. Bell) is embarrassing to watch, or a scene in which Wilder is sitting on top of a stuffed moose head hiding from a snake is just dumb & Dom Deluise in drag as Aunt Kate is a truly hideous & laugh free image. Not one single moment of supposed comedy in Haunted Honeymoon worked for me, the jokes are far too drawn out & predictable. The mystery elements are better but are all but lost amongst the lame attempts at humour & nothing is explained, the killer is revealed but how he achieved certain things are unclear like them walking down a wall & those crazy mirror effects. There is even a brief musical interlude as Vickie & Aunt Kate perform a little number, once again it just comes across as embarrassing to watch. I also hated the ending, it makes a mockery of everything that precedes it & is just lazy & clichéd. One area in which Haunted Honeymoon does succeed is with it's good atmosphere, the period production design & sets are excellent & really capture the feel of those old horror mysteries. The cinematography & special effects are good & generally speaking Haunted Honeymoon is very well made with that Hollywood polish about it. The acting is pretty bad by all involved including Wilder whom I usually like, perhaps he was more concerned about behind-the-camera activities as director rather than acting in front of it, Dom Deluise is highly annoying & irritating as Aunt Kate. As far as I'm concerned Haunted Honeymoon is a complete failure as either a horror mystery or a comedy & I just can't see what sort of film goer this would appeal too & enjoy it. Haunted Honeymoon was Wilder's last directorial effort to date which says it all really, you have been forewarned!