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The Witching Hour Night 23: Addams Family Values

I really do get a kick out of freaks in movies – especially the ones who revel in their oddball nature without a care as to what other people may think. One of my favorite scenes in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was in the cantina as the camera introduced us to all manner of bizarre aliens. This fascination of mine is probably why I was drawn to reruns of the old The Addams Family television show. A family of oddballs that include characters seemingly inspired by folklore monsters and macabre minds is right up my alley. When the Addams Family movie appeared in the 90s I was delighted but ultimately felt that something was missing. Fortunately, the sequel – Addams Family Values tells a much better story. Considering that the movie came out over 25 years ago I think it is safe to say there are spoilers ahead.

The film immediately begins with Morticia Addams about to give birth to the newest addition to the family – a baby boy they name Pubert.

Interesting note about Pubert – while the character is a boy he was actually played by twin girls. The laws are very strict about how long a baby can be used when shooting movies so studios will often cast twins for a role. This effectively gives them a double shooting day. The girls who played young Pubert here would eventually go on to play Claire & Gracie Taylor on Home Improvement.

The older children, Wednesday and Pugsley, make repeated attempts to kill the new baby which forces parents Gomez (the awesome Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) to hire a nanny. After interviewing a handful of potential nannies a blonde bombshell named Debbie Jellinsky arrives and takes the job.

It doesn’t take long for it to become apparent that Debbie is more interested in the family’s wealth and the very single Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd). Wednesday is very suspicious of the new nanny so Debbie manipulates Gomez and Morticia into sending them to summer camp. Specifically, a place called Camp Chippewa with counselors who smugly boast about how this is a place for wealthy children.

With the children out of the way, Debbie pursues Fester and manages to manipulate him into marrying her. Some of the darkest humor in the film comes into play here. My personal favorite moment is when the family arranges for a dancer to jump out of a cake at Fester’s bachelor party – except that Lurch baked the cake while the girl was in it.

After their honeymoon, the newly married couple move into a grand mansion and Debbie isolates Fester away from the rest of the Addams. With the first phase of her plan complete, Debbie only has to kill Fester and inherit his wealth. You see, Debbie is known as the Black Widow. She marries wealthy men and dispatches them.

Addams Family Values seems to delight in portraying the humans as even more demented than the Addams Family. The counselors at Camp Chippewa are obsessed with putting on a Thanksgiving play in the summertime and kids who do not comply with their annoyingly upbeat expectations are locked into a positive attitude hut and are forced to watch Disney films, Annie and episode of The Brady Bunch. Wednesday and Pugsley are obsessed with escaping the camp and rescuing their uncle from Debbie. When the kids refuse to participate in the Thanksgiving play, they are locked into the positive attitude hut. Wednesday is forced into a more drastic solution – she causes a revolution at the camp.

The kids return to their parents and Uncle Fester survives Debbie’s multiple attempts to kill him. There is a final confrontation between Debbie and the Addams Family at their home and well… I’ll let the ending surprise you.

The humor in Addams Family Values is a bit on the dark side but the film is still a good choice for a family friendly movie night in October.

Jason Mckendricks
Jason Mckendrickshttp://Ticgamesnetwork.com
Writer. Photographer. I leveraged a business degree to play video games. My opinions are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Inner Circle (but they should). DMs on my Twitter are open.

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