Le Territoire des ombres : Le Monde interdit

Compared to the wonderful La herencia Valdemar, this is a bit of a dogs dinner..I happened to be looking forward to this direct continuation of the first film and was left very disappointed by it..

The story of the Hp Lovecraft Call of .. mixed with two other story's I believe is really so badly edited and cut that you are absolutely left at a loss as to why you should care for any of the characters and be interested in what comes next..as usually this entails another merging of characters story lines which serve only to confuse rather than enlighten..

the first film is a brilliant piece and one I savored..this is like a poor desert follow up to a master chef meal

In case you haven't noticed (or read up on it, as some other reviewers statements indicate), this is the second and last part of the Valdemar Legacy movie. While the first movie struggled to maintain a level of tension and mystery (and finally succumbing to that), it was still pretty enjoyable.

Even if you haven't seen it, at the beginning of this, you'll get a recap of what happened until "now". Which makes you think if it was necessary to have a first movie in the first place. But if you are going to miss out on one of the movie, it should be the second part. They better make a recap of that for a feature DVD release or something like that. The movie tries and sets goals, but unfortunately it never achieves anything substantial.

"The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow" upon short stories by the undisputed expert of the terror H.P. Lovecraft tells an incredible story of horror , monsters and including fantastic touches . As it packs creepy scenes , suspense , plot-twists , tension , chills , thrills with sensationalistic scenes . Luisa Llorente (Silvia Abascal) , an expert on taxation of old buildings , had the formidable task of going to evaluate the Victorian home of Lazarus Valdemar (Daniele Liotti) and his wife Leonor Valdemar (Laia Marull) , but she's not been heard from . This mansion harboring a terrible and eerie occult secret . After she mysteriously disappeared , Maximilian (Eusebio Poncela) , president of her company and head of Inmoverance , engaged the services of a private detective (Oscar Jaenada) to help find her . Two expeditions go out in search of her : first is Nicholas Tramel (a little variation of Nicholas Flamel , one of the biggest alchemists in entire history) a detective hired by Maximilian Colvin (the president of the company Luisa works for) along with Dra. Cerviá (Ana Risueño) , and the other comprised of coworkers Ana (Norma Ruiz) and Eduardo (Rodolfo Sánchez) . But soon they will discover that it is not the first disappearance at Valdemar mansion . Then , Tramel , Eduardo and Ana are kidnapped and locked . Later on , the group escapes through a cave where they are attacked by a horrible creature and things go wrong . At the end takes place a satanic invocation by means of the diabolic book ¨El Necronomicon¨ using weird formulas and spells . Including a final ritual where emerges a astonishing monster from the darkness , it is the own Cthulhu , the most famous evil god created by H.P. Lovecraft .

The plot of "The Forbidden Shadow" is inspired in the H.P. Lovecraft's universe , it isn't exactly a follow-up , but the rest of the tale untold in the former part that was better paced and interesting enough . As filmmaker José Luis Alemán mixing some ideas created by the Rhode Island's writer from short stories and novels such as "The Hound" ,¨The shadow over Innsmouth¨ , "The Pickman's Model" , ¨The Call of Cthulhu¨ and about ¨Mythos of Cthulhu¨ , a horror saga about an evil deities called the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones , two evil races of gods that they ran the universe in an ancient past , before the mankind arose . There also shows up the famous black magic book ¨Necronomicon¨ which supposedly contains strange rites , presages , curses , and the history about Great Old Gods and Outer Gods . The picture packs thrills, chills , terror , fantasy and lots of blood and gore . Furthermore , unrelenting twists and turns as when the protagonists discover the truth at a nightmarish ending of impressive horror . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story about an ancient fanatic religious cult of followers of Cthulhu . This tale about some young people involved into a twisted intrigue begins well and grows more and more until a breathtaking finale . Support cast is acceptable , such as Silvia Abascal as a farm appraiser who had recently gone to the Victorian mansion Valdemar to conduct an inventory of property ownership when she suddenly disappears . And other known television actors as Rodolfo Sancho , Ana Risueño , and Jesús Olmedo . Being Paul Naschy last movie and the film is dedicated to him . Adequate production values as well as good makeup on the freakish frightening creatures and overwhelming digital effects . Dark and colorful cinematography by David Azcano , being shot on location in Comillas , Cantabria . Frightening and atmospheric musical score by Arnau Bataller . This José Luis Alemán's sequel to his own Spanish horror flick La Herencia Valdemar, Inheritance Valdemar II: The Shadow Prohibited (or La Herencia Valdemar II: La Sombra Prohibida) results to be inferior to previous part .

Other films about the H.P. Lovecraft universe are the followings : Reanimator (1985) by Stuart Gordon with Jeffrey Combs ; Re-Sonator (From Beyond) (1986) by Stuart Gordon with Jeffrey Combs , Barbara Crampton ; Cthulhu Mansión (1992) by Juan Piquer Simón with Frank Finlay ; In the Mouth of Madness (1994) by John Carpenter with Sam Neill , Julie Carmen ; and Dagon (2001) by Stuart Gordon with Francisco Rabal .

I didn't watch the first movie, LA HERENCIA VALDEMAR, but even so I decided give it a try on the purpose it was based on H.P. Lovecraft mythology about the ancient monsters that ruled the Earth before mankind.

In fact this movie refers Lovecraft, to the point of the writer himself take part in it! AH AH! It's just an actor of course but it's funny the director put a character of H.P. Lovecraft in the movie.

It could have been a bit better with more suspense and more H.P.'s monsters (nice characterization of Cthulhu though) but I guess it's not that bad to a movie of this genre.

I score it 6/10

I must say that I very much enjoyed the first part of La Herencia Valdemar. All the ingredients for a great film were there. A blend of Cthulhu Mythos, Aleister Crowley and Victorian scenery, all those together mixed very well and the outcome was inspiring and thrilling. Directing was brilliant, photography perfect, even the special effects were at least decent. I admit it. I loved it. And I was expecting the second part to be at least equal to the first. How wrong was I. After the first 5 minutes I lost track of what was going on in the film. The story line became blur and childish. As much as I loved the first part, this is a total screw up. There was absolutely no reason at all to make a second part. Its like painting a wonderful portrait and after u finish it, u spread a bucket of paint all over it and destroy it. And thats exactly what happened here... 3/10 for Cthulhu...