JVSanders

Although Close Encounters of the Third Kind succeeds on certain levels, it subtly fails on others.

Steven Spielberg, himself the product of a broken home, depicts in some detail the destruction of a working-class family headed by Richard Dreyfuss' character, Roy Neary. Neary's UFO-induced psychotic behavior, the bitter arguments between him and his wife, and the obvious traumatization of their young children would, in a real-world context, be supremely tragic; to Spielberg, they were mere transitional elements to be exploited. (The painful disintegration of the Neary Family is particularly evident in the director's cut.)

An essential idea behind CE3, i.e., that aliens could be benevolent, is flawed by the concept that human beings (such as the lost aircrews of "Flight 19") might have been abducted over the course of decades or even centuries. That these lost humans were returned as part of the film's climax overlooks a significant fact: i.e., kidnapping inflicts horrific, long-term emotional scars on the victim and her/his family members. It's hard to believe that a highly intelligent, interstellar-traveling humanoid species could be unmindful of this.

Roy Neary's willingness to fly away with the aliens at the film's end - evidently without a thought for the impoverished, traumatized family he would leave behind – may well reflect Spielberg's attitude toward his own father. (Separated or divorced parents is also a small-yet-significant part of "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial.")

For me, one of CE3's most irritating moments is the scene where government-approved pilgrims are prayerfully exhorted to regard the aliens as "angels" sent by "God." (Were those folks recruited from Oral Roberts University instead of NASA?) Another annoying "fly in my mashed potatoes" is the scene where a kneeling Melinda Dillon clasps her hands in seeming worship when the colossal Mother Ship arrives. Perhaps Spielberg cannot be faulted for introducing the Aliens-as-God shtick into CE3; after all, Erich Von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods and similar books were rather popular in the 1970's. Nevertheless, the hokey religious elements are cloying, to say the least.

Brian Yuzna's Necronomicon features a wraparound in which Jeffrey Combs portrays H.P. Lovecraft, circa 1932. Prosthetic makeup, in combination with Comb's naturally high voice, results in what is probably the best portrayal of H.P.L. we're likely to see. However, those familiar with Lovecraft's life will be amused (or perhaps annoyed) to see him depicted as an occult believer/action hero who gains access to a copy of the Necronomicon through subterfuge. A somewhat similar liberty was taken by novelists Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in their 'Illuminatus' trilogy; and, of course, Robert Bloch based a character in 'Shambler From The Stars' on Lovecraft. (With H.P.L's permission, however.)

Necronomicon is a melange of Lovecraftian characters, stories, and themes. The Deep Ones, Cthulhu, the strange high house in the mist at Kingsport Head and, of course, the dreaded Necronomicon itself are all reasonably well treated. H.P.L.'s short story 'Cool Air' provided some inspiration for one of the film's segments.

Lovecraft's stories - notoriously short on dialog and female characters - do not easily lend themselves to direct cinematic adaptation. Consequently, Brian Yuzna deserves credit for extracting many essential elements from the Mythos and presenting them in a way contemporary horror audiences can appreciate. Necronomicon may offer a bit too much gore for some tastes; but as far as I'm concerned, even loose adaptations of Lovecraft's work are better than none at all.