Halloween with the New Addams Family

Like so many movies that revisit an old TV series, this one misses the mark. The stark look of the video tape it was shot on, the bright color, and the set lighting that looks more like a nighttime landscape showcase do nothing to capture the charm of the old show. I wouldn't go as far as to say it should have been in black and white, but film instead of videotape, please, and do something with the lighting to give it a more appropriate look. The house is nothing like the old Addams mansion - rather it looks like a place where Hollywood types frequently party.

The original actors are all good, but the story is not. After awhile it all seems inane and boring. And the Halloween song near the end... please... make it stop (or at least hit the MUTE button.) Another opportunity to pay proper homage to a classic 60's show is lost. I know it was a TV-movie, but if that's the result, why bother?

During the 1970s and into the 80s, a ton of classic TV comedies were brought back through made for TV movies. What revivals of "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Leave it to Beaver", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Green Acres" and other programs have in common is that the reunion shows were painful to watch. Much of it is because you simply cannot recreate the magic and much of it is because the writing was so bad and much of it is because several of these revivals were ruined by dead cast members. For example, with the "Leave it to Beaver" special, Hugh Beaumont was dead so scenes with him were done by having June talk to Ward at his grave!! In the case of "The Beverly Hillbillies" too many old cast members were dead or refused to do the reunion...so they did it anyway!

So how does this "Addams Family" reunion stack up with the rest? Well, in some ways it's quite a bit better. The only missing cast member was Blossom Rock (Grandmama) and she was not a pivotal member of the cast. In addition, several very familiar old 60s TV guest stars (Parley Baer and Vito Scotti) were there as well. So at least in this sense the show achieved something...though the house set was gone and the Addams' new house just isn't the same. As far as the most important part goes, the show is only fair...at best. The writing and pacing of the show TRY to recreate the magic but cannot. The plot is only okay at best and the laugh track didn't work because the laughs and goofiness were just not there. Overall, mildly interesting for die-hard fans but like all the reunion shows I mentioned, it's still a mistake...albeit a better than usual mistake for the genre. A score of 4, while not good, is lightyears better than the "Green Acres" and "Beverly Hillbillies" reunions...and slightly better than the others I mentioned.

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.

Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)

** (out of 4)

Gomez (John Astin), Morticia (Carolyn Jones), Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) and various other members of the family return in this made- for-television special that has the weird family getting ready for a Halloween party. Along the way an outside tries to work himself into the family to try and so some spying on the various creepy things going on.

If you're a fan of the television series then you'll probably be slightly entertained by this special, which at least gets the majority of the original cast members back and in action. I personally thought this special was okay but there's certainly nothing classic here. It seems that this period was full of popular television shows getting feature length movies and this here is pretty much average for this type of thing.

I thought the best thing about this was Astin who has no problem fitting back into the role of Gomez. He's certainly very fun to watch and brings a lot of energy into the film. The supporting players are fun to watch as well but there's still no question that the screenplay is rather weak and there aren't nearly enough laughs to carry the picture.

The entire film seems like a bunch of skits and it just never really feels like a movie or even a television show for that matter. It certainly doesn't help that the laugh track is so annoying and often has laughter at the lamest of jokes. Still, fans of the original will enjoy seeing the cast members and that's probably enough for them to watch this.

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.