Lovecraftian Cinema

Like a gingerbread man!

Faithful, though a bit pedestrian, adaptation of HP Lovecraft's 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'. Heavily compromised by studio interference, Dan o'Bannon has his private director's cut 'The Ancestor' which still hasn't seen the light of day.

The tacky title betrays this surprisingly somber & conceptually ambitious film of Lovecraftian cosmic horror & madness.

A superior supernatural thriller based on M.R. James' "Casting the Runes." Great use of atmosphere & suggestion.

As a Lovecraft fan, I appreciate the intent of the filmmakers, who have their heart in the right place. Unfortunately, this allegedly "most faithful" Lovecraft adaptation is too gimmicky and "cute" to tap into any sense of Lovecraftian dread. The stylistic mimicry to make it the "proper period" only served to distance me from the film and make me wonder which software program they used to mimic the "silent movie look". To end on a positive note, there is some very good art design.

The ending is so ill-suited to the film preceding it swipes two stars away from being a masterpiece. The way William Shatner vengefully yells "KAAAAAHN!", I instead yell "DARABOOOOONT!" That bald bastard has proved he can deflate pitch-perfect apocalyptic horror. They should've given this to John Carpenter, who has shown he has no problem with ambiguous & moody endings, whereas Darabont "downer" conforms with the expectations for conclusion, and delivers one that's a contrived & manipulative enough to compete with Shyamalan's worst moments.

Far from perfect, but its cold dark heart is in the right place, and there are some moments of strikingly dark atmosphere & desolate scenic visuals. 'A' for effort, 'D' for execution. But if you know how much hell they went through on this shoot, it's amazing they were able to make a completed film at all.

Trippy, cerebral 70's sci-fi. Best description I've heard: "Like if Stanley Kubrick did a movie about killer ants."

Decent flick with ridiculous sounding monsters.