Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
By Eric Grigs | October 29, 2020
Comedy has a shaky alliance when paired with horror—it’s incredibly hard to get the balance just right. Should the audience be laughing at a scene or be frightened by their suspension of disbelief?
Director and co-writer Gene Wilder described Haunted Honeymoon as a “comedy chiller,” a love letter to a bygone type of movie and era. The visuals from Fred Schuler’s cinematography are expertly crafted, shot beautifully as “black and white in color.” Here’s where this movie really shines: creating an abundance of dark atmosphere with which to explore tricks of the mind.
It’s a spooky murder mystery set in a mansion—once a common suspense trope, arguably best blended with comedy by Clue: The Movie (and perhaps not rivaled since). I miss these sorts of movies, which are perfect Sunday matinee films. Like Clue, you feel the cast of Haunted Honeymoon is having loads of fun building out this world of eccentrics. Against a backdrop of the 1930s, it’s grounded with elements taken from noir, mystery, and monster movies, while also drawing on the imagination required when listening to old-time radio shows. It uses our familiarity with stories set in dark castles (and a steady diet of Scooby Doo episodes helps) to play upon what is real and what is not. It’s also enjoyable to return to a time when gaslighting wasn’t something that threatened national security but was just a mystery that would be resolved in two hours.
The plot concerns two famous radioplay actors, Larry Abbot (Wilder) and Vickie Pearle (Gilda Radner), who are soon to be married. Larry has been recently experiencing panic attacks. His quirky relatives gather for the weekend to meet Vickie at the family mansion. Having decided the cure to overcoming his past trauma is to scare him out of it, they begin secretly concocting scenarios that force him to face his fears. Amidst this deception: a wolf-man runs amok, his cousin is murdered, and Larry becomes the killer’s target in an attempt to steal the family fortune.
There’s also an unexpected twist ending that succeeds in not undermining the film’s tone of toggling between suspense and laughs. The conclusion makes perfect sense—albeit one in hindsight the viewer probably should see coming. Like murdered cousin Francis says, “It’s not what you think” it is, before the camera comically pans back to his death scene and he corrects: “Ok, it’s partly what you think. It’s complicated.”
While I wouldn’t quite describe Haunted Honeymoon as a rediscovered classic, it’s got a lot going for it. The genuine offscreen love between Wilder and Radner (sadly, her last onscreen film performance) permeates their roles as fiancés, Dom DeLuise’s drag performance as Aunt Kate is an absolute delight to watch (too bad he doesn’t get more screen time!), and the lush score by John Morris hits all the right notes, adding some classic movie gravitas. Plus, we’re treated to a sudden song and dance number from DeLuise and Radner (“Ballin’ the Jack”) just for fun. The cast is charming and their dedication to the material is apparent, but it never really goes into overdrive like Clue did and for that reason it feels a bit lacking, like it just needs more... of something.
Some jokes don’t land or are just plain comedy from another era, while others are fresh and laugh-out-loud funny. It was ambitious for Wilder to try to make this type of film relevant to audiences of 1986 who were less interested in old Hollywood and more concerned with slasher flicks and dumb high school comedies.
About a decade later, producer George Lucas also had zero luck with another set-in-radio-era mystery/comedy, Radioland Murders. I have great affection for that film as well, but it flopped with audiences as much as Honeymoon did. The market for these lighthearted, breezy goofs seems to be a thing of the past. It’s hard to believe now, but it should be remembered that just one year prior, even Clue performed poorly at the box office, losing money upon its initial release.
In retrospect, this film is unlikely to ever gain a large and devoted cult following. However, if you’re looking to pick a movie for a cold, rainy, thunderstorming afternoon, while you’re wrapped in a blanket with a dog on your lap, Haunted Honeymoon will give you all the right feels—suspense, but not too scary; funny, but not too zany—nostalgia that’s perfectly comforting.
Haunted Honeymoon has been newly remastered in HD and is now available on Blu-ray through Kino Lorber.
Eric Grigs is a pop culture writer, artist, and co-host of the Pop Trash Podcast.