Some stories are so big they just can’t be told in one sitting.  As The Holy Bible needed two parts and The Lord of the Rings three, so Larry Blamire’s loopy 2004 sci-fi spoof THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA demanded a sequel.  This Sunday, November 9th, The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles will host a first-ever pairing of the original film with its follow-up THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN, which reunites Blamire (returning as the wasp-waisted Dr. Paul Armstrong) with most of the first film’s cast and guest star H. M. Wynant, from ”The Howling Man” episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.  Writer/director/actor/illustrator and all around man of science Larry Blamire was kind enough to sit down with The Movie Morlocks today for an impromptu but clinically controlled interview.

Q:  Was there a defining moment for you as a kid with a love of cheap sci-fi movies, where you found yourself thinking “This is what I need to do when I grow up”?

A:  I wish there actually were a defining moment for me–hell, I could have sorely used a defining moment, instead of a series of annoying gradual realizations.  I spent my kid-hood evenly divided between playing baseball up at the field–followed by the most heaven-sent incredibly thirst-quenching bottle of cream soda known to man (or boy) at the corner gas station–and soaking in scifi and horror on TV… mostly from the local FANTASMIC FEATURES show on Boston’s Channel 7.

Q:  Boston and its suburbs really did their best for horror.  I used to watch a show on Friday and Saturday nights broadcast out of Needham, Massachusetts, on Channel 4 called CLASSIC HORROR (later the horror hosted SIMON’S SANCTORUM), which showed double features of Universal horror movies.  It was an education.  I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t seen those movies – DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLFMAN, THE MUMMY, TARANTULA, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - at such an impressionable age. 

A:   I ended up going to the Art Institute of Boston majoring in illustration, with an idea I might be doing comics.  But I ended up illustrating scifi mags and drifted into theatre.  Now I never ever had any interest in theatre as a kid but out of curiosity I went along with one of my roommates to see what an audition was like.  I watched and thought modestly and realistically– “Hell, I could do that crap.”  I called the director and asked if I could audition (even though they were pretty much done) and he reluctantly agreed.  So he comes over, reads me–tells me I got the part.  So somehow I had ended up getting the part my roommate wanted.

Q:  That’s the classic showbiz story. 

A:  Next thing I know I’m acting in play after play, which quickly led to writing my first play, which I somehow convinced the theatre company I was now a part of to let me direct.  I spent the Eighties doing this.  But my inspiration was not plays or even theatre.  It was movies.  Just like when I briefly did underground comics, I saw theatre as a cheap and immediate way to create films.  I remember The Boston Phoenix commenting on my “cinematic direction”–I was trying to make living cinema on stage.  I was soon adapting my material to screenplay form, but it wasn’t until I moved out to LA that I actually took a shot a film.

Q: Both LOST SKELETON movies reflect an obvious love of Cold War era “big bug” and “monster on the loose” science fiction but filtered through an aesthetic that betrays an appreciation for other kinds of movies. 

A:  I loved, and still do, almost all kinds of movies – particularly Fifties westerns (the so called “adult” period) and crime (Siegel, Karlson, Aldrich, etc.) – anything by Anthony Mann, Hitchcock.  The scifi-horror films that I really got into as a kid, the most evocative or creepiest (at least at the time) were Hawks’ THE THING, IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, even THE KILLER SHREWS (and I can’t help noticing all have a isolated group of people in them).  None of these were really influences on LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA which poked hopefully good-natured fun at what were largely perceived as lesser films like CATWOMEN OF THE MOON, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, etc.

Q:  Your use of old time Hollywood actors, like James Karen from FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER and POLTERGEIST and H. M.  Wynant begs the question of how influenced you were and are by Joe Dante’s example.

A:  I always loved that Joe did that/does that but part of it was being in LA, becoming friends with veteran actors I’d seen and admired over the years.  Plus people like Mike Schlesinger (now a producer with Bantam Street), and in one case composer Christopher Caliendo, introducing me to a number of them.  Tom Reese was my neighbor, so that seemed like a no-brainer.  He was in a ton of westerns, a notable TWILIGHT ZONE…

Q:  To me, Tom Reese will always be gruff Sergeant Velie from the short-lived ELLERY QUEEN series starring Jim Hutton.

A:  … and of course fought Dean Martin as “Ironhead” in a Matt Helm film.

Q:  It’s great to see H. M. Wynant again.

A: He’s great.  Enthused, knows his lines practically from the time he’s handed a script.  Can’t wait for our next film.  He’s a mensch, a trouper, an awesome guy.  He lends an incredible gravity to the levity.  He takes it seriously.  Perfect.

Q:  What was the reaction among the original cast when you told them a sequel was in the works?

A:  Mostly the reaction was excitement, though a couple thought I was kidding.  I never thought I’d do a sequel – I normally don’t care for sequels.  But I was watching an old jungle adventure on TV and suddenly wondered what if Dr. Paul Armstrong were lost in the jungle for two years and a bitter alcoholic – it just seemed so ridiculous.  And Betty, his wife, is patiently oblivious back home.  It all took off from there.  If there wasn’t an opportunity to do something different, there’s no reason or challenge for me in doing a sequel.  I hate repeated jokes.  I can’t see doing another one though.  And i’m not alone in feeling that.

Q:  Final questions:  Were you good in science in school?

A: Oh dude, I sucked.  Science, math–fuggedaboudit.

Q:  So when exactly did your hair go bone white?

A:   It was simply a gradual draining of way of my technicolor until eventually, I am convinced, I will be entirely in black and white.

THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVARA and THE L0ST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN will play back-to-back at The Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard this Sunday, November 9, beginning at 5:00.  Larry will be on hand to introduce both features and the cast and crew of THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN will reunite for a post screening discussion.

Check out Larry’s new collection of short stories, TALES OF THE CALLAMO MOUNTAINS, and read his essential Video Watchdog article “They Did Science: Dr. Paul Armstrong’s Handy Guide to 50s Sci-Fi Heroes” (Issue 120), available from VideoWatchdog.com.  THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA is available for rental from GreenCine and Netflix.  Tickets for the Egyptian Theatre’s double feature on Sunday are available at the boxoffice and online at Fandango.