Review #485: 'The Dunwich Horror' (1970)

The Necronomican (a mythical book said to be a tool to open a gateway to an alternate universe) becomes the prized exhibit of Dr Armitage (Ed Begley) at the local library, and gets interest from the eccentric, and locally feared Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell), who was born of a deformed mother who is now held in an institution. An encounter at the library leads him to Nancy (Sandra Dee), a pretty young blond girl; he seduces her and takes her back to his mansion - a local 'old dark house' shrouded in local fear and loathing to the population of the fictional town of Dunwich, Massachusetts. Nancy becomes embroiled in a necro-nightmare, where she has visions of strange ritualistic, tribal torture and sacrifice, and Wilbur manipulates her to become a vehicle to open the gateway open to let the "old ones" through to our world.

Based on the short story, published in 1929, by H. P. Lovecraft, the story is grounded in two of his most famous creations. One being the Necronomicon (a creation that has been used several times in popular culture - including Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy (1981 - 1992)), and the tentacled beasts of the other world, epitomised by Cthulhu (yeah, no one knows how exactly it is pronounced). Whilst much of his writings have now been adapted into films (most famously Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986)), his adjective-heavy prose is regarded less than the work of that other American horror writer, Edgar Allen Poe; perhaps symptomatic of his anti-Semitic attitudes in life.

Like the films pop art stylings of the Sandy Dvore title sequence, with it's bold colours and silhouetted figures, the films "horrific" action is marked with various coloured filters, giving a very '60's charm to it. Oranges, reds and blue filters flash on screen, the editing at times too quick to register, as the screams of victims, and the flight of a beast are signified simply, for budgetary purposes no doubt. Stockwell gives a fantastically hammy, yet suave performance as the tortured, yet controlling man, who's past is shrouded in mystery. The climax reveals a potent edge of cerebral, nightmarish horror, a conclusion of twisted, monstrous proportions. Produced by Samual Z. Arkoff's AIP, it sometimes feels like a very East-coast American Hammer film, but the tentacled monstrosity (which we don't really see exactly) is absolutely from the imagination of Lovecraft. It's preposterous, but a hell of a lot of fun - helped by Stockwell's furry eyebrows and moustache.


Directed by: Daniel Haller
Starring: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy