The Dunwich Horror

[Grumpy Jim]

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.

[rebecca]

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.

[Chris]

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-

[Neville]

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.

[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

[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

[Elizabeth Hurst]

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.

[swamprat]

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.

[Ernst Bitterman]

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.

[R. Ashton]

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!  

[Mark Spangler]

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.

[Hannah L.]

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.

[Teteli]

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?

[Xbalanque]

This movie is an insult to Lovecraft's masterpiece

[snipe]

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..