THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970)

 

(Director: Daniel Haller. Screenplay by Curtis Hanson (billed as Curtis Lee Hanson), Henry Rosenbaum, Ronald Silkosky, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s story of the same name.)

Storyline

A young man, who’s more than he seems, tries to return a race of monstrous, god-like creatures via sacrifice in Dunwich, Massachusetts.

Review

Miskatonic University, Arkham, Massachusetts. A strange young man, Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell, THE WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON, 1973) attends a lecture by Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley, ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW, 1959). He attracts the attention of two young women, Nancy Wagner and Elizabeth Hamilton. Nancy (Sandra Dee, NIGHT GALLERY, 1971-2), returning Armitage’s copy of the Necronomicon to the library, is curious, charmed by Wilbur. Elizabeth is repelled by him.

Wilbur reads the Necronomicon in the library, where he also meets Armitage. He invites Wilbur to have dinner with him, Elizabeth and Nancy. After dinner, Nancy offers him a ride back to his nearby hometown (Dunwich). He accepts.

In Dunwich, he invites her into his ornate, occult-symbol-adorned house. Within the house, Nancy hears ghostly theremin music and ocean swells, and has flash-visions of orgiastic multicolor-painted women, causing her to become dizzy. Due to the lateness of the hour and the fact that her car won’t run, he offers her a bedroom to sleep in, one that “hasn’t been used in years.”

Thus begins the nightmarish, sometimes goofy work that is DUNWICH, climaxing at the Whateleys’ cliffside altar (The Devil’s Hopyard), replete with a soundtrack that incorporates growl-distorted sounds of flocking seagulls.

This film has a lot going for it. It has great actors in the over-the-top roles, an intense, miasmic (if sometimes unintentionally goofy) atmosphere and often solid pacing. Its FX (wild color palates, weird soundtrack noises, quick-cut visions, and Monster POV) is effective and intoxicating for its filmic period. Its scope─the full range of the Old Ones’ influence is experienced over a wide area─is ambitious for a modest-budget project like this.

The end-twists work, making DUNWICH more fun and goofy. And the actors, who put their all into their roles, sell the characters.

The film sports a noteworthy cast: Sam Jaffe (THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, 1951) as Old Man Whateley; Donna Baccala (BRAINSCAN, 1994) as Elizabeth Hamilton; Michael Fox (YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, 1974) as Dr. Raskin; Talia Shire, billed as Talia Coppola, as Nurse Cora; and Jason Wingreen (THE TWILIGHT ZONE, 1960-3) as Sheriff Harrison.

DUNWICH is a fun, color- and mood-intense Lovecraftian horror flick, one worth watching if you have a tolerance for antiquated counter-culture-infused nightmares, occasionally slow pacing, and flirtations with cheesiness, and are a Lovecraft fan.