Haunted Honeymoon
| Haunted Honeymoon | |
|---|---|
 Haunted Honeymoon promotional movie poster |
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| Directed by | Gene Wilder |
| Produced by | Susan Ruskin |
| Written by | Gene Wilder Terence Marsh |
| Starring | Gene Wilder Gilda Radner Dom Deluise Jonathan Pryce Paul L. Smith |
| Music by | John Morris |
| Editing by | Christopher Greenbury |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 25, 1986 |
| Running time | 82 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13 million |
| Box office | $8,033,397 |
Haunted Honeymoon is a 1986 comedy movie starring Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Dom Deluise, and Jonathan Pryce. Wilder also served as the film's writer and director. The film also marked Radner's final appearance prior to her death of ovarian cancer in 1989.
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[edit] Plot
Larry Abbot (Wilder) and Vickie Pearle (Radner) are radio stars in the Manhattan Mystery Theater who decide to get married. Larry has been plagued with on-air panic attacks and speech impediments lately since he proposed to Vickie. Vickie thinks it's just pre-wedding jitters, but his affliction could get them both fired. Larry's uncle, Dr. Paul Abbot, decides that Larry needs to be cured of his neurotic speech defect and exaggerated panic attacks. Paul decides to treat him with a form of shock therapy to "scare him to death" in much the same way someone might try to startle someone out of hiccups. Larry chooses the castle-like mansion located in rural upstate New York in which he grew up as the site for their wedding. There, Vickie gets to meet Larry's eccentric family: great-aunt Kate (Deluise), who plans to leave all her money to Larry; his uncle, Francis; and Larry's cousins, Charles, Nora, Susan, and the cross-dressing Francis Jr. Also present are the estate's butler, Pfister, and his wife, Rachel, the maid; Sylvia, Larry's old girlfriend who is now married to Charles; and Susan's magician husband, Montego the Magnificent. Paul decides this is the perfect opportunity to set his plan to "cure" Larry in motion and he gets the other family members in on the plan. Unfortunately for all of them, something else more sinister and unexpected is lurking at the Abbot Estates. The pre-wedding party becomes a real life version of Larry and Vickie's radio murder mysteries.
[edit] Cast of characters
- Gene Wilder as Larry Abbot
- Gilda Radner as Vickie Pearle
- Dom DeLuise as Aunt Katherine "Kate" Abbot
- Jonathan Pryce as Charles "Charlie" Abbot
- Bryan Pringle as Pfister, the Butler
- Peter Vaughan as Uncle Francis Abbot Sr.
- Eve Ferret as Sylvia, Charlie's wife
- Paul L. Smith as Dr. Paul Abbot, uncle
- Julann Griffin as Nora Abbot, Paul's wife
- Jim Carter as Montego, the Magician
- Jo Ross as Susan, Montego's wife
- Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Cousin Francis Jr.
- Billy J. Mitchell as Mickey, a cop
- R.J. Bell as Bill, a cop
- Ann Way as Rachel, Pfister's wife
- Will Kenton as Imposter/Werewolf
- Alastair Haley as Little Larry
- Sally Osborne as Mrs. Abbot (Larry's mother)
[edit] Reception
The movie was a financial flop only grossing $8,000,000 in America entering the box office at number 8, then slipping to 14 the following week. While Gilda Radner was struggling with cancer, she wrote the following about the film in her book It's Always Something: "On July 26, [1986] Haunted Honeymoon opened nationwide. It was a bomb. One month of publicity and the movie was only in the theaters for a week -- a box-office disaster."[1]
Like many other theater "flops", however, it has grown a sizeable fan following due to home video.
[edit] References
- ^ Radner, Gilda. It's Always Something. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. p. 56
[edit] Trivia
Dom DeLuise's speech as he is coming down the stairs early in the film, "They were all godless here, all! They used to bring their women to this house, brazen lowly creatures, with their silks and satins. They filled this house with laughter and sin. Laughter and sin! Wicked men, blasphemous men, with their painted women! They reveled in the joys of fleshly love.....", was a partially direct quote from the classic 1932 James Whale film, The Old Dark House.
[edit] Awards
Dom DeLuise won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress
[edit] External links
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