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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
CLUE- 1985USA Release: Dec. 13, 1985 Debra Hill Productions, The Guber-Peters Company, Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Paramount Pictures |
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This movie?
Sure, I'll tell you about this movie.
Please have a seat.
I was there, in 1985, in the theater with my friends. Our group had grown together from seeing each other often enough on Fridays and Saturdays at midnight, for THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
One of the main characters in that movie was in this movie so we couldn't wait to see CLUE.
The movie begins with a suitably large and imposing house.
At night...
During a fierce lightning storm...
A man unlocks a security gate and drives his black sedan up a hill to a forbidding Victorian mansion (which will be known as Hill House. Ahem...). The man leaves his car, approaches the house, and grimaces at two barking watchdogs. My friends and I were applauding and whooping like the unabashed fanboy boneheads we were, because the man who we will come to know as Wadsworth the Butler is played by actor Tim Curry (THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, THE SHOUT, LEGEND, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, IT [TV - 1990], THE PIRATES OF DARK WATER [TV], GABRIEL KNIGHT: SINS OF THE FATHERS [VG], THE SHADOW, WING COMMANDER III [VG], CONGO, FRANKENSTEIN: THROOUGH THE EYES OF THE MONSTER [VG], GARGOYLES [TV], THE MASK [TV], AAAHH!!! REAL MONSTERS [TV], ADDAMS FAMILY REUNION, SCARY MOVIE 2, WOLF GIRL, GABRIEL KNIGHT 3, RITUAL [2002], GINGERCLOWN).
We came for Tim and, as always, were not disappointed.
The Butler throws each dog a meaty uncooked bone while looking at them with undisguised contempt. Through acting alone, Wadsworth steps in some unseeming, gives the dogs a scolding glare, and scrapes it off his shoe as best he can before entering the house.
It was meant to be funny but its not.
This is New England, 1954.
Wadsworth prepares himself for the night by first talking to the seonc most memorable character after Wadsworth, the Maid Yvette (Colleen Camp: DEATH GAME, CAT IN THE CAGE, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE SEDUCTION, DEADLY GAMES, TRIAL BY TERROR, D.A.R.Y.L., TRACK 29, THE VAGRANT, SLIVER, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER [2001], DEAD & DEADER, CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT, PSYCHE 9, KNOCK KNOCK, THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS, MONSTROUS, WILD EYED AND WICKED, THE DELIVERANCE, HE'S WATCHING YOU) and the Cook Mrs. Ho (Kellye Nakahara: SHATTERED).
The dog poo shoe goes on for too long and none of the mugging expressions among the charactgers, sniffing the air, rises a smile.
Then one by one Wadsworth welcomes the guests. He doesn't ask their names, he doesn't want their names. Instead, he gives each one a name starting with,
Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), followed by
Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, SIMON),
Mrs. Peacock (MURDER BY DEATH, THE CHEAP DETECTIVE, PANDEMONIUM, JEEPERS CREEPERS, THE HOLLOW),
Mr. Green (Michael McKean:
D.A.R.Y.L., CASPER: A SPIRITED BEGINNING, HIDER IN THE HOUSE, TEACHING MRS. TINGLE, THE X-FILES [TV], BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: Part 1 & 2),
Miss Scarlet (Leslie Ann Warren: WOLF GIRL, DEEPWATER, THE SHORE), and
Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd: SCHIZOID, STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES, QUICKSILVER HIGHWAY, CONVERGENCE,
WHEN GOOD GHOULS GO BAD, TREMORS [TV], Masters of Horror: VALERIE ON THE STAIRS, PIRANHA 3D, DEAD BEFORE DAWN 3D, BLOOD LAKE, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR, InSIGHT, THE SOUND, MUSE, 12 MONKEYS [TV], ONE BY ONE). These are the invited guests.
A Suite of Suspects
They are there to meet a very special man. One who they've never seen but have dealt with for years. A Mysterious blackmailer who is going to confront them tonight.
His name is Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving: NIGHTMARES, STREETS OF FIRE, BLACK MOON RISING, PULSE POUNDERS, GRAVE SECRETS, DEATH RIDER) and suddenly all of the invited guests have a motive for murder.
Of course, this wouldn't be a typical murder mystery in an old dark house unless there were a number of uninvited and unexpected visitors, as well as unexpected deaths.
With all of that going, no wonder it was a theatrical hit!
Like nearly all Hollywood Horror, Thriller, Mystery, and Suspense movies, CLUE gets an
!!!UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHE ALERT!!!
Don't know what that is? Go to the URCA and find out.
The problem with CLUE when it hit theaters is that it was sold as a Comedy. With Writer and Executive Producer John Landis (TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON), behind it, Horror Producer Debra Hill (HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, HALLOWEEN II, HALLOWEEN III, THE DEAD ZONE, THE FISHER KING), and a trove of proven comedy actors in front of the lens, what could go wrong?
Screenwriter and Director Jonathan Lynne, apparently. Jonathan has spent his life writing comedies for television and they're all remarkably short-lived. He wrote a movie starring Monty Python alumni Eric Idle and that one is abysmal. After 17 Director jobs over 30 years he's only had one genuine hit comedy which, by all accounts, was in large part due to his specific way of directing actors and knowing what off-script bloopers to keep in.
Unfortunately Lynne could never repeat it.
So CLUE tanked at the theaters and yet, Cable TV - like streaming - entertains a different audience. An audience who didn't have to set time aside and go somewhere to see it. An audience who don't have to pay per person to watch a movie because they pay for a service instead of every individual movie.
Or an audience who was going to go to the Video rental store anyway, so they didn't have to make a special trip or pay per person when they picked up a copy of CLUE.
And when that happened?
CLUE became a hit!
But why?
Such audiences who are more concerned about Convenience and Price over the theater experience, are more forgiving for one thing, but especially, some comedies that aren't funny (and that's most comedies) can still be fun.
Which in my mind is what CLUE really is: Fun!
When it came to marketing CLUE, Comedy was just a Red Herring.
And well, to make a long story short, that's why I give CLUE...
Three Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2026 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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