As Seen on TV: The Addams Family (Dir Barry Sonnenfeld, 1h39m, 1991)

You can blame The Addams Family for starting the whole 1990s-resurrecting-the-1960s trend that would run across the decade, until Barry Sonnenfeld, the man who kickstarted it, brought it crashing to a standstill with Wild Wild West in 1999. I'm not one to simply jab a finger at the successes of the rude mechanics of how much a movie makes, but when Paramount picked up the thirty million dollar tab from a panicking Orion Films, and made back nearly seven times its budget, the rest of Hollywood had to sit up and take notice. Though Tim Burton-who turned down the chance to remake the 1960s TV series in the late 1980s-launches yet another thirty-year cycle of nostalgia for Charles Addams' cast of ghouls and oddballs, in the form of the Netflix series, Wednesday, it's the original film that we consider today.

It's 1990. Charles Addams, America's master of the macabre cartoon, has been dead for two years, and the characters he created have not graced screens since 1977; even the original show has largely been eclipsed by the more popular, and similarly Gothic The Munsters. Aside from a sudden burst in popularity from re-runs in, of all places, Australia, the series seemed largely forgotten outside of cult fandom circles, whilst the rights to further films and series were split between Orion Films and Addams' widow, the latter selling up shortly before the film entered production. 

The film is, understandably, steeped in Gothic sensibilities: from its script, by Larry Wilson (later to write many episodes of 90s American TV series, Tales from the Crypt) and Caroline Thompson (already having penned Edward Scissorhands, and eventually to write both Nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride for Tim Burton), outward. Against this is Barry Sonnenfeld, principally the cinematographer for the Coen brothers' early work (between Blood Simple and Millers Crossing) as well as Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally and Misery, who would have to double as The Addams Family's cinematographer in one of several incidents during the production.

Wilson and Thompson's zippy script wastes no time in getting down to business; the family: Gomez (Raul Julia), Morticia (Anjelica Houston), Wednesday (Christina Ricci), and Pugsly (Jimmy Workman), together with family butler, Lurch (Carel Struycken) are introduced tormenting carol singers and from here, the film nimbly sets up its plot. This is the disappearance of Gomez' brother, Fester (Christopher Lloyd), which weighs heavily upon the Addams' patriarch, and the sudden reappearance of a doppelgänger, thanks to the Addams' crooked lawyer (Dan Hedaya) and the mother of the fake Fester, conwoman Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson); their scheme is to steal the Addams' fortune, using the fake Fester to lower the family's guard.

Of course, the Addams Family being unorthodox, despite their initial suspicion, most notably from Gomez, who is torn between welcoming his brother home, and disbelief at his inability to remember anything about their shared childhood-the cover story, concocted by Craven, herself masquerading as a slightly mad doctor is the unfortunate Fester washed up in the Bermuda Triangle-leaving Gomez concerned and split between his brother, and his family. At the same time, largely due to his brother's efforts, is the genuinely charming bond between this fake Fester and his would-be nephew and niece. If the sequel, Addams Family Values, has anything on the first film, it's that Wednesday and Pugsly get more of the film's focus, to the better. What we get is charming enough, especially once the film has the trio working together on a Shakespeare play for the school pagent-leading to Grand Guignol-esque scenes of bloodletting.

It is the bond between the brothers, and, most iconic of all, the marriage between Morticia and Gomez, that ultimately drive this film; there's a great rapport between Julia and Lloyd, such that the inevitable moment where the Addams find themselves on the back foot is genuinely affectingp but this is nothing compared to Houston and Julia, who practically make this film. Every moment they are on screen, they absolutely steal the show, their back and forth rapport, their clear chemistry, and charm, even in their most eccentric of moments, giving the film much of its drive. It's, frankly, a delight to see these two characters play off against each other, through both familial scenes and when facing threats that put their very way of life (or death) in jeopardy, and at many points they cannot help but come close to, if not become, the definitive versions of these characters.

The success of The Addams Family is, undeniably, cinematically important It would, after all, launch a trend in cinema that would last for nearly a decade, and lead to a resurgence in the popularity of the series that continues to this day via the 2019-2021 animated films, the 90s TV revival, and Tim Burton's ongoing series. It's arguably the point at which our nostalgia catches up with us and has never really left since, leading not only to cinematic and indeed television remakes of the series of past decades, but remakes and reimaginings of these remakes. Nevertheless, even without its curious legacy, The Addams Family remains good spooky fun, largely driven by its central duo's chemistry and charm, and its central mystery. 

Rating: Highly Recommended

The Addams Family is available via Netflix and on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment

Next week, to the 2010s as we consider the final TV to Film remake of this season in the form of the satirical In the Loop.