AIP's loose (that's putting it kindly) adaptation of HP Lovecraft's novella gets a Blu-ray release from Arrow Films.
Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell all piercing eyes and permed hair) wants to bring back 'The Old Ones' and he needs Miskatonic University's copy of the fabled Necronomicon and Nancy Wagner (vapid Sandra Dee) to do it. Wilbur lives in a big old house with his father (Sam Jaffe) and an anemone-squid-centipede monster that's actually his brother whom he keeps locked in the attic. Until, that is, Nancy's friend Elizabeth (Donna Baccala giving the only really likeable performance in the film) lets it out to go on the rampage.
AIP's Lovecraft adaptations were nowhere near as effective as some of the Poe ones. The best is Roger Corman's 1963 THE HAUNTED PALACE (adapted from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward) with Daniel Haller's 1965 DIE MONSTERS DIE (from The Colour Out of Space) rating a poor second. THE DUNWICH HORROR isn't terribly good either, with its best aspects being Les Baxter's music score (one of his best) and Sandy Dvore's opening titles (one of his best as well). If you love the story you'll probably find this hard going but if you're interested in how popular social movements influenced movies of the period then the film's hippy trappings make it worth a watch.
Extras kick off with a commentary in which we are invited into the company of writers Alexandra Benedict and Guy Adams. We're not even a minute in before Mr Adams is talking about licking his own testicles (possibly a world first in commentary tracks). 'Tell me about these beauties' says Ms Benedict shortly after, referring (one presumes hopefully) to the opening title animation. After that things being more relaxed and informal, and we even get Mr Adams' David Lynch impersonation to keep things spicy.
The Door Into Dunwich is a conversation between Stephen R Bissette and Stephen Laws about all things Lovecraft and cinema. Running a whopping 130 minutes it's consistently interesting and entertaining to the point that it's actually difficult to stop listening. After Summer After Winter gives us fantasy author Ruthanna Emrys talking about Lovecraft for 16 minutes, while The Sound of Cosmic Terror has the always excellent David Huckvale giving us an analysis of Les Baxter's score for just over half an hour. There are the usual trailer and image gallery. The first pressing comes with a booklet featuring new writing on the film.
THE DUNWICH HORROR is out from Arrow Films on Monday 9th January 2023
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