Movie Review (Old School): The Dunwich Horror
In the whole range of fantastic literature, H.P. Lovecraft created a new form that is neither pure fantasy nor pure science fiction. He combined a factual and accurate scientific knowledge with its extension to the absolute limit in supernatural bizarrerie. His work defies classification, for it is as much myth as reality -- both lore and legend at their haunting, haunted best, and at the same time science at its most provocative. His tales have been termed the finest weird fantasy ever written, and yet also the most superbly literate science fiction. Lovecraft's work has achieved an honored eminence among the great visionary fiction of the ages precisely because while betraying no trace of the commonplace, his stories are based convincingly in the world of everyday reality, yet lure the mind into the farthest reaches of the imagination, the star-flung spaces of the universe, the cosmic realm of a master mythmaker.
THE DUNWICH HORROR, one of his finest short stories, is done justice here. Lovecraft was a real piece of work and crafted stories that, as a junior high student, required me to sift through with a dictionary readily on hand. He was a master of the English language and had a way of making his very words characters in and of themselves. None of that appears on screen, however, and while the film is dated and suffers from a low budget, the sense of Lovercraftian dread is omnipresent. This is a film that begs to be remade with modern special effects. But that 70's soundtrack is to die for.
The Plot is this:
Two ancient albino women and a fierce-looking bearded man attend at the beside of a young pregnant woman who is in the throes of labor. Her forehead is marked with a cabalistic sign. She is clearly in terrible pain—the labor is not progressing well. However, instead of calling for a doctor, they coax the woman to her feet and walk her out into the night.
Years later, at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, Professor Henry Armitage (Ed Bagley Sr in his final role) has just concluded a lecture on ancient rites and rituals. He hands a book to two young women, Nancy (the delicious and virginal Sandra Dee) and Elizabeth (Donna Baccala), and asks them to return it to the library for him. It is the Necronomicon, an ancient book filled with arcane secrets. As they are returning the book to its locked case in the library, they are approached by a strangely intense young man who introduces himself as Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell). He asks to see the book for just a few moments, and against the protests of Elizabeth, Nancy agrees to let him take it to the reading room—something about his eyes has convinced her.
Dr. Armitage appears minutes later and is angry at both Wilbur and the girls, declaring the book to be priceless and one of a kind. Wilbur defends himself quietly, stating that there had once been another copy of the book in the country just a few miles away in Dunwich, and that the owner had been none other than his great-grandfather Oliver Whately, who had been hung and burned a century before for the crime of witchcraft. Dr. Armitage is familiar with the name and takes a sudden interest in the young man. The four of them go out for dinner and in the course of the conversation, Wilbur repeatedly asks Dr. Armitage if he can borrow the Necronomicon to study it, a request that Dr. Armitage vehemently denies. The book is too dangerous, he says, and while he does not believe in its purported powers, he does respect it as something not to be handled lightly.
Unfortunately, the evening's conversation has drawn on too long, causing Wilbur to miss the last bus back to Dunwich. Oblivious to what she might be getting herself into, Nancy offers to drive him home. When they arrive at the Whately house, Wilbur invites her in for tea, and too kind to refuse, she takes him up on the offer. What she doesn't know is that while the water for the tea is coming to a boil, Wilbur is busy elsewhere, first disconnecting the distributor to her car and then mixing a powder into her cup. Nancy is fascinated by the bizarre old house she finds herself in, but there is something even stranger here: a gurgling, rushing sound that seems to be coming from behind a locked door—a sound like the wind and the sea...
It's not the best movie ever made and the pacing is odd throughout (not to mention some cheesy special effects), but none the less, this is a popcorn movie and a guilty pleasure that is well worth the hour and a half of time it consumes.
On the bob-o-meter, Dunwich Horror scores a 6.
THE DUNWICH HORROR, one of his finest short stories, is done justice here. Lovecraft was a real piece of work and crafted stories that, as a junior high student, required me to sift through with a dictionary readily on hand. He was a master of the English language and had a way of making his very words characters in and of themselves. None of that appears on screen, however, and while the film is dated and suffers from a low budget, the sense of Lovercraftian dread is omnipresent. This is a film that begs to be remade with modern special effects. But that 70's soundtrack is to die for.
The Plot is this:
Two ancient albino women and a fierce-looking bearded man attend at the beside of a young pregnant woman who is in the throes of labor. Her forehead is marked with a cabalistic sign. She is clearly in terrible pain—the labor is not progressing well. However, instead of calling for a doctor, they coax the woman to her feet and walk her out into the night.
Years later, at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, Professor Henry Armitage (Ed Bagley Sr in his final role) has just concluded a lecture on ancient rites and rituals. He hands a book to two young women, Nancy (the delicious and virginal Sandra Dee) and Elizabeth (Donna Baccala), and asks them to return it to the library for him. It is the Necronomicon, an ancient book filled with arcane secrets. As they are returning the book to its locked case in the library, they are approached by a strangely intense young man who introduces himself as Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell). He asks to see the book for just a few moments, and against the protests of Elizabeth, Nancy agrees to let him take it to the reading room—something about his eyes has convinced her.
Dr. Armitage appears minutes later and is angry at both Wilbur and the girls, declaring the book to be priceless and one of a kind. Wilbur defends himself quietly, stating that there had once been another copy of the book in the country just a few miles away in Dunwich, and that the owner had been none other than his great-grandfather Oliver Whately, who had been hung and burned a century before for the crime of witchcraft. Dr. Armitage is familiar with the name and takes a sudden interest in the young man. The four of them go out for dinner and in the course of the conversation, Wilbur repeatedly asks Dr. Armitage if he can borrow the Necronomicon to study it, a request that Dr. Armitage vehemently denies. The book is too dangerous, he says, and while he does not believe in its purported powers, he does respect it as something not to be handled lightly.
Unfortunately, the evening's conversation has drawn on too long, causing Wilbur to miss the last bus back to Dunwich. Oblivious to what she might be getting herself into, Nancy offers to drive him home. When they arrive at the Whately house, Wilbur invites her in for tea, and too kind to refuse, she takes him up on the offer. What she doesn't know is that while the water for the tea is coming to a boil, Wilbur is busy elsewhere, first disconnecting the distributor to her car and then mixing a powder into her cup. Nancy is fascinated by the bizarre old house she finds herself in, but there is something even stranger here: a gurgling, rushing sound that seems to be coming from behind a locked door—a sound like the wind and the sea...
It's not the best movie ever made and the pacing is odd throughout (not to mention some cheesy special effects), but none the less, this is a popcorn movie and a guilty pleasure that is well worth the hour and a half of time it consumes.
On the bob-o-meter, Dunwich Horror scores a 6.
posted by Bob Freeman at 7:46 AM
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