Halloween with the New Addams Family

Eleven years after the previous televised adventures of the Addams Family, Gomez' brother, Pancho (Henry Darrow), visits just in time for a Halloween celebration. He's still interested in Morticia (Carolyn Jones), which stirs the jealousy of Gomez (John Astin). Meanwhile some burglars (Vito Scotti, et al.) are interested in getting their hands on the family fortune. The cast also includes Ted Cassidy (Lurch), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) and Felix Silla (Cousin Itt), amongst others.

"Halloween with the New Addams Family" (1977) was considered a pilot for a revival series, which wasn't picked up and wisely so. While I always prefer color over B&W, this is the exception because the color mixed with videotape, as opposed to film, give the proceedings a seriously amateur quality. It's so bad you'll be tempted to tune out in 5-10 minutes.

Also, the Addams' house set is long gone and the real-life mansion used (cited below) just isn't very effective by comparison. Then there are curious additions that don't work, like Gomez's brother who's basically a replica of Gomez. It's the same with Wednesday Jr. And Pugsley Jr., who add nothing to the proceedings. So why are they there? Lastly, the corny gags that were amusing in the mid-60s are now hackneyed and unfunny, like the spy (Vito Scotti) being scared by every little odd thing in the Addams' creepy manor.

Thankfully, Carolyn still looks great and Lisa Loring as Wednesday Sr. Is a highlight on the feminine front, being 18 during shooting. There are some entertaining bits, but this is strictly for die-hard fans of the 60's show interested in a low-rent reunion over a decade later.

The flick runs 1 hour, 14 minutes, and was shot at Higgins-Verbeck-Hirsch Mansion, Los Angeles.

GRADE: C-

I remember this when it came out. I loved the Addams Family and had seen it in re-runs all the time as a child. So imagine my surprise when they were coming out with a Halloween movie starring the original cast.

And... it wasn't that good. The characters were the same and I love John Astin's Gomez but the rest of it felt a little flat. You could see that it was done cheap meaning it was shot on video and the special effects were no better than they were back in the 60's. The set lighting made it seem too bright and why didn't they make Lurch green? He always struck me as being green during the black and white days.

The story is, pretty basic. It's Halloween and the entire Addams clan is getting together. Wednesday and Pugsley have moved out. She's studying the picolo and he's training to be a witch doctor in Nairobi. Just go with it, it was the 70's. But Morticia and Gomez have had two more children that look suspiciously like their older siblings. They're Wednesday Jr and Pugsley Jr. Rounding out the cast are the rest of the Addams clan as well as the newcomer Pancho, Gomez's brother.

There's a bunch of thieves that are trying to rip them off, doubles of Morticia and Gomez resulting in a lot of mistaken identity and a bit of unrequited love.

Overall it's not that bad as there are parts of it that work but in the end it feels rather empty and is best left as a curio of failed revivals.

After being off the air for so many years, it was nice to see ANY new Addams Family adventure. Their first (and only) appearance in color, unfortunately helped to show how old many of them had grown. Being shot on video and the low budget special effects (cousin Itt spoke 'garbled' dialog not his usual high speed reverse English) were disappointing, but it is a GREAT watch at Halloween. A moment to look for: In order for Carolyn Jones to be able to march up the staircase for the finale, it was necessary for her tight fitting dress to be slit up the back all the way up to her spine. Watch for John Astin's ear-to-ear grin as he stares at her butt while walking behind her & you'll see that this is a TRUE story!

There does seem to be something about the 1970's that leads to awkward TV movies and specials. Just one year later the Star Wars holiday special was inflicted upon the public. But anyway...this reunion of the original cast is the best thing going to recommend this show. The direction is very slow. Many scenes just sit there leading to nothing as the gags have long since worn out their welcome. Still however I do enjoy watching this thing no pun intended. The daylight scenes have a bleak gray sky background which lends an odd almost sad air to the proceedings. And the laugh track sounds as if it can't decide whether to join in or sit this one out. So there you have it. I can't imagine anyone is going to finish this movie and declare it a triumph of TV comedy but it will do for a Halloween nostalgia trip. I recall seeing this when it ran the first time and then seeing it on afternoon movie slots during Halloween weeks for a few years after.

This low-budget, color video followup to the 1960s Addams Family series was a hardcore stinker. The original series, which in my opinion was never as clever as the original Charles Addams cartoons which inspired it, nevertheless had a certain charm and atmosphere that made a big impact on me as a kid. This special had none of that, and was little more than a chance to point the camera at the same group of actors (or at least the surviving ones). I mean, it ends with the family singing a Halloween carol! How lame is that? I had the good fortune to meet Charles Addams shortly before he died in 1988. While he was politely dismissive of the original series (he called it a kids' show, but not a bad one), he mentioned the reunion show as being singularly terrible. I agree.