H.P. Lovecrafts Necronomicon

I was at first, very excited about this film due, to the fact that I am a huge fan of H. P. Lovecraft. But after seeing what amounted to a pathetic version of Creepshow, I was very let down. Don't get me wrong, some of the content was worthy enough to be associated with HP, but much of the film was cheesy and not very engrossing. If you wish to see a Lovecraftian style film, check out In the Mouth of Madness. It is INSPIRED by HP, but not related directly to one of his stories.

'Necronomicon' is similar to films like 'The Twilight Zone', 'Creepshow', and 'Tales from the Crypt'.

The film tells the story of HP Lovecraft (Jeffrey Combs), who takes the Necronomicon from a protective fault, and reads it without permission or authority. As he reads, the film takes us on a journey, telling three stories.

The first story is about a man who inherits a dilapidated mansion with a secret. The man, Edward de Lapoer, is well played by the talented Bruce Payne. It is a story of undying love, regret and finding solace. The visuals were good. The second story is about a man, Dr Madden, with an unusual illness, who needs spinal fluid to survive. He is therefore constantly looking for fresh specimens. A woman who rents a room in the same building, is drawn to him - with dire consequences. This story also featured good visuals, with disgustingly good practical effects. I enjoyed David Warner as Dr Madden.

The film's final story is by far the best, and revolves around a cop who's partner gets abducted by a strange man called The Butcher. This installment is fast-paced, action-packed and suspenseful. It literally plays like a horrible nightmare. Signy Coleman was really good as the protagonist, Sarah, who had to face much more than she bargained for.

In general, this was a good watch, with insanely good practical effects and props. Some scenes were utterly disgusting, but the film nevertheless remained exciting throughout. The Necronomicon (or Book of the Dead) is present in all three stories.

When you see a classic splatter movie like this, you really appreciate the genius of Special FX artists like Screaming Mad George, who worked on this film. God, all these CGI films out now SUCK big-time.....What has happened in the past 10 years?? You just can't beat some good rubber monster and some buckets of fake blood! All these computer-generated FX look far too clean, too cold, and don't have the clout of the old-style FX! Now I am a big, big fan of H.P. Lovecraft, and have quite a few films based on his mythology. This one is really quite excellent, with an amazing impersonation of Herbert by Jeffrey Combs, many other genre-favourite actors, and some very disturbing imagery indeed! Sweet dreams...

I just KNEW this would be bad, but I had no idea how bad it would be. "Necronomicon" is a composite film made up of three separate shorts based on Lovecraft stories... and I use the word "based" VERRRRY loosely here. The first tale begins as a strange adaptation of "Rats in the Walls" and then seems to make a right turn through "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", "The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Call of Cthulu" without coming off very coherently at all, although the surreality of it is kind've cool. The second feature is a somewhat more coherent version of "Cool Air" which is more or less true to the original, though featuring a female lead along with a typically wonderful performance from David Warner. Lastly we're presented with something purporting to be "The Whisperer in Darkness" but ends up as some nonsensical dream/nightmare conglomeration that aspires to be Fulci but fails. By the end of this piece I had no idea what was going on! In the meantime, Jeffrey Coombs hams it up as usual in a series of linking cut scenes portraying HP meddling with arcane tomes in a bizarre temple or something--William Castle, eat your heart out! A very hit and miss affair that fails to interpret Lovecraft even more spectacularly than most of the others before it.

I rented this film because I'm a fan of HP Lovecraft's writing, and two of the directors have done things I liked (I enjoy several of the films either produced or directed by Brian Yuzna, I loved Shusuke Kaneko's 1995 Gamera film, I've yet to see anything by Christophe Gans), I found it to be rather disappointing. Despite some interesting special effects (by Tom Savini and Screaming Mad George, among others), I had a hard time maintaining interest. The second and third segments of the film are nothing like the Lovecraft stories they're supposed to be based on (Gans' segment isn't based on a particular story, but the Cthulu cycle as a whole). The final segment of the film, directed by Brian Yuzna, is probably the best. The framing segments with Jeffrey Combs as Lovecraft were kind of amusing, but overall, I'd only recommend this film to hardcore fans of Yuzna, Gans, or Kaneko.