Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-20 04:13:19

Opening credits were the best part, unfortunately

Creepy, moody thriller is not bad, but loses points due to a closing sequence wildly open to various interpretations. Just who lived, died, or was shunted off to another dimension, anyway? As with all MGM's "Midnite Movies" entries, it was fun checking out this lesser-known genre flick from years past, but I'm afraid that "Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" remain the lone undisputed greats that the label has thus far put forth for our enjoyment. Okay, "Theatre of Blood" wasn't that bad, either.

2012-05-19 14:59:50

DEAN STOCKWELL AND SANDRA DEE STAR IN THIS

increadibly amazing and mesmerizing film. I could not imagine a better actor, Stockwell is beyond my expectations, his eyes and mustache make you believe he is an alien. This kind of movie does not exist anymore, and will probobly never again, because nobody can make them like this anymore. If you are tired of the creepy little kid horror movies of today and tired of that con artist M Night Shalomanon (or whatever) and want something fresh and quite entertaining, buy or rent this, plus its a double feature. Wow and the Les Baxter sountrack is even better that the film!

frellingdren 2012-05-09 23:25:17

As bad as they come...

This movie reminds me of something you would see at a local filmfestival (and I am not talking about Sundance or Canne).It is one of the worst Lovecraft attempts to date. Dean Stockwell iswasted. Combs is passable... but also wasted (not that Combs everreally raises the bar of what he is a part of). The acting is allbottom of the barrel. The editing, direction and effects are horrible.If I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for something positive tomention, it would have to be the sets and locations. Those were wellchosen.I rarely say that a film is so devoid of merit as to deem it a completewaste of time and money, but this is one of those rare films. Save yourtime and money. You will just be sad you squandered them watching thistrash.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 moviescome.

2012-05-09 21:05:33

Loved "The Dunwich Horror"

This review is from: The Dunwich Horror (DVD) I highly recommend this movie, Sandra Dee was fantastic and the storyline about the occult is fascinating. It really captures the essence of the late 1960s/early 1970s psychedelic new age movement. Dean Stockwell was described as being a warlock in the summary on the DVD, but that is not accurate. There was nothing about witchcraft in this movie, it was more along the lines of the Theosophy Society ideology in concept. Certain aspects of the story are based on real-life legends. The special effects were OK, not great, but for 1970 they were as good as could be. The movie was not a big production, just a low-budget psychedlic horror movie from Roger Corman. The acting in this movie for the most part was very good, especially Sandra Dee. The soundtrack is what I loved the most! It's worth the money just for the 1970 music alone!

Robert J. Maxwell 2012-05-05 15:03:32

For Masochists Only.

It opens with a childbirth at home. The light is eerie. We see a womanin bed screaming horribly while she stares at her swollen belly. Theattendants goggle as parturition proceeds. The camera pans around,never holding still. The cuts are instantaneous. A glistening blacksnake crawls up an attendant's arm.The rest of the movie -- as much of it as I was able to bear before anattack of restless legs syndrome set in -- follows the same template.There is hardly a pause for ordinary conversation. One shocking horrorfollows another, accompanied by loud music and diverse grotesqueries.There's a rural family involved. They all have bizarre appearances. Thefamily head sits there cackling while skinning some kind ofblack-furred animal, maybe a cat or a skunk. A whirligig of a woman isbald except for a long fringe of blond hair.Dean Stockwell looks normal enough as the chief investigator of that"portal" that opened up during the childbirth. Stockwell was the chiefinvestigator of a previous version of "The Dunwich Horror", filmed somethirty or forty years earlier. His assistant, Sarah Lieving, is prettyand thoroughly glamorized. I imagine she'll wind up strapped to a tablein some dank cellar. There is a snooty expert on the mysteriousNecromicon, a book that contains the spell that opens and closes"portals." He's pretty normal too, although he is, as I say, kind ofdisdainful and snooty. I hope he gets sacrificed.I've sometimes puzzled over H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote this tale, alongwith other stories of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Edgar AllanPoe had a theory of literature -- throw everything else out the windowand go for the effect. Logic counts for nothing. Imagine Poe and AlfredHitchcock chatting about this. But H. P. Lovecraft seems to have takenthis theory to its extreme. In one of his stories, nothing happensexcept that a guy wakes up in some underground chamber and finds hisway to the surface. It's spooky but there is no substance to it.This movie stinks, a pointless exercise in ominousness andcomputer-generated effects. Any successful horror story begins in moreor less placid normality and works its way into the abnormal. Look at"The Exorcist" or "Rosemary's Baby" or "The Shining" for good examples.Well, I'll mention Val Lewton's work at RKO in passing. This one beginswith junk and, I expect, ends the same way.Recommended for self-haters, the guilt-ridden, those recently emergedfrom an eremetic existence, the irretrievably mad, and toddlers whohave never seen a movie before.

