An evening of dinner and movies

The Lost Skeleton of Cadvra at the Shattuck Theatre last night with , , , and was a serious laughfest. Recorded on DV, processed to look like an old B&W movie, but printed on color film, the film tells three overlapping stories: The quest of Dr. Paul Armstrong and his wife, Betty, to find a meteorite that Paul thinks is made of Atmospherium, a rare mineral that will bring “benefits to mankind, some of them good.” Next we have Dr. Fleming, a mad scientist bent of finding the mineral to bring back to life the movie’s namesake monster. And the tale of Kro-Bar and Lattis, two aliens from the planet Marva whose ship has had to make an emergency landing on Earth to find some of the mineral to refuel their ship. Also woven into the plot is the escape of the aliens’ pet mutant and their attempt to capture him.

If you love the genre of 1950s-era science trash, this film is an over-the-top parody and homage to them. The entire audience, well, perhaps with the exception of , was laughing their asses off – all 20 of us. There are so many references to earlier films that it was hard not to laugh. This film is exceptionally low-budget, yet it has TriStar sending three prints of it around to art houses around the country.

This is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. Very low budget, but made with love and a great sense of humor, irony, and camp. You’ve got to see this film.

I had had some Pad Thai for supper standing there on the street corner with the guys while we waited for to show up. Yum. After the film was over, we went next door to Mel’s Diner because John was hungry. I ordered an OJ for myself and an order of biscuits and gravy for the hungry homeless guy outside, but when we got outside, he was gone, so I brought it home and stuck it in the fridge, where it’s still sitting. Maybe or will eat it.

Go see this film.

Tagged as: Life in San Francisco