DARK AND STORMY NIGHT

Appropriately enough, the action begins on a very dark and exceedingly stormy night. A taxi comes into view, racing through the driving rain and towards a mansion perched, quite literally, "in the middle of nowhere".

The cabbie, Happy (Dan Conroy), pulls up and points the house out to his ride, prize-winning newspaper reporter Farraday (Daniel Roebuck). Farraday is looking for a major scoop to get his ailing career back on line, and has been assigned with getting the low-down on the reading of a will at this creepy dwelling.

Wanting the 35 cents that Farraday has short-changed him for, Happy follows the reporter to the mansion’s door in pursuit of his fare. They’re met there by rival reporter Billy (Jennifer Blaire). She too has been handed the task of running a story on the will’s reading.

Greeted at the door by spooky butler Jeens (Bruce French), the ill-fitting trio enter the house and are welcomed in by snivelling host Burling (Brian Howe). He’s overseeing the night’s events, and offers a room over his surprise guests’ heads for the evening. The weather outside is, after all, horrendous.

Moments later, the gathering grows larger as three more strangers arrive at the house, all claiming to have been passing by when their individual vehicles broke down. Especially shifty of these three is Ray (Larry Blamire), who sounds annoyingly like unfunny guy Ray Romano.

Unperturbed by six new arrivals on his doorstep, Burling ushers them into the mansion’s dining room and introduces them to his very odd relatives. Most noteworthy of these characters to SGM readers is likely to be old Seth, portrayed by genre favourite James Karen.

The relatives have all gathered for the reading of wealthy patriarch Sinas Cavinder’s will, despite their shared concerns over a phantom said to be prowling the grounds, strangling innocent women …

Smelling a bigger story than they could have hoped for, Farraday and Billy become more and more competitive in their bids to coax stories from each relative. Ironically, then, they inadvertently assist each other at every turn.

Meanwhile, the reading of the will itself provokes bad feeling when everyone is largely ignored and the bulk of Sinas’ estate is betrothed to his English ward. The family solicitor warns everyone not to act too quickly – he has in his possession an addendum to the will that could change everything … Unfortunately the lights go out at that point and when they return, the solicitor is dead; the letter is gone.

Cue a long night of paranoia, bickering, murders and plenty of chasing shapes around the creepy mansion’s shadowy corridors.

DARK AND STORMY NIGHT is a homage to the murder mystery serials of the 1940s, complete with wise-cracking dames and machine gun-fire dialogue from its sharp-suited characters. It’s heavily indebted to the puerile, innocent humour of Abbot and Costello (there’s even a man in a gorilla suit to help keep them in mind).

In honesty, I sat through the first fifteen minutes or so with a frown on my face. I thought it was bloody awful. But I stuck with it and DARK AND STORMY NIGHT eventually won me over. It’s not that it got any better – it’s pretty consistent all the way – but I was eventually overcome by its refreshingly silly humour, pitch-perfect nods to comedy crime capers of yesteryear and excellent production design.

Writer-director Larry Blamire injects enthusiasm and wit into each scene, and his cast are never anything less than 100% game. They deliver their lines with knowing theatricality and savour their daft characters with such glee that you can’t help but wind up smiling along with them.

Comparisons to the likes of MURDER BY DEATH and CLUE are inevitable. I must confess, I prefer both of those to this. But if you have a particular penchant for films of that ilk and often moan about the lack of them out there, this is definitely for you.

Those approaching it as a genuine mystery will be severely disappointed: DARK AND STORMY NIGHT is a comedy through-and-through, illogical and slapstick at even turns. But it’s fun, and one that the whole family can sit through without concern.

4 Digital’s DVD presents the film in a decent 16x9 widescreen transfer with stable colours and solid blacks. Among the extra features listed are a "colour version of the entire film". This adds to credence to the IMDb’s claims that the film is originally intended to be viewed in black-and-white. However, the screener DVD-R provided for review offers the colour film and nothing else.

English 2.0 was clear and consistent throughout playback.

There were no menus or extras on the screener disc. The retail disc is set to include a gag reel, a Making Of featurette and a commentary track featuring Blamire in conversation with several of the principle cast members.

DARK AND STORMY NIGHT may not be to everyone’s tastes but does offer an evening of old-fashioned inoffensive fun. It’s knowingly dumb and probably intends to irritate too: it’s successful in this goal. Worth a rent, if perhaps not a buy.

By Stuart Willis