2012-05-05 03:08:09

Another dissappointing Lovecraft adaptation.

This film is taken from one of HP Lovecrafts better stories, but here its been turned into typical early 70s AIP schlock. The acting is decent, and the film generally looks good considering its low budget. The film is actually more loyal to the original story than most Lovecraft adaptions, though there have been signifigant changes. New characters have been added, others dropped, and the storyline has been altered and simplified. Few of the changes do much good, most are negative.The film moves very slowly towards it's conclusion, as the story is a bit thin for a feature length film. Once Wilbur and Sandra Dee get together in the first twenty minutes, the film plods along until it's time for the climactic ending. Much of the runtime is filled with a lot of 60's psychedelic effects, long dull conversations and occult mumbo jumbo. For diehard Lovecraft or AIP fans only.

Claudio Carvalho 2012-05-03 21:25:49

Cheesy Low-Budget Horror Movie

In Louisianna, the thirty-five year old single mother Lavina (LaurenMichele) delivers a baby boy and a monster in the evil Whateley House.Ten years later, Dr. Henry Armitage (Dean Stockwell) and his assistantProfessor Fay Morgan (Sarah Lieving) discover that the page 751 ofevery copy of the Necronomicon is missing and The Black Brotherhood hassummoned the gate keeper Yog Sothoth to leave the portal opened to thedemons and ancient gods. They invite the arrogant and skepticalProfessor Walter Rice (Griff Furst) that can translate the Necronomiconto help them to seek the book. Meanwhile Lavina's son Wilbur Whateley(Jeffrey Combs) ages very fast and seeks the missing page to open theportal."The Dunwich Horror" is a cheesy low-budget horror movie that has anawful screenplay associated to terrible acting and poor specialeffects. Dean Stockwell and the cult-actor Jeffrey Combs are wasted inthis forgettable flick. The romance of Fay and Rice is quite ridiculousand out of the context of the plot. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Bruxas" ("Witches")

2012-05-03 12:50:47

Truly a HORROR

I originally gave this film a three-star rating based on memories of seeing it thirty or more years ago. I decided to watch it again and realized it is a TERRIBLE movie. Based on the classic story by horror master H. P. Lovecraft, it retains the basic structure of Lovecraft's tale, but tosses in new characters and situations that detract rather than add. Wilbur Whately (Dean Stockwell) is transformed from a misshapen monstrosity to a suave, handsome young man, and a young beautiful college student (Sandra Dee) is added to provide some sex interest. The acting is appalling, especially by actors who usually are quite good, such as Stockwell, Ed Begley and Sam Jaffe. The dialogue is stilted. The special effects are ludicrous, with the hideous monster presented as flashing, multi-colored lights and writhing tentacles. The fertility cult is a mass of naked people cavorting in a meadow.Unless you're interested in seeing a half-naked Sandra Dee writhing on an altar or seeing a very young Talia Shire in one of her earliest roles, avoid this one at all cost, particularly if you are a Lovecraft fan. I truly believe it is almost impossible to capture on film the essence of Lovecraftian horror, filled as his stories are with adjectives such as "indescribable" and "unnamable" and references to "colors that lie outside the known spectrum". For an exceptional adaptation of Lovecraft (not one of his tales of cosmic horror) check out the Night Gallery episode "Cool Air", which makes changes to the original story that actually improve it.

