Haunted Honeymoon is a 1986 American comedy horror film starring Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Dom DeLuise and Jonathan Pryce. Wilder also served as writer and director. The film was distributed by Orion Pictures through a deal with HBO. Upon release it was considered a commercial failure, grossing just short of its $9 million budget and receiving generally negative reviews from critics. DeLuise was awarded the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for his performance in drag.

Haunted Honeymoon was both Radner's final feature film appearance and Wilder's final film as director.

Plot

In the 1930s, Larry Abbot and Vickie Pearle are performers on a hit radio show, Manhattan Mystery Theater, who are about to be married. Over the previous few weeks, Larry has been plagued by stammering and forgetting his lines, as well as a constant sense of fear, which has affected the show's ratings. In frustration, the show's sponsor and producers contact Larry's uncle, Dr. Paul Abbot, a noted psychologist. Paul believes that Larry's imminent wedding has disturbed something in his psyche that is frightening him, and decides to treat him by giving him a stronger fright, similarly to scaring away someone's hiccups.

Larry and Vickie travel to the castle-like mansion in which Larry grew up, now owned by his great-aunt Kate, to stay the weekend with Larry's family, leading up to their wedding. The other guests are Larry's uncles, Paul and Francis Sr., who is also Kate's lawyer; Larry's cousins Charles, Nora, and Susan; Larry's old girlfriend Sylvia, who is now dating Charles; and Susan's magician husband, Montego the Magnificent. Also present are the butler, Pfister, and his wife Rachel, the maid. Larry's final cousin, Francis Jr., was expected for the weekend but has disappeared.

That night, a hit man disguised as a werewolf is killed by the person who hired him to kill Larry. The hit man instead killed Francis Jr., having mistaken him for Kate. The killer attempts to stab Larry but is thwarted when Larry discovers Francis Jr.'s body in his bed. The killer quickly removes the body before Larry can return with Pfister, making Larry begin to doubt his sanity, especially when he then sees a deformed man walking down his wall and a ghostly apparition of Vickie.

Larry and Pfister find Francis Jr.'s body in the cellar. The killer, now donning the werewolf disguise, attacks Larry, reminding Pfister of Kate's earlier claim that one of her family members is a werewolf. Larry escapes, and Pfister discovers the hit man's body beneath Francis Jr.'s. The two try to bury the bodies, fearing Larry will be framed for the murders.

The murderer attacks them but is seen by Kate, who leads the family to find the dead bodies. They recover Pfister, but the murderer has already buried Larry alive in a glass coffin. While trapped, Larry has a flashback and realizes that his recent fears stem from a repressed memory of his mother being killed by a thunderstorm during her wedding. Meanwhile, Vickie realizes Charles is the murderer when he pretends to talk into a disconnected phone. Charles attacks her, but she flees and is joined by Larry, who has been freed by Kate and her dog. Charles and Larry struggle, but Kate arrives and shoots Charles to save Larry and Vickie.

Larry and Vickie are seen at the alter to be married, the scene cuts to them in the radio station, where the events are revealed to have been one of their radio plays. They go off the air and jubilantly leave the station to be married.

Cast

  • Gene Wilder as Larry Abbot
  • Alastair Haley as Young Larry Abbot
  • Gilda Radner as Vickie Pearle
  • Dom DeLuise as Katherine "Kate" Abbot, Larry's great-aunt and the owner of the mansion
  • Jonathan Pryce as Charles "Charlie" Abbot, Larry's cousin
  • Paul L. Smith as Dr. Paul Abbot, Larry's uncle, a psychologist
  • Peter Vaughan as Francis Abbot Sr., Larry's uncle and Kate's lawyer
  • Bryan Pringle as Pfister, the mansion butler
  • Jim Carter as Montego, Susan's husband, a magician
  • Eve Ferret as Sylvia Beach, Charles' girlfriend and Larry's ex-girlfriend
  • Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Francis Abbot Jr., Larry's cousin
  • Jo Ross as Susan Abbot, Larry's cousin
  • Ann Way as Rachel, Kate's maid and Pfister's wife
  • Julann Griffin as Nora Abbot, Larry's cousin
  • Billy J. Mitchell as Cop
  • Will Kenton as Werewolf
  • Don Fellows as Producer
  • Bill Bailey as Host
  • David Healy as PR Man
  • Matt Zimmerman as Radio Actor
  • Barbara Rosenblat as Reporter
  • William Hootkins as Reporter
  • Mac McDonald as Reporter
  • Sally Osborne as Mrs. Abbot, Larry's mother

Production

Development

Gene Wilder wrote the opening scene while filming Silver Streak in 1976. He wanted to make a "comedy chiller" inspired by such films as The Cat and the Canary (1939), The Old Dark House (1932) and The Black Cat (1941), and radio shows like The Inner Sanctum. "Since I was six years old I have been scared of horror movies", said Wilder "And the movies that I liked the best - even though I was scared by them - were what was called then 'comedy-chillers'. They were horror movies yet they had comedy, or they were comedies and yet they had horror. They were not comedy-mysteries, they were not comedy-thrillers, they were comedy-chillers." Wilder says when he started writing the film "I knew I wanted it to be a comedy-chiller", but he struggled and the film wound up as an "autobiographical psycho/sexual comedy with music".

Wilder was also inspired by seeing Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast in the early 1980s. He commented, "I'm more comfortable when I don't have to be held down by authenticity. In this film, which is set in the '30s, I feel that I'm presenting authenticity of the heart. I'm not interested in everyday reality, but in the reality of the heart. I like fantasy, like a fairy tale. I'm interested in shadows and contrasts." Wilder said his aim was to "make a 1930s movie for 1986."

Shooting

The film was shot in London at Elstree Studios in 1985 over 11 weeks. Radner commented, "For me, this is a part very similar to my own life. I wear a wedding gown in 95% of the movie. Since I didn't wear a gown when Gene and I got married, I asked the Haunted Honeymoon photographer to make me a wedding album!" Wilder and Radner celebrated their first wedding anniversary during filming in September.

Release

Orion elected not to screen the film to critics before general release. Producer Susan Ruskin said: