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Dont be so damn harsh on Dean!! He's a hottie. It wasnt that bad.Only Sandra Dee is way miscast.

I actually enjoyed the movie a lot. It was at times creepy, ludicrous and erotic. What more could you want from a film? Despite all its faults, it nearly succeeded in the impossible task of bringing something of Lovecraft's vision to the screen.

But you're right about the ending - it sucks!

This flick is one of my all time Guilty Pleasures.
Besides, I may not have discovered H.P.Lovecraft if it wasn't for this film. There are some great bits, such as the creepy shot of the invisible monster (wind?) rolling over the swamp bog at night. This was a great drive in movie back in 1970.

Wow- stumbled across the site while surfing. Never thought I'd be reminded of THAT movie again!

Hey, I enjoyed making this film!!! Give me a break!

   I don't care what anyone says, I really enjoyed this movie. I thought the acting was great, especially by the lovely and talented Sandra Dee, who I have always had a huge crush on. Dean Stockwell(also terrific) was obviously warming up for his role in David Lynch's DUNE. Ed Begley also does well in his very last film role. Critics and audiences alike are much too harsh on this neat little flick. Besides, of the many attempts Hollywood has made to capture the great H.P. Lovecraft on celluloid, this is by far the best! The only possible flaw the film has is the ending, but that's no reason to completely dismiss it.

No matter how bad the movie is (and it has its good moments too) I can forgive everything for the sight of Dean
Stockwell looking so handsome.

Here's some trivia: according to folklore, owls nailed above doorways repel storms. No idea why you'd have one nailed to a porch railing though...

Being an HP Lovecraft fan I thought I'd give this a try.  Bad mistake.  It stayed on my screen for perhaps five minutes before I reached for the 'off' button.  I think it was the cartoon credits that did it for me.  I mean, come on!  It makes me wonder just how scary The Exorcist would have been if the credits had been done by Tex Avery...

I watched this movie purely by accident on tv the other night, and enjoyed it! It was a fairly descent gothic, but not at all scary but just creepy with a good morbid sense of humor! The performances were good, especially by it's two leads Dean Stockwell, and Sandra Dee! I've always enjoyed Dean Stockwell's acting(Married to the Mob, tv's Quantum Leap) and was quite taken by how young and handsome he looked, and I always thought Sandra Dee was sweet & cute in her teen movies like Gidget, but looks astonishingly beautiful and gives a fairly convincing performance here!

I always find this film hard to sit all the way through. I usually start dropping off in the middle. Roger Corman was executive producer on the film, Dean Stockwell got the part after Peter Fonda passed to appear in Easy Rider.

I love H.P. Lovecraft, and I love Dean Stockwell.  Unfortunately, overall this movie didn't do justice to either of them despite a few atmospheric bits.  It is neat to see Dean looking so very young, though.  I didn't hate it, it's just mediocre and could have been much better without that distracting red-tinted reverse photography and hippie orgy hallucinations.  

I think this would have a "good" movie if there had been
about 15 (or so)minutes longer. The editing was choppy
enough that the movie theme(plot?) was never around enough
to make sense! but for a 70's cheap flick, it was better
then most.  

The Dunwich Horror may be a B-Movie but it's not a "bad" movie. I purchased it and watched the movie, expecting horrible pain and endless agony. What I got was a pleasant surprise....it wasn't all that bad!!! Phew! Granted there have been thousands of better made movies, that are vastly more entertaining. It's like right in the middle of it all...not good not bad. As Andrew Borntreger once said (about "Starship") "this movie is so average it'd be sent to fight Zarkorr" (From "Zarkorr the Invader"). Hehehehe.

Not bad at all. And actually, much better than you'd expect. In fact, it's one of the few movies to make an honest attempt to capture the mood and atmosphere of H.P. Lovecraft's works. Surely, those '70's psychedelic effects have dated, but several of the performances hold up quite well. Dean Stockwell is a magnificent presence as the outwardly attractive, but inwardly deadly Wilbur Whately. As his intended victim, Sandra Dee looks lovely and registers strongly. Long-standing veterans Ed Begley and Sam Jaffe are also in there and contribute their usual first-rate performances.

I first saw this flic at the base theater at Hamilton AFB when it was released, but I didn't get to hear much of it, because the sergeant sitting behind me with his two young daughters was constantly moaning, "Oh, my God, oh my GOD!"  Distracting, but somehow fitting.  Decades later my daughter saw it and liked it so much she bought a copy.  Anyway, I've certainly seen worse.  At least Dean Stockwell's hair wasn't green.

you gota be kidding me!!! when you look like dean stockwell did then, you dont have to say a goddamn thing. you speak only with your eyes. and if your lucky enough to possess those powers, then, so mote it be. this will always be my favorite movie. i rent it all the time. until i actually go out and purchase it.

OK I admit I am a "crazy" H.P.Lovecraft fan, and I take the time to try and watch all the book-movie films that have been made. (From Beyond , Reanimater , Dunwich Horror etc).

However the directors never seem to be able to capture the incomprehensible nature of the Cthulluh beings , methods or intentions.

All things said and done this film isnt to bad though I did have to stop the film half way and have a cup of tea before finishing it off.

All said and done is it possible to extract the deep narratives and underlying theme of H P Lovecraft onto film , as yet no , stick to reading H P Lovecraft instead of watching someones interpretation of his mind set.

Chris -England-

A very poor adaptation of Lovecraft. It doesn't help that it wasn't one of his best tales (try "The mound" or "The shadow over Innsmouth", for instance) or that his works are not precisely very cinematographic (we all should know already that he does not like to describe the creatures in detail, or that his atmospheres depend heavily undescriptable factors), but surely they could have done it much, much better. I personally think the movie is quite acceptable until the last part. The psicodelic lights gave me a terrible headache and to watch some nudity is not enough reason to make me watch this again.

By the way, about what I said about Lovecraft being hard to adapt, just in case you don't believe me, watch "J.C's In the mouth of madness", it is the best translation to screen I have seen of Lovecraft's universe, although it does not adapt any of his works in particular.

The Dunwich Horror is way better than Die Monster Die , and the few other attempts that film makers have done to capture H. P. Lovecrafts feel for the weird abyss that is measureless to mankind. This film captures the "indescribable" thing from another dimension better than any other Lovecraft film. All of the others feature a lizard-zombie-witch-goat-etc...  and never attempt to stretch far enough to grasp the inconcievable. And without computers , too!!! Im waiting for the cinema adaptation of "The Mountains of Madness", with all the modern effects, AND the Lovecraft feel for the extra-cosmic.  Brad Moore

The Dunwich Horror is way better than Die Monster Die , and the few other attempts that film makers have done to capture H. P. Lovecrafts feel for the weird abyss that is measureless to mankind. This film captures the "indescribable" thing from another dimension better than any other Lovecraft film. All of the others feature a lizard-zombie-witch-goat-etc...  and never attempt to stretch far enough to grasp the inconcievable. And without computers , too!!! Im waiting for the cinema adaptation of "The Mountains of Madness", with all the modern effects, AND the Lovecraft feel for the extra-cosmic.  Brad Moore

Well, Mr. Stockwell was sort of like Ned Flanders without the sinister charisma...I suppose Ms. Dee served her purpose as the virgin offering (slightly shopworn, but still serviceable), but I sure liked Lavinia better...None the less, I love this movie, even though I find myself laughing through most of it.  Mr. Stockwell's tattoos were pretty cool, but otherwise his presence in the film is a disaster...this movie could have transcended Sandra Dee's silly little ninny, but Dean Stockwell's performance pretty much killed what could have been a very good translation of Lovecraft to the screen, although it could never have been a patch on Reanimator.  The old man's performance was achingly funny, and that snippy little proto-yuppie Elizabeth got exactly what she deserved.

God-Awful "contemporary" (at the time) horror flick. It was better at the time when seen at the Drive-in when it was realeased...which I did. Now it has that shoddy B-movie hip look that all second rate films have after a passage of some time. I love the darn thing for it's camp value to my generation..."Yes Son, we did pay money to see crap like this. Now get ready to cheer for the monster when he gets outta the closet...and stop giving potato chips to the cat, he's not eating them!" The only real major flaw the film has is that outta-gas ending. That made people mad even back in '70. "That was it?"  We were all hoping Sandra Dee was gonna get eaten...we'd grown up with our mothers poking us in the ribs to bring a girl like her home. Gidget on a stone platter with a monster's fork stuck in her forehead would have pleased a lot us. Pleased us much more than having Deano burst into flame and go ski-jumping off an ocean cliff. If you like silly monsters and lame attempts to movieize the black arts, if you have a nose for camp, it's a good enough flick...a true Dollar-Ninty-Eight Special.

A lot of people speak here about the difficulty of translating Lovecraft onto the screen. This movie is... OK, but frankly I think the wak-o-vision gets a bit over the top.  Those inclined towards video HP should try to get ahold of "Out Of Mind", a semi-biography of Lovecraft, with snippets of adaptations from several of his works; the director and writer clearly know and admire the man's works, and there's not a nekkid hippie in sight.

HaHa! I just finished watching this movie on AMC. It was Awful! It made "Robot Monster" look like a five star movie.
I missed the part were Elizabeth's clothes get ripped off because I was switching channels.:( But Sandra looked hot on the alter.:) The best part was when the guard whipped Wilbers Butt!. And the Monster...Boy, the Monster was really bad. Although I love Camp, and I did watch most of this movie.... I still say Ro Man could kick the Monsters butt and ride off into the moonlight with Sandra Dee. HeHe... Go Ro Man!  

Oh, if only this movie couldv'e been a wee bit longer.  I like to prolong things like this movie and dental surgery as long as I can.  The only way this film experience could've been more enjoyable would be if I were taking a barium enema at the same time.  (In fact, I think they actually do this at some of the new octoplex theatres in suburbia... usually it's in theatre eight. Really, really late at night.  On Wednesday)

But, I digress.  Boy, what a stinker.  Not only does nothing really happen in this movie, but it takes forever getting there.  It's also rather confusing... and it plays tricks on the mind.  I've found that if you watch  this movie while pounding down some serious Jack Daniel's and Cokes,  Dean Stockwell begins to look like Ron Jeremy, which, of course, changes the whole ending of the feature.  It also makes Sandra Dee a little less insane and a little more attractive.  After you're throughly drunk, you can see what Bobby Darin was doing with her all those years, even though he knew he had a bum ticker and a limited amount of time with us.

There was actual potential with this film and story, but casting went a little nutty.  I guess Jerry Lewis and Rose Marie were unavailable for the leads, which explains the Stockwell-Dee pairing.

Sadly, I don't believe these two ever did another flick, which was, quite frankly, a doggone shame.  

Still, there is hope that we could reunite the two leads and do some type of live stage performance of the orginal film, but this time, maybe they could get it on instead of raising their arms to the redding sky and reciting mumbo jumbo from the Camp Fire Girls codebook.

Dunwich WAS a real horror.  Ick. One kernal.

Sandra Dee has to be the MOST beautiful creature on earth! I thought she & Dean Stockwell had great chemistry, which I wounldn't expect in such a freaky movie. Yes, the movie could've been better, but I'm not sure how. It seems like everyone involved did their best & to me, Sandra Dee was the best of all.

In the first five minutes of the movie, the professor guy spoke the line, "Girls, if you could just drop the Necronomicon off at the library for me..."

What more is there to say, really?

This movie is an insult to Lovecraft's masterpiece

i disagree. I'm a huge Lovecraft fan - go to HPL Filmfests, collect all his (and other mythos circle authors) books, etc ad nauseum - i have a shrine to him in my house. But i did NOT hate this movie.

