Six suspects, one house, three different killers — depending on which theater you walked into. Jonathan Lynn directs a board-game adaptation built on a gimmick so bold it nearly sank the film, only for that same gimmick to become the reason it never really left theaters.
Written and directed by Lynn from a story by John Landis, Clue reimagines the Parker Brothers game as a fast-talking whodunit, trapping six guests, a butler, and a body count inside one stormy mansion. Tim Curry leads an ensemble that includes Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, and Michael McKean, produced by Debra Hill. The film's signature stunt — three different endings, randomly assigned by theater — split audiences and critics at the time, and Paramount's marketing struggled to explain a joke that wouldn't fully land until home video let viewers see all three. What played in 1985 as a box-office disappointment has spent the decades since becoming exactly the cult object its ending-swap always seemed designed for.
Find transcripts, screenshots, and source links at videocassettedays.com.
More episodes from "Video Days"
Don't miss an episode of “Video Days” and subscribe to it in the GetPodcast app.
