- Title: Haunted Honeymoon
- IMDb: link
Feeling somewhat lost to time, 1986’s Haunted Honeymoon, directed and co-written by Gene Wilder, was an attempt at a comedy-chiller that teased fantastical elements for both Wilder and his wife Gilda Radner. The film was both a box office and critical failure, and while still available Blu-ray (if you can find it) the film isn’t available on any streaming platform. However, there’s something worth revisiting for me every now and then.
Wilder and Radner are stars of a hit radio program who, after performing a live episode, leave for Wilder’s gothic mansion of a childhood home where the two are to be married. However, not everything is sunny. Shortly after their engagement, Larry Abbot (Wilder) began having episodes both on and off-air tied to childhood trauma and a deep-rooted fear that his uncle (Paul L. Smith) believes he can scare out of him once and for all with the help of the family.
The Abbot home makes for a great backdrop to the story and the odd collection of characters including Bryan Pringle as the butler Pfister and Ann Way as his equally creepy wife, Jonathan Pryce as Larry’s dickish cousin currently dating one of Larry’s old flames (Eve Ferret) he brings to the wedding, Jo Ross and Jim Carter as her even more creepy husband (do you sense a pattern here?), along with Peter Vaughan, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, and Dom DeLuise in a memorable performance playing Larry’s aunt Kate (a role which would earn him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress).
Not everything works when trying to balance the slapstick farce mixed with psychological trauma, and murder, but even when Haunted Honeymoon fails, it fails with charm. It’s quite a bit of fun to see Wilder and Radner together on-screen. I also quite enjoy the sequences set during the production of the pair’s radio program featuring all the old school broadcast techniques.
The mix of horror and comedy is certainly an acquired taste, but the off-beat Haunted Honeymoon produces many fun sequences including Larry’s discussion with a couple of local cops in the cellar, the various attempts to push Larry over-the-edge, and the reveal that true evil does lurk within the house and the Larry does have a reason to be afraid.
Neither fans nor critics were ready for DeLuise in drag as one of the key characters, but you have to wonder if modern audiences wouldn’t be a little more open to the idea. We also get a werewolf, dead bodies showing up (and disappearing) at impromptu times, family craziness, plenty of gags, and even one character getting buried alive. While much of it may not work, there’s certainly a glee in Wilder and company going all out in this guilty pleasure that’s probably a bit better than most give it credit for.
