The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter

This might be the only Lovecraft movie sequel to actually adapt a Lovecraft story ("The Statement of Randolph Carter," which actually preceded "The Unnamable") and is a superior sequel. Well, I think it is superior since I can't remember liking THE UNNAMABLE that much (outside of some nice make-up). Stephenson is an unusual lead, a very intense nerd totally focused on his task at hand. Klausmeyer, who inexplicably sees his character renamed from Howard Damon to Eliot Damon Howard, is good as well. Completely underutilized David Warner slipped in for one day to shoot a scene as the college chancellor and Rhys-Davies might have been there for a couple of days. The film offers lots of gore and, again, the creature design is pretty damn spiffy. The real star, however, is b-movie actress Maria Ford. This might actually be her strongest acting role as the displaced 17th century girl (and I'm not saying that because she spends 50% of her screen time nude). Sadly, I decided to look her up online and she has had some horrific plastic surgery in the ensuing years.

I accidentally rented Unnamable II tonight, thinking I was renting the original for the first time in a few years. (The original was one of my favorite Gothic horror films.) I was disappointed that I had grabbed the wrong movie, but still enjoyed seeing this one.

With the possible exception of The Godfather II, sequels never match the originals & this one is no exception. Still, Oulette does a good job in leading us through this dash through campus, with the hideous she-demon behind us. The idea of the split demon-normal girl is intriguing and the lovely Maria Ford is convincing as the 300-year-old coed. Mark Kinsey Stephenson is again solid as the scholarly and fearless Randolph Carter. (Doesn't every college English Department have a senior bookworm like this?)

My only complaint-and this is one I might not have even thought of before returning to grad school-is that the professors are all Scooby Dooish `all-knowing' doctors. Professor Warren (John Rhys-Davies) apparently is an oral folklore specialist within the English Department…unless he is possibly in sociology or some similar field. For him to have a passing knowledge of quantum physics is not unthinkable. For him to look at a mutilated body and tell claw marks from incisor marks is stretching it considerably. For a literature professor to be running around with a portable microbiology lab in his little black pouch, though, and setting up a microscope, etc., in a dank, dark cave and making glib pronouncements about the blood, however, is akin to no one suspecting `Old Hank' or whoever as being the Scooby Doo villain. Folks, as one who is around professors every day (and who hopes to BE a college history professor in a couple of years,) I can attest that the average English or history professor barely understands how to connect to the Internet or operate PowerPoint, let alone set up a mini-science lab in a dark cave in five minutes!

This one is okay, but I need to see the original again. Part of the reason I wanted to see the original tonight was so I COULD do an updated review. But that will come. People aren't exactly standing in line to do these two movies. Still, this one is definitely worth watching. Give it a chance!

This movie was pretty good (Maria Ford being nude for over half an hour certainly helped!). It involved the Lovecraft Cthulu mythos, and they did a good job with them. I wish they identified what monster they were actually dealing with, but I guess the name wouldn't have worked then LOL. Peace.

Not sure if I missed this movie back in the 90s or if it wasn't memorable. But here I am in 2014 watching a 90s movie that looks more like an 80s movie.

Something happened in a house. Bodies are being dragged away. A guy named Howard survived and now he has visions of a creature. A guy named Carter was standing nearby so he's a witness. But he investigates into the house and discovers a scary past, involving the Necronomicon. He enlists another professor and of they go into a cave beneath the house. Howard is also with them but he stays outside.

Inside the cave they find a creature, that's a pairing of a woman--the daughter of the former house owner--and a demon. They manage to separate the two. Carter takes the girl with him to the university. The scholar stays behind researching the demon, which ends up killing him. But the girl feels that the demon is going to come after her. And sure enough the demon appears and Carter, the girl, some friends, the cops all have to face the demon.

This movie can be credited with one achievement, a very questionable one though: it stars Maria Ford and Julie Strain in 1992 and yet shows no nudity. Ford is not wearing clothes for a good part of the movie, but a huge wig covers up her body. It would have been even a greater annoyance in the 90s when the two ladies where in their soft-core heyday.

Aside from that major weakness, the movie is of course slow, 15 minutes longer than it needs to be. It feature some good acting and some poor acting. It has good physical gore and prosthetic effects, and some cheesy visual effects. The story is alright but more could have been made of it. And of course a lot more could have been done with such a cast.

This sequel picks up directly where part one left off and finds the two main characters from the original film seperating the human half from the demon half of part one's monster. They flee with the human half, but the demon eventually escapes from her prison and seeks out the human part to her and killing anyone in her way. Sometimes exciting, sometime scary, slightly better then part one, but bland.

Rated R; Violence, Brief Nudity, and Profanity.