THE
DUNWICH HORROR (1970)Director: Daniel Haller
MGM
THE
DUNWICH HORROR (1970)H.P. Lovecraft's works were never as popular as those of Edgar Allan Poe's, especially in terms of big screen adaptations. But like with Poe, AIP was more than happy to exploit any writings in the public domain, so Lovecraft's stories were loosely adapted. Former AIP set designer Daniel Haller got to direct DIE MONSTER DIE!, a somewhat clumsy rendering of Lovecraft's "The Colour out of Space," produced in England and starring Boris Karloff. Five years later, Haller tackled another Lovecraft story, "The Dunwich Horror," and the results were far more interesting.
Fashionable at the time in AIP youth flicks like PSYCH OUT, Dean Stockwell stars as Wilbur Whateley, the sinister town creep who stems from a family of accused devil-worshipers. He visits Miskatonic University in the hopes of acquiring an ancient occult book, The Necronomicon, but lecturer Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley) informs him that the book is not to leave the campus library. Wilbur attracts the attention of one of Armitage's students, Nancy (Sandra Dee), and she gives him a ride back to his family farmhouse in the town of Dunwich. By vandalizing her car engine and drugging her tea, Wilbur secures the naive girl for a weekend stay, and has big plans in store for her. After stealing The Necronomicon, Wilbur intends to make Nancy the pawn in a blasphemous mating ritual atop Sentinel Hill.
Executive-produced by Roger Corman, THE DUNWICH HORROR strays from the distinctive style of his Poe cycle (unlike DIE MONSTER DIE!), and totally goes off on a tangent of psychedelic camera effects and pseudo gothic decor, complete with an eerie abode that even Lovecraft himself would be proud to live in. The idea of a "thing in the closet" twin brother (mainly revealed through multicolored POV shots) is especially effective. The diverse Stockwell (in a role reportedly intended for Peter Fonda) is suitably cast, and Dee is not bad. She's so sticky sweet that it's a pleasure to watch the conniving Wilbur take advantage of her. There's a lot of familiar vets on hand, including Begley as the knowledgeable lecturer, Sam Jaffe as Stockwell's lunatic grandpa, Lloyd Bochner (in unconvincing old age make-up) as a concerned physician, as well as a very young Talia Shire as a nurse. Corman regulars Beach Dickerson and Barboura Morris are a God-fearing couple who receive a stormy visit from Wilbur's inhuman brother.
MGM's new DVD of THE DUNWICH HORROR is actually a longer, R-rated cut of the film giving us a few more peeks of female nudity. This is especially evident during Dee's wild dream sequence, as well as when Stockwell feels up her double on the altar. The best additional scene is the expanded sexual assault on Donna Baccala by "the thing in the closet," as it rips her clothes off in a fit of psychedelic-lensed rage. The transfer looks splendid and it's letterboxed at 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced, and the mono sound is immaculate. The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer. (George R. Reis)