The Dunwich Horror (2009)

In Louisiana, the thirty-five year old single mother Lavina delivers a baby boy and a monster in the evil Whateley House. Ten years later, Dr. Henry Armitage and his assistant Professor Fay... See full summary »

Director:

Leigh Scott

Writers:

H.P. Lovecraft (story), Leigh Scott (screenplay)

Stars:

Griff Furst, Sarah Lieving, Dean Stockwell

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Griff Furst	...	Walter Rice
Sarah Lieving	...	Professor Fay Morgan
Dean Stockwell	...	Dr. Henry Armitage
Jeffrey Combs	...	Wilbur
Natacha Itzel	...	Caitlin
Lauren Michele	...	Lavina
Shirly Brener	...	Mrs. Bowers
M. Steven Felty	...	Zecheria
Collin Galyean	...	Tom
Jeffrey Alan Pilars	...	Olas Wormius aka Doran Lao
Richard Zeringue	...	Father Hoadley
Lacey Minchew	...	Amanda
Britney M. Hurst	...	Zumi
Victoria Patenaude	...	Midwife
Jesse Barksdale	...	Pap

Storyline

In Louisiana, the thirty-five year old single mother Lavina delivers a baby boy and a monster in the evil Whateley House. Ten years later, Dr. Henry Armitage and his assistant Professor Fay Morgan discover that the page 751 of every copy of the Necronomicon is missing and The Black Brotherhood has summoned the gate keeper Yog Sothoth to leave the portal opened to the demons and ancient gods. They invite the arrogant and skeptical Professor Walter Rice that can translate the Necronomicon to help them to seek the book. Meanwhile Lavina's son Wilbur Whateley ages very fast and seeks the missing page to open the portal.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brief nudity and a violent image

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 December 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

H.P. Lovecraft's The Darkest Evil

Filming Locations:

Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Active Entertainment Finance, Bullet Films, FIWI Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dean Stockwell, who plays Dr. Armitage in this film, played the role of Wilbur Whateley in the 1970 version.

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Connections

Version of Dunwich (2006)

User Reviews

Didn't quite deliver

Initially I was kind of excited to see that Jeffrey Combs was in the movie, so it was with some anticipation that I sat down to watch it. And I am a huge fan of H. P. Lovecraft's work and all the Lovecraftian work that followed in his wake. This movie, however, was somewhat of a lukewarm attempt, to be bluntly honest.

The story does stay fairly close to the story of the Whateley's as Lovecraft initially built it up, but at the same time there is a bit too much other loose ends thrown into the frame. Ends that are never really seen through and come full circle. In that way, there is a lot of things going on in the movie, too many things in my opinion, and most of these things doesn't really get to be concluded.

"The Dunwich Horror" suffered from a fairly weak acting crew, with most performances being mediocre to look at. Had they managed to put more enthusiastic people into the movie, it would have come out with a more vibrant and appealing result. And the dialogue didn't really help lift up the movie, because it was halting and at times embarrassing to witness.

What did work for the movie was Jeffrey Combs, of course. As always it is nice to see him in a Lovecraft-inspired movie. And his name is usually associated with such. Unfortunately, his character wasn't given enough on-screen time. "The Dunwich Horror" is not one of Comb's more impressive performances, but being a fan of his, I just had to sit through this movie. And aside from Combs, then the core essence of the Whateley's was also pretty nicely interpreted.

There was a bit too much name-dropping in the movie, with lots of references to places, people and such in the Lovecraft-created Cthulhu mythos. But most of this was irrelevant, and seemed to be put in there only to impress the really hardcore Lovecraft fans, people who are familiar with these names. To other people, it is just a bunch of random and pointless facts. The reference to (August) Derleth was, however, a bit surprising.

As for the effects and CGIs in "The Dunwich Horror", well, they were low-budget, and it was showing clearly. Hats off to them for their effort, just a shame that they didn't have a bigger budget for these effects. There were some shots where Yog Sothoth actually looked rather nice. So the effects weren't all bad. The storms that ravaged the buildings, well that is a whole other story. You have to see that to believe it!

In my honest opinion, then this adaption (or interpretation) of "The Dunwich Horror" is not really one of the better Lovecraft-based pieces of work around. Sadly, most of these movies are B-movies and often fail to leave impressions in the viewers. This is one such movie, which is a shame, because it had potential. Had they trimmed down the plot-lines and put in some more whole-hearted actors, the outcome would have been much better and would have had a chance to actually become noteworthy.