Necronomicon - O Livro Proibido dos Mortos

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.

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.

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.

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 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.