Addams Family Values: A Campy Cult Classic
By: Katie Baranauskas
The Addams family is quite the odd bunch. Created by Charles Addams in a 1938 comic strip, the family has received countless renditions of their misadventures, including the 1993 sequel to The Addams Family: Addams Family Values. This is a rare instance in which the sequel is better than the original. The cast is by far one of the best, including greats like Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Christina Ricci as Wednesday, and Christopher Lloyd as Fester, as well as so many others. Every actor plays to their strengths, as well as their character's strengths, to craft a wonderful mix of comedy and drama. Some characters such as Fester and Gomez Addams have extreme slapstick comedy, whereas other characters such as Wednesday and Morticia Addams have a dry humor that also makes the audience chuckle: no laugh track needed. Along with all these fantastic characters comes an equally fantastic villain in Debbie Jelinsky, played by Joan
Cusack. Debbie is immediately explored as a two-faced black widow, who will do anything to get the wealth and opulence she desires. Joan Cusack did the absolute most in this performance, and she looked fabulous as well. All of this is topped with an amazing script, which produced hundreds of lines I use to this day. A whole other article could be written on the iconic quotes from this movie, but my all-time favorite has to be when Morticia tells Debbie in the most monotone voice, "All that I could forgive, but Debbie… pastels?" This movie has just the right balance of creepiness and camp, reminding me of a Disney story set in a Tim Burton-esque world, where being "weird" is the new normal and everything is tinged with a gothic filter. From the mustached baby to the late-Victorian swimsuits, everything is just a little ridiculous in the best way. I highly recommend that you watch this movie in your spare time, as it contains some of the best jokes I've ever heard, all while keeping you on your toes. As the camp counselors put it, "...that's what being privileged is all about!" This movie is perfect for a night in with friends, after all, horror doesn't have to just be kept for Halloween.