Haunted Honeymoon ** (1986, Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Dom DeLuise, Jonathan Pryce, Paul L Smith, Peter Vaughan, Bryan Pringle) – Classic Movie Review 6283

Co-writer/ director Gene Wilder and his late wife Gilda Radner bring a smidgeon of sparkle into this amiable but slack, creaky and lacklustre 1986 haunted house spoof comedy chiller.

The problem, as so often, especially with comedies, is the feeble screenplay (by Wilder and Terence Marsh). There are far too many dull patches, though they are punctuated by one or two funny gags, and the highlight is Dom DeLuise’s zany cross dressing turn as a woman, Aunt Kate.

Back in 1939, the inhabitants of a Gothic mansion are out to scary jittery radio horror shows star Larry Abbott (Wilder) when he brings his fiancée Vickie Pearle (Radner) to stay at the home where he grew up, among his eccentric relatives.

Alas, this is not a very happy day for Wilder and DeLuise, both graduates cum laude of the Seventies Mel Brooks Academy of Fun that produced such gems as The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Silent Movie. Put next to them, Haunted Honeymoon is nothing.

Also in the cast are Jonathan Pryce, Paul L Smith, Peter Vaughan, Bryan Pringle, Jim Carter, David Healy, Eve Ferret, Julann Griffin, Jo Ross, Ann Way, Don Fellows, Lou Hirsch, Bill Bailey, Will Kenton and William Hootkins.

It is not related to the 1940 film Haunted Honeymoon (aka Busman’s Honeymoon) with Robert Montgomery, Constance Cummings and Leslie Banks.

Gene Wilder (1933–2016). Gilda Radner (1946–1989). Dom DeLuise (1933–2009). Peter Vaughan (1923–2016). Bryan Pringle (1935–2002). Paul L Smith (1936–2012).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6283

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