2012-05-02 09:20:47

NOT SCAREY

This review is from: The Dunwich Horror (DVD) THIS IS A MOVIE TRYING TO BE SCAREY AND IT JUST QUITE DOESN'T MAKE IT, BUT WATCHABLE FOR AN OLD MOVIE.

2012-05-02 03:46:52

Not a great horror flick

I am a big fan of HP Lovecraft and classic horror movies. I thought this movie was stupid even as a kid and hasn't gotten any better with age. None of the HP Lovecraft movies have really been accurate or even any good and this one is one of the worst. Stupid plot, bad acting, I don't know why they even bothered to call it The Dunwich Horror. That being said, this would be actually a good candidate for a modern remake. I usually hate remakes but there ought to be a decent attempt to make this story into a movie since the first attempt was so botched.

2012-05-01 05:01:06

The Whateleys and Their Friends.

The stories of H. P. Lovecraft are difficult to adapt to film. Nevertheless, this Grade B movie is better than one might expect. Inevitably, there are some differences, but the tale of HPL's famous Cthulu Mythos cycle remains surprisingly intact. New characters appear that are not authentic Lovecraft. Sandra Dee's character introduces a sexual element that is anathema to Lovecraft's rather prissy sexual attitude. A side-view of Dee's bare left thigh and buttock is about it for the proclaimed nude scene. Dean Stockwell is not as monstrously horrific (in spite of his goofy hairstyle) as the Wilbur Whateley of HPL's story. Wilbur displays an obsessive interest in the dread book of evil, "Necronomicon," encased in glass at Miskatonic University. He speaks the incantations in a forgotten language that summon Yog Sothoth and the elder race of ancient beings from beyond time and space. Professor Armitage (Ed Begley) speaks the counter spell and tries to keep Wilbur from the book. Bearded Sam Jaffe is effective in a small role as old Wizard Whateley. In a flashback segment, draped in his dark cloak and carrying the rune staff of unholy sympbols, he summons the "Old One" who mates with his feeble-minded daughter, Lavinia, and spawns Wilbur and one other. In an eerie scene, the whippoorwills' wailing cry seek to capture the expiring Whateley's soul as it leaves the body, another authentic Lovecraft element. The dread Devil's Hop Yard atop Sentinel Hill is a grim setting of terror and sacrifice. When Wilbur's otherworldy brother escapes from his lair, initially invisible, he wreaks havoc on the remote farms in fine monster-on-the-loose fashion. The climax of the film, however, amidst the stone figures and high places lacks the powerful punch needed. Regardless, this is a good attempt to translate Lovecraft on film. Weird as it is, enjoy it. ;-)

2012-04-30 09:36:13

Dean Stockwell... son of Yog-Sothoth?

This review is from: The Dunwich Horror (DVD) Given the time that this was made, it isn't bad.. shame they didn't touch more on the mythos in it, but I think that is because HPL wasn't something that sold easily in the 70's, so they made it more of a "devil cult" film in the hope of cashing in on that craze.For fans of HPL, it is ok. I think Dean Stockwell did what he could with the role, and Sandra Dee was obviously brought in for sex appeal.I bought this movie more out of nostalgia than anything else, having viewed it at midnight showings over the years, and I wanted it for my home theater collection. The reseller I purchased it from was the fastest response from a reseller I have ever gotten from Amazon.

2012-04-26 11:16:09

Defending a true masterpiece of Gothic Horror!

This film has received more bad reviews than any other horror movie I have ever read about, and after seeing it I can't even begin to understand why! Based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same title, THE DUNWICH HORROR follows warlock Wilbur Whatley's desperate quest to restore his fiendish family to their rightful position as rulers of the universe. However, there are two crucial factors needed in carrying out this mad plan. Firstly and foremost, Whatley must locate a copy of the Necronomicon, an ancient book of evil spells, and the sacrifice of a pure, but still sexually attractive female(that's where beautiful college co-ed Sandra Dee figures into the story). As the wild-eyed Whatley, Dean Stockwell is clearly having a ball, and was obviously warming up for his hammy role in David Lynch's sci-fi opus DUNE. Ed Begley, in his final film role, also seems to be enjoying himself as Stockwell's chief Nemesis, Dr. Armitadge. However, the best and most convincing performance by far is given by lovely young Sandra Dee(of GIDGET fame) who makes an effective SCREAM QUEEN debut. This film has received many negative notices, but it's not bad at all, even by today's standards. The film was made on a noticeably low-budget, but manages to produce some genuine scares and has a menacing air of creepy, Gothic atmosphere throughout. Furthermore, this movie is one of the better attempts to capture literary mastermind H.P. Lovecraft on celluloid. If the film seems rather long(it's 90 minutes), remember that Lovecraft's original story was only about 35-40 pages long. For the most part, the screenwriters have added some genuinely effective touches to flesh out the story. In my opinion, the film is fairly successful at sustaining the viewer's interest for most of its 90 minutes, and most importantly, director Daniel Haller has successfully captured the mood and flavor of Lovecraft's original story. Also, fans of the old DARK SHADOWS/NIGHT GALLERY series will be delighted by this little flick which is similar in tone and style to those early '70's TV horror classics.

mritchie 2012-04-26 02:42:00

More mediocre Lovecraft

Someday, H.P. Lovecraft might get a big-budget adaptation, but untilthen, it's B-movies all the way and this is as "B" as you can get, andI actually admire it for not trying to be more than that.Unfortunately, except for some good effects late in the film, there'snot much here worth recommending. The 1970 film of the same title wasmostly just inspired by the Lovecraft story; this version sticks a bitmore closely to the original tale about the awful Whateley family andtheir blasphemous breeding of human woman and the demonic monsterYog-Sothoth in an attempt at opening up a portal for the horrific OldOnes to return to Earth. Wilbur Whateley (Re-Animator's Jeffrey Combs)is a drooling backwoods idiot (supposedly a 10-year-old who has aged 40years physically) looking for a missing page in the evil book TheNecronomicon which will allow him to finish the rite of re-entry.What's been added to this version is a romantic lead couple, played byGriff Furst and Sarah Lieving, who are helping a Miskatonic Universityprofessor (Dean Stockwell) find the missing page before Combs does.There's lots of Lovecraft name-dropping; in addition to MiskatonicUniversity and the Necronomicon, we meet Alhazred the Mad Arab, theauthor of that evil book, and Olaus Wormius, a decadent Necronomiconscholar. The decent opening sequence is right out of The Exorcist,there are nice effects in the climactic scene involving Yog-Sothoth'sappearance, and an effective brief shot of an ancient Lovecraftianlandscape. Furst, who sometimes looks like Peter Sarsgaard or the earlyMickey Rourke, is good, but the rest of the cast is mediocre, includingStockwell (who played Wilbur in the 1970 film) who practicallysleepwalks through his part. Very bad dialogue doesn't help anyone, andwhy they felt the need to transport Lovecraft's New England towns tothe Bayou is beyond me--the change adds nothing interesting.

