DOUBLE FEATURE
Day 22
The Addams Family (1991)
My plans got twisted around a bit and so I decided to use what the good cable stations gave me: an Addams Family double feature on ABC Family's 13 Nights of Halloween. Convenient, right? I thought so.
The first Addams Family movie I hadn't seen in ages! The second one seems to be on all the time, but the first...lovely. I had forgotten the premise until I sat and re-watched it and remembered all of the fun things about the movie. I used to watch the television show (in syndication of course) and I loved it. Come on...a show about a creepy family...why wouldn't I like it?!
Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston are PERFECT as Gomez and Morticia Addams. Their chemistry was beyond fantastic and they had the mannerisms done flawlessly. While Christopher Lloyd is decent, I'm not entirely sold on him as Uncle Fester. I do feel he does a good job...I just don't feel he pulled it off as well as Julia and Huston.
Christina Ricci, as Wednesday Addams...this was her movie that gave her the break she needed. And there is something so creepy about this little girl, showing no emotion, and putting her brother, Pugsley, into an electric chair.
The premise of this first film was that Fester had been missing for 25 years and this mother and son, along with the Addams' lawyer, concoct a plan that the son will pretend to be the long lost brother of Gomez Addams.
You start to see 'Fester' struggle with who he is and go back and forth between family and the money in a battle of good and evil...but who is good and what is evil is what is in question. I really enjoyed this movie as it brought a great old television show to the forefront of cinema and allowed a great family to live again...or die. :-)
Addams Family Values (1993)
Ah...at the end of the first film, you find out that Morticia is expecting a baby...so another Addams is coming into the world. At the beginning of this movie, she has the baby and thus sibling rivalry is born.
Pugsley and Wednesday are feeling shunned and do what they can to destroy the baby. They are thwarted at every turn, much to their dismay. Enter storyline number two: Debbie. She's a nanny who is brought in for the children...and she's after Fester's money. She's a black widow killer...and she has her sights set on her next target.
To get the two older children out of the way, she tells their parents that they wish to go to...SUMMER CAMP! The images of these two dark children amidst sunshine, greenery and blondes is hysterical. I really enjoyed the 'life-saving sequence' at the lake. It's just great dry humor that makes you smile.
While the summer camp frivolities continue...ending in utter chaos at the annual play, Debbie moves in for the kill so to speak, marrying Fester...and unsuccessfully trying to kill him. Debbie's final sequence as the psychotic killer that she is should have been longer. Joan Cusack played her so well and her slide show of her rise to becoming what she was is great!
A great sequel in my opinion and if you liked the show, you'll love the films!
UP NEXT
Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
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