Whenever I sit down to watch a movie, I try to pick one that I think I’ll enjoy because of its high quality. Sometimes, however, I’ll end up seeing a movie that I enjoy because of its poor quality. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is definitely in the latter category. Spoilers abound, so consider skipping this review if you want to see the movie first.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra was released in 2001 but looks and feels like one of the many B movies from the 1950’s and 1960’s. The creators clearly had very little money to work with but they still ended up making an incredibly entertaining movie. The plot (what little plot there is) involves a scientist and his wife, an alien couple, and another scientist all trying to get a meteorite that contains an element called atmosphereum. The first scientist wants to study it so he can become famous, the aliens want to use it to power their ship and return to their home planet of Marva, and the other scientist wants to use it to bring the “Lost Skeleton” back to life and rule the the world alongside it. There is also a mutant and a woman created by the aliens’ transmutatron from a combination of several different forest creatures.
As you might have guessed from the previous paragraph, this is one of the most bizarre movies I’ve ever seen. The effects were incredibly simple and fake-looking, the writing felt like something written by auto correct combined with predictive text, and the performances were as over the top as could be. And I had a blast watching it. I think there are a few reasons that I enjoyed it so much. First, it seemed to relish in its corniness, as if everyone involved tried to make it as fun and goofy as possible; it never felt like it took itself too seriously or acted as if it were anything spectacular. And second, I watched it with a group of friends and we mocked it in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000 the whole time. I had never even heard of this movie until a few hours before I saw it and I don’t know how I would have felt about it if I’d seen it alone. This seems like it was made to be watched with other people who don’t take it seriously, and that made for an incredibly entertaining experience. This is one of the best bad movies I’ve watched and, if you enjoy movies that are so bad they’re good, give this one a watch with some of your friends. You’ll have a blast.