This is a remake of a 1970 movie based on a H.P. Lovecraft story, possibly
his most famous tale. The first film version of the story was merely cheesy in a
typical 1970 way. (Sandra Dee, anyone?) This one is an awful movie in just about
every way.
- Many performances are weak.
- The visual quality is worse than a home camcorder.
- The special effects and costumes would have been laughable in the silent
era.
- The Evil One looks like a Terry Gilliam cartoon
- And the locale has been switched from New England to Louisiana.
So you can see that they really made a loving effort to bring Lovecraft to
the screen!
There only two things sort of interesting about this film:
1) Horror genre legend Jeffrey Combs plays Wilbur Whately, and is barely
recognizable.
2) Dean Stockwell, who played Whately in the 1970 version, is back in the
re-make as Dr. Armitage. Stockwell has now been in the film acting business for
64 years. His first film appearances were during World War Two! In 1945 he had a
small part in Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Now that's
longevity.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
