The Dunwich Horror

Someday, H.P. Lovecraft might get a big-budget adaptation, but until then, it's B-movies all the way and this is as "B" as you can get, and I actually admire it for not trying to be more than that. Unfortunately, except for some good effects late in the film, there's not much here worth recommending. The 1970 film of the same title was mostly just inspired by the Lovecraft story; this version sticks a bit more closely to the original tale about the awful Whateley family and their blasphemous breeding of human woman and the demonic monster Yog-Sothoth in an attempt at opening up a portal for the horrific Old Ones to return to Earth. Wilbur Whateley (Re-Animator's Jeffrey Combs) is a drooling backwoods idiot (supposedly a 10-year-old who has aged 40 years physically) looking for a missing page in the evil book The Necronomicon which will allow him to finish the rite of re-entry.

What's been added to this version is a romantic lead couple, played by Griff Furst and Sarah Lieving, who are helping a Miskatonic University professor (Dean Stockwell) find the missing page before Combs does. There's lots of Lovecraft name-dropping; in addition to Miskatonic University and the Necronomicon, we meet Alhazred the Mad Arab, the author of that evil book, and Olaus Wormius, a decadent Necronomicon scholar. The decent opening sequence is right out of The Exorcist, there are nice effects in the climactic scene involving Yog-Sothoth's appearance, and an effective brief shot of an ancient Lovecraftian landscape. Furst, who sometimes looks like Peter Sarsgaard or the early Mickey Rourke, is good, but the rest of the cast is mediocre, including Stockwell (who played Wilbur in the 1970 film) who practically sleepwalks through his part. Very bad dialogue doesn't help anyone, and why they felt the need to transport Lovecraft's New England towns to the Bayou is beyond me--the change adds nothing interesting.

Considering IMDb rating (3/10) and terrible reviews, I expected to withdraw from the film after about ten minutes, but the film really is not so bad. The story is more faithful to the source material than most adaptations of Lovecraft and pretty well captures the atmosphere for which this horror giant is recognizable. The acting certainly isn't an Oscar material, but it's quite decent, and for a low-budget B movie, technical aspects are not that bad either. The only serious flaw of the film are the effects, because of which I had the impression of watching a movie from the '80s, or maybe the early '90s. If the film was not from 2009, even the effects would be ok, but for 2009 they are absolutely unacceptable. This disadvantage has affected my rating, which would have been a bit higher with the contemporary effects, but it does not necessarily have to affect your film experience. Simply imagine you're watching a movie from the eighties and the effects will not bother you anymore. They did not bother me too much when I was watching, but I have to take them into account when evaluating because they are really extremely outdated, while not being necessary at all. If the budget did not allow for the effects to be in accordance with current technology, they could simply completely avoid them with simple directorial tricks. If you are expecting a horror that will scare you and hold you on the edge of the seat, this definitely isn't a film for you, but if you're a fan of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, and if you're not overly demanding and meticulous, you will enjoy the good atmosphere of this adaptation.

5/10

This is a below average Lovecraft movie, so all bar HP Lovecraft lovers should avoid like the plague. In all honesty this TV movie is worth no more than 3 stars, but being Cthulhian and starring Jeffrey Combs it gets another.

The film is as cheap and mediocre (leaning towards bad) as you can guess. Bad directing, bad effects (that's the least), a rather sloppy plot that doesn't really do any justice to the original material. The acting is better than I expected, but doesn't deserve praise either. The only real reason to watch the film is that there is such a shortage of Cthulhu Mythos based movies (and how few of them are actually good!) that a true fan will try anything.

The house-searching scene was the only one that showed a little bit of inspiration, albeit poorly executed. Other than that you get a pointless background (really far in the background) romance, a rather silly version of Olaus Vormius and a momentary presence of Abdul Alhazred who kind of steals the show.

This movie reminds me of something you would see at a local film festival (and I am not talking about Sundance or Canne).

It is one of the worst Lovecraft attempts to date. Dean Stockwell is wasted. Combs is passable... but also wasted (not that Combs ever really raises the bar of what he is a part of). The acting is all bottom of the barrel. The editing, direction and effects are horrible.

If I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for something positive to mention, it would have to be the sets and locations. Those were well chosen.

I rarely say that a film is so devoid of merit as to deem it a complete waste of time and money, but this is one of those rare films. Save your time and money. You will just be sad you squandered them watching this trash.

However, if you like B-level schlock for the sake of a good laugh... you might be able to suspend disbelief long enough to laugh at this. But... even that would be a stretch. It is as unwatchable as movies come.