2012-04-23 18:56:05

A Superb "Lovecraftian" screen adaptation

This ranks with "The Resurrected" as one of the most excellent and lovingly produced Lovecraftian movie treatments I have come across. There is peerless handling of dramatic tension, with that artful, classically Lovecraftian juxtaposition of "normalcy" and the trans-physical (I would not use supernatural in the context of Lovecraft works) which goes to show that the director has a sincere and heartfelt appreciation of the genre known as Cthlhu Mythos. A product of love by a director who knows his stuff. Everything a Lovecraft fan expects is here:- the innocent visitor (Sandra Dee), the creepy but apparently normal village weirdo (played with great restraint and deadly effectiveness by Dean Stockwell), your well-meaning smalltown doctor, overtones of in-breeding, incest, horrific genetic mixture with outer-dimensional monsters, ancient books of unspeakable mysteries (I would not use the word 'evils' in a Lovecraftian context) written by long-lost wizards, the secret library, the mysterious big mansion, strange stone menhirs and open-air sacrificial temples from aeons-past. Its ALL here!! Even if you are not a Lovecraftian fan you would enjoy this. Well worth it, go for it!!

2012-04-23 02:03:40

Look At Me! I'm Sandra DeeeeEEEAAGH!!!!

Long ago, on a dark and stormy night, two brothers were born. One was a normal, multi-tentacled, half human offspring of Yog-Sothoth. The other grew up to become the hideous, poodle-haired creature with titanic sideburns known as Wilbur Whately (Dean Stockwell)! Wilbur sets out to unleash the dreaded "Old Ones" from their millenia of slumber. He needs two things to get started, #1- The Necronomicon (book of the dead). And #2- A female virgin. Wilbur steals the necronomicon from the local college, and snags a young coed (Sandra Dee), by drugging her. He introduces the girl to a group of demoniacs who look more like the cast of HAIR. Psychedelia ensues, and the movie drags on toward it's inevitible climax. What saves the film for me is the escape of Wilbur's brother from his / it's attic room. Many innocent villagers perish as the beast oozes through the countryside! Of course, we don't actually see much of it, but the rampage is still pretty cool. Worth a peek...

2012-04-21 00:30:44

The Dunwich Horror

This review is from: The Dunwich Horror (DVD) Whooeee! I had no idea that this movie is considered to be such a bomb. Biggest complaints seem to be that Stockwell should have had his hair straightened (so 90s & millenial, in the 60s folks weren't so hung up about the Uniform Hair look), the flick was low budget (duh!), not enough special effects for the monster (yeah, it would have been SO great if they'da had COMPUTER GRAPHICS, you know, like in Aliens 'n' The Thing, complete with lingering scenes of slimy tentacles & dripping puss---for all you jaded unimaginative types out there), clips of painted dated hippie types (anyone ever hear of pagans, Druids, Picts, etc.---they probably didn't have executive hairdos or baseball caps), the ending was anticlimactic (?) (Yeah, it COULD have been more like a Schwarzennegar or Bruce Willis flick with lotsa EXPLOSIONS and stuff, and plenty of sweat and dirt, straining jaw and neck muscles, gritting teeth), wasn't EXACTLY like the original story (and what movie IS? After all, big movie executives feel compelled to dumb down their products for the vast movie going public---that goes for ALL movies, so why pick on this one), the acting was "flat" (yeah, there should have been more EMOTIONS displayed, you know like was done with The Lord Of The Rings or a Springer show---EMOTE for the audience is on a base level and might not "get it" otherwise), screenplay was lacking (yeah, we could have gotten more into Sandra Dee's character background, and so forth), the movie has a "dated", "campy" feel (how dated and campy do you think the overwhelming majority of movies churned out of Hollywood and by the "Indies" nowadays are going to appear 30+ years from now?), etc.I agree that the movie is a bit campy, but I love it. Yes, the movie is a departure from HP's original tale, but it stands on its own, and does respectfully adhere, in its own way, to the Arkham mythos. I LIKED the special effects, the tastefully short clips don't interfere with the imagination. I loved the soundtrack, it is quite memorable (if you have an attention span past, say, that of a puppy). Graphics, photography, sets, acting, casting, direction---in fact, I find very little wrong with this movie. It is a WORK OF ART! If you don't agree, go pop in your copy of Total Recall (hey man, check out the guy with the talking head growin outta his belly or wherever) or something. BLAMMO! Subtlety is truly a dying art.I'm giving this movie 5 well-deserved stars. AND I'm going to order the DVD widescreen version---should be a real treat. So there! Troglodytes...© 2003 RAPWreckerds

Paul Haakonsen 2012-04-20 19:34:30

Didn't quite deliver

Initially I was kind of excited to see that Jeffrey Combs was in themovie, 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 Lovecraftianwork that followed in his wake. This movie, however, was somewhat of alukewarm attempt, to be bluntly honest.The story does stay fairly close to the story of the Whateley's asLovecraft initially built it up, but at the same time there is a bittoo much other loose ends thrown into the frame. Ends that are neverreally seen through and come full circle. In that way, there is a lotof things going on in the movie, too many things in my opinion, andmost of these things doesn't really get to be concluded."The Dunwich Horror" suffered from a fairly weak acting crew, with mostperformances being mediocre to look at. Had they managed to put moreenthusiastic people into the movie, it would have come out with a morevibrant and appealing result. And the dialogue didn't really help liftup the movie, because it was halting and at times embarrassing towitness.What did work for the movie was Jeffrey Combs, of course. As always itis nice to see him in a Lovecraft-inspired movie. And his name isusually associated with such. Unfortunately, his character wasn't givenenough on-screen time. "The Dunwich Horror" is not one of Comb's moreimpressive performances, but being a fan of his, I just had to sitthrough this movie. And aside from Combs, then the core essence of theWhateley's was also pretty nicely interpreted.There was a bit too much name-dropping in the movie, with lots ofreferences to places, people and such in the Lovecraft-created Cthulhumythos. But most of this was irrelevant, and seemed to be put in thereonly to impress the really hardcore Lovecraft fans, people who arefamiliar with these names. To other people, it is just a bunch ofrandom 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 werelow-budget, and it was showing clearly. Hats off to them for theireffort, just a shame that they didn't have a bigger budget for theseeffects. There were some shots where Yog Sothoth actually looked rathernice. So the effects weren't all bad. The storms that ravaged thebuildings, well that is a whole other story. You have to see that tobelieve it!In my honest opinion, then this adaption (or interpretation) of "TheDunwich Horror" is not really one of the better Lovecraft-based piecesof work around. Sadly, most of these movies are B-movies and often failto leave impressions in the viewers. This is one such movie, which is ashame, because it had potential. Had they trimmed down the plot-linesand put in some more whole-hearted actors, the outcome would have beenmuch better and would have had a chance to actually become noteworthy.

2012-04-16 13:10:28

Run For Your Live, The Dunwich Horror Has Arrived On DVD

This is a very frightening and creepy, 70's teen horror classic. Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee shine in this cult classic.The Devil's Spawn Is About To Open The Gates Of Hell!Single white warlock seeks beautiful blond babe to join him at the altar... the sacrificial altar! When the son of Satan (Dean Stockwell) seduces a wide-eyed college student (Sandra Dee), it's a match made in hell in this "exceptional, truly engrossing film of the supernatural" (Los Angeles Times) where the romance is hot... and the terror is bone-chilling!Young Wilbur Whateley (Stockwell) has haunting eyes and an impish grin. No wonder, since his father was the devil and his mother was insane! So when Wilbur decides to start a family, he lures a cute coed (Dee) to the mountains for a weekend of demonic rites and wrongs! Now all hell is about to break loose, as their passion awakes an ancient evil determined to destroy all humanity in this sinister scare-fest of satanic seduction!

2012-04-16 10:33:42

Loosely Based on Lovecraft's Work!

I think before seeing this film I recommend that you read H.P Lovecraft's the Dunwich Horror first just to see all the inconsistencies of the film. This film had a few style points except the psychodelic vision prospectives. Definitely a sixties film. The acting was terrible and unintentionally funny. It's a wonder why MST3K missed this film. There are some obvious points where you can royally rip this film a new one. As it stands it's okay. But there are instances where this film could've been geniunely creepy, yeah perhaps if Lynch directed it. Rent and for goodness sakes read the actual story.