Clue - 1985 - Dir. Jonathan Lynn

I stumbled upon this movie by chance.  I was browsing through the Netflix cult collection when I saw found it.  The first thing I noticed about this movie was that it was a take on the popular board game 'Clue' or 'Cluedo' and I was sold.  The second thing was that it had Tim Curry in it, which I love - I feel like Halloween is Tim Curry season.

I was incredibly excited when I found it - it was a movie based on a boardgame.  I mean, when does that ever happen? (But then I remembered Battleship and I'm pretty sure there was a Tetris as well.) But nothing could assuage my excitement.

The story is pretty straightforward - a classic whodunit.

Set in New England, 1954, six strangers arrive at a grand house Hill House (an homage to producer, Debra Hill, and possibly a nod to The Haunting on Hill House), invited by an unknown host, greeted by the Butler (the simply divine Tim Curry) Wadsworth.  As the guests trickle in they are sent to the library before dinner and given aliases: Professor Plum; Mrs Peacock; Mrs. White; Miss Scarlet; Colonel Mustard; and Mr. Green.  A seventh guest arrives: Mr. Boddy.  It transpires that each guest is being blackmailed by Mr. Boddy and, when the guests have piled into the study, the nature of the blackmails are revealed by Wadsworth, who, having been blackmailed by Mr. Boddy and lost his wife, suggests they call the police.

Boddy, however, reminds the guests that he can always reveal their secrets and offers them another solution: to kill Wadsworth instead.  He begins to take out weapons and hands them to the guests: the wrench; the candlestick; the lead pipe; the knife; the revolver; and the rope. Mr. Boddy turns out the lights, giving everyone a chance to commit the murder and when the lights are back on, Mr. Boddy is dead.  Thus beginning the search for the murderer.  

This is an old school spoof.  Nothing like the Scary Movie or, heaven forbid, the Haunted House of today's generation.  Think Death Becomes Her; think Loaded Gun; think Fatal Instinct.  It even had an Agatha Christie type reveal at the end (or rather 3 ends) and Scooby Doo runs along the way.  That being said it was still suspenseful as hell.

The costumes are clever, being the compliments of the names: Mrs. White wearing Black, Miss Scarlett wearing green, etc.  The script is splendid. Fast paced, sometimes deliberately confusing but to get the full effect of it's splendour, you really need to watch the movie because there are just too many gems. And the acting is on fleek.  I'll spare you the gushing over Tim Curry but one noteable mention is the delivery from Madeline Kahn, every time (see flames video) 

Here are some of my favourite scenes:

If you are looking for something to watch this Halloween season, I highly recommend this one.