The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter

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 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.

The competently low-budget sequel (which was made 5 years after the original) sees the story continue where the first film finished off, and director Jean-Paul Ouellette delivers a far better effort on this Lovecraft outing than on the previous one. However while being rather expansive, slicker and better paced, it was kind of laid-back on the violence (which the first film wasn't afraid to bare) and jolting thrills (which aren't as imposing). Some things happen off-screen, but there a few twisted and ravaging acts caught. The slick tone seemed to be aiming for pulpy fun in a fast-moving chase format than the simmering atmospheric jolts in a confined setting, and for most part it works.

Returning characters Randolph Carter (exaggeratedly acted by Mark Kinsey Stephenson) and Eliot Damon Howard (a solid Charles Klausmeyer) make for a fruitful chemistry, as they must do battle again with the demon with no name. Along for the ride is John Rhys-Davies and Maria Ford who spends plenty of screen time in the nude under her flowing long hair is very convincing in her part. Julie Strain is the lucky one who gets suited up in the creatively effective make-up FX of the titular demon and David Warner also gets in the act, but with very little in the way to do.

This time around the story (with a consistently witty script) holds a little more substance and character to its framework (where modern science and ancient folklore come to terms) and explores the possibilities, than reverting to a simple stalk n' slash exercise. After the leaving the tunnels under the Winthrop house, this time the action mainly occurs in the illustrative backdrop of the University grounds. The openness of it didn't do much in the favor of holding suspense, but the atmosphere is glum and its straight-laced quirkiness lends well.

I wanted to see what was out there for Lovecraft stuff to get in the mood for Halloween and came up with this movie. An absolutely stupid choice of lead actor combined with a really bad script makes the whole thing kind of "Killer Tomatoes" cool.

This kind of thing happens in the story: They go into some underground tunnels beneath a graveyard with no plan, no guns, no secret charm, just Don Knotts and Mr. French going to see if the monster that killed 4 people last night is still there. They find this crazed demon-infested girl and reach near it's hugely-fanged face to pull out a hair to study. Just one dumb idea after another.

My favorite part? Check out the sound it makes when the deputies are shooting the lock at the end.

I didn't see the first movie, but I don't think I needed it to review this.

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.