OK - from an HPL fan's point of view, yes - this movie is stupid. Number one - there are NO ROMANCE PLOTS IN ANY OF HPL's MYTHOS STORIES. NONE. Unless you count the romance of an archeologist getting giddy over an old relic, or some occultist getting wild-eyed over a Tome Of Hideous Knowledge..

Its still a good B-Movie tho. If you don't take it too seriously (and how can you take ugly naked hippies painted blue in a lovecraft story seriously).

It could have been a lot worse. at least the cheap ass acting and hick scenery really do give you a feel of what Dunwitch could be like. The guy who plays Armitage is pretty funny too.

Maybe only the most bent HPL fans will appriciate just how awful this movie is.. in a good way..

Check out that funny looking owl (49 mins) on the porch. That's a true classic moment of hilarity! I also enjoyed the weird face expression of Stanton. Jim Carrey sucks compared to that :)

You pathetic humans laugh while you can. One day the stars will be right and I will awaken, then we'll see who is laughing.

I'm making my naughty and nice list. Guess which one you made?

PS-I'm going to destroy the whole human race, but I'll start with the naughty ones.

A much better Lovecraft adaptation than the series of Roger Corman ripoffs by American International which came out during the mid-to-late 1960s.  Corman shamelessly blended Lovecraft with Edgar Allen Poe, but this is the pure vintage.  I was in Korea when it came out and didn't see it for over 30 years until I chanced across the DVD last year.  It also has Sam Jaffee, (I think as Grandpa Whately) who played the Einstein-type scientist in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1953) and  Dr. Zorba on the Ben Casey TV show in the 1960s.  And of course, Sandra Dee.  Too bad she never got nekkid.

Best wishes.

I read the origional book by H.P. LOVECRAFT but just like always the book must be better then the movie esspecialy when they like to dree it up with sex,grafic violence,adult languge and the likes

   I actually did enjoy this movie when I saw it on late night TV and bought the DVD shortly thereafter.  The atmosphere was appropriately oppressive and delerious-- the clifftop altar was impressive as hell as was the house interior.  I did get a kick out of the animated title sequence. Sure, the producers put a demented sixties spin on it, but Dean Stockwell is undeniably cool and Sandra Dee is appealing in a part that doesn't really require much from her.  There are some genuinely frightful aspects to the film:  the attack in the attic on the unsuspecting girl, the tracking p.o.v. shots of the liberated demon-twin sweeping over the darkened land, and even the tripped-out wash of primary colors during the rampage worked against the odds.  The monster may be a disappointment and the production was obviously made to cash-in on "Rosemary's Baby", but it's doubtful that anyone else short of Mario Bava, Kenneth Anger, or maybe Alexander Jodorowsky could've done Lovecraft justice at that time.  A good effort nonetheless.

I liked it enough to buy it.  Of course, people tell me I have bad taste in movies.  Go Figure ; )

I paid 5 bucks for this DVD years ago and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  Fairly relaxing (some would translate to boring, but I don't mean that) for a witchy horror movie.  Sandra Dee kind of works for me in this and Dean comes off as very mysterious.  Sure, loads of weaknesses but I watch it every October without fail. 

Isnt this suppost to be based on a short story by H.P. LOVECRAFT?

When did you, my friend, forget the name of this site (b-a-d-m-o-v-i-e-s.org)?
Oh, sorry, your'e the owner!!  :bouncegiggle:
(Just kidding)

While it is unfortunate that the original H.P. Lovecraft story was horribly mangled by the filmmakers, this movie all by itself is actually not that bad, especially for 1970. I've seen it a few times on cable TV and always had fun watching it. Dean Stockwell's performance seems to be bland on purpose because the character is supposed to be in contact with inter-dimensional beings, right? So he's gonna come off as kinda weird right from the get-go. Great review, nonetheless!