Haunted Honeymoon (1986) - Video Rental Chicken Fat

Now you think this would frighten me. Well it doesn't. Because I know this is just a filthy figment of my diseased imagination. All I have to do is simply reach out my hand and touch it!

Director

Gene Wilder

Cast

Gene Wilder - Larry Abbot

Gilda Radner - Vickie Pearle

Dom DeLuise - Aunt Kate Abbot

Jonathan Pryce - Charlie Abbot

Bryan Pringle - Pfister, the Butler

Peter Vaughn - Uncle Francis Abbot 

In the current tide of 1980s pop culture popularity, when the decade's favored movies and such are still seen on t-shirts, in toy aisles, on other random merchandise, and broadcast as cast reunions in magazines or news programs encouraging adults my age to tell everyone "I remember that," some movies of the decade haven't made it to that pinnacle of nostalgia for new generations. They remain buried under under mounds of these other movies. It doesn't matter if a movie is good as long as it's remembered as entertaining. 

One such buried movie is the 1986 "chiller comedy" Haunted Honeymoon. 

Surely, Haunted Honeymoon ought to be a movie that sprouted some sentimental appreciation over the decades in the midst of this 1980s trend. True, it was poorly received upon its release, but when has that stopped nostalgia? If Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie and Howard the Duck garnered more remembering, why hasn't Haunted Honeymoon? This movie has a lot going for it as far as nostalgia goes. 

It's Saturday Night Live alum Gilda Radner's last film appearance before her death in 1989 due to ovarian cancer. It has Willy Wonka himself, the late Gene Wilder both in the picture and in the director's chair. And it's the third time Wilder and his wife, Gilda, appeared together in a movie. Previously they co-starred in The Woman in Red (1984) and Hanky Panky (1982). Anyone remember those movies?

The movie also stars the late and legendary comedian Dom DeLuise in drag as Great-Aunt Kate. It's a role that earned him a Razzie Award for worst supporting actress.   

This is a movie that I often stumbled across and wondered what my experience would be if I talked my mom into renting it for me when we visited our local video rental store - California Video - back in the video renting days of the late 1980s to 1990s.

And though I have never seen it until a few nights ago, I have kept it in my mind as a movie to watch all these years later. Even though I hadn't seen it, I mentally had it placed among other 80s comedies such as The Three Amigos, Spaceballs, Trading Places, History of the World Part 1, Fletch, etc.

The box cover image of Haunted Honeymoon has been taped (figuratively speaking) to the wall of my recollection like a poster in a bedroom.

So, I'm dubbing this movie "video rental chicken fat" and slapping my thoughts about it on this blog rather than on my horror blog, 1000daysofhorror.blogspot.com.

The movie centers on radio personalities, Larry Abbot (Gene Wilder) and his girlfriend Vickie Pearle, (Gilda Radner) who perform on a radio series, "Manhattan Mystery Theater." 

The two have announced during a show break that they're getting married. 

After this announcement, Larry is bothered by panic attacks while back on the air. 

Though Vickie thinks Larry is just nervous now that they're engaged, she's worried his anxiety could lead to their being fired from the studio.

Larry's sophisticated Uncle Paul (Paul L. Smith) thinks all Larry needs is some good ol' shock therapy to cure his anxiety. It'll be like curing someone's hiccups.

Meanwhile, Larry wants to have the wedding in his boyhood castle home. 

He and Vickie travel to the castle so Vickie can meet his family. 

At the house are his Great-Aunt Kate (Dom DeLuise), Uncle Francis (Peter Vaughan), and his cousins Charles (Jonathan Pryce), Susan (Jo Ross) and cross-dressing Francis, Jr. (Roger Ashton-Griffiths). 

The family butler, Pfister (Bryan Pringle) who's under the impression Vickie is hard of hearing so he shouts at her throughout the film, and his wife, Rachel the maid (Ann Way) are also present.

Larry's old fling, Sylvia (Eve Ferret) is now dating Charles. So, she's there. And Susan brought her husband Montego (Jim Carter), who's a magician. 

And honestly, pretty much all these characters (except, maybe, Charles) are forgettable. 

Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder in Haunted Honeymoon.

So, feel free to skip that paragraph. 

As Paul begins treating Larry, the only one who doesn't appear to be in on the treatment is Larry himself. Larry starts noticing strange events start taking place.

All the other family members are in on what's happening around the castle.   

The gags run mostly dry. 

I was left with barely any laughs after watching Haunted Honeymoon. The one time I laughed is thanks to a scene with Gilda Radner's character floating outside Larry's window chanting "Laaa-rrry." She suddenly breaks her chant with "this thing's pinching my butt!" 

Other than that, I was a bit confused as to what was happening and where it was going. 

While some jokes are just corny, others have a setup that makes the punchline obvious. I got to a few punchlines before the joke was over. 

In an early scene, Aunt Kate points out a priceless vase at the top of the staircase mid-landing in front of a large window. 

"That vase cost me $5,000. There are only three like it in the world," she says.

"Two," Pfister says.

"Yes...two."

Obviously, the audience knows something is going to happen to this priceless vase later in the movie. It wouldn't have been pointed out as rare and priceless if it wasn't going to be destroyed later. And the payoff isn't anything to look forward to.

As much as I love Wilder, and think of him as a great comedian, too many jokes in this movie just fall flat. 

In one particular scene Pfister asks Abbot about one of the other guests.

"Is he still married," Pfister asks.

"Widower," Abbot replies.

"Widower than what?"

"What do you mean, 'Widower than what'?"

"You said he was 'widower'!"

"He is."

"Widower than what?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. He isn't widower than anything."

"You mean he's just a 'wittle' man?" 

"That's right." 

"That's all I was asking." 

Another gag has Wilder frantically telling Pfister, "I'm telling you, I felt a cold, dead body lying beside me on the bed!" 

"I feel that every night. Warm brandy helps," Pfister replies. 

The punchline is obvious. They're like jokes written at the last minute for the sake of meeting a deadline rather than trying to make the audiences laugh.

Haunted Honeymoon reminds me a bit of the 1932 thriller The Old Dark House starring Boris Karloff and Melvin Douglas which is the classic story of strangers caught in a torrential rainstorm that forces them to be seek refuge in...well... an old dark house. It's a comparison I made while watching the movie.

I didn't realize Wilder took some inspiration from The Old Dark House until after I watched Haunted Honeymoon and did a some digging into the backstory of the movie's production.

Evidently, Wilder developed the idea for this movie while shooting 1976's Silver Streak. At that time, he had a vision for Haunted Honeymoon's opening scene, and built around it. 

And he not only pulled inspiration from The Old Dark House, he also wanted to make a horror comedy (or chiller comedy) similar to the classic horror comedies The Cat and the Canary (1939) and The Black Cat (1941), as well as the popular radio mystery serial The Inner Sanctum which aired from 1941 to 1952.  

In 1986, Wilder told the Philadelphia Inquirer, in an article called "Their Comedy, Alas, is No Laughing Matter," that while he wanted his movie to be a "chiller comedy," it turned into an "autobiographical psycho sexual comedy with music." Maybe that's its problem?

It sounds like the direction became muddled and confused, leaving audiences with a movie that doesn't know what it is. 

There's a song and dance number with DeLuise as Aunt Kate and Gilda Radner that's slightly amusing, but completely random and out of place.

Gilda Radner and Dom DeLuise

There was so much potential for DeLuise to create a comedically unforgettable character with Aunt Kate if he played the role differently, say, as a guy playing a woman. It could have been an underlying joke. But, though DeLuise is a comedy legend appearing in some of the best comedy movies out there, his performance as a wealthy, grandmotherly aunt feels dull and like mere imitation. 

Haunted Honeymoon tries to be a unforgettable comedy - it picks up in the second act of the movie - but it ends up falling flat in the end. It fails to impress.

There's also a running joke about someone in the home being a werewolf, but I don't recall that ever going anywhere. A second viewing is in order.

As much as I love the late Gene Wilder, I loved him better in that earlier comedy horror film - the one from Mel Brooks - than I did